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Last update - 15:07 22/04/2008 For our worst enemy, Hamas, just two words By Bradley Burston Tags: Olmert, Hamas, Carter  I'd like a word with our worst enemy, please. You already know who it is. Jimmy Carter knows, too. That's why he spent so much time letting us know whom he wanted to talk to. True, Iran talks big, goes on and on about erasure from the map. For the time being, though, what they have to show for the Big One is a lot of centrifuges the size of Coke cans and a wad of unpaid bills to the Russians for parts and service. Ahmadinejad is not our worst enemy. It's not Bashar Assad either. Yes, thanks to Iran, Russia, North Korea and native ingenuity, Syrian rockets - and, some experts believe, chemical weaponry - can reach Tel Aviv and everything else we've got. But it's not Syria. Nor is it Hezbollah, with its resolute commitment to Jew hate and its unshakable, oddly pathetic flirtation with the possibility of destroying Lebanon on its way to annihilating the Zionist entity. Even the Islamic Jihad, with its finely honed obsession with killing Jews for the offense of being Jewish, is not our worst enemy. No. I'd like a word with Hamas, please. Jimmy Carter doesn't speak for me. Nor Olmert, Barak, Netanyahu or Lieberman. I'm speaking for no one but myself, a guy who has watched you and wondered about you, often admired and often cursed you, since the day you became an organization. You are our worst enemy because, apart from us, you are the only party with the strength and the capability to forge a solution to the conflict and because - like us - you cannot bring yourselves to decide what you really want, what you're willing to do about it, nor roll over and go out of business as a result. You are our worst enemy because you face many of the same problems that we do. You want to find a solution for huge numbers of people who view pre-1967 Israel as their rightful home. We want to find a solution for huge numbers of people who view post-1967 territories as their rightful home. Neither of wants to tell these people what we know in our hearts to be true - that the fervent beliefs in a Jewish Greater Israel and an Islamic Palestine are unrealizable. It's certainly no accident that you rushed out a disclaimer after Jimmy Carter quoted, or misquoted, you having told him thjat you "would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, if approved by Palestinians," and that you "would accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbor next door in peace." It's no wonder that you then called in the news media to tell us that you're willing to live with us for 10 years, provided we withdraw to the 1967 borders and agree to the right of return for refugees. I understand that after 60 years of grief and longing - to say nothing of Arafat's lies about millions of Palestinian potential shahidim, presumably many of them refugees, marching on Jerusalem - offering refugees and their descendants something less than a return is an impossible sell. In the long run, though, it's one that you'll have to find a way to make. Just as we're likely to have to someday move tens and tens of thousands of settlers out of the homes. Why, you may ask, do we not go ahead and do it now, force these people to move, return to 1967 lines? I have two words for our worst enemy: defensible borders. That, at root, is what Israelis want. Not the east Jerusalem Palestinian villages annexed to the city, not the settlements, not the suffering of the Palestinian people. The fact is, our settlers have abandoned trying to sell Israelis the idea that the settlements are good for them. Now, all they really have to sell, is the concept that Qassams are bad for them. Since the disengagement from Gaza, this has become a given for Israelis, even most of those who long supported the cause of an independent Palestine in the territories. For Israelis, you, as our worst enemy, have reduced defensible borders to the bedrock issue. What's it going to take for both sides, both enemies, to get to the point where the 1967 lines become defensible borders? You're not going to like this. But you might turn out to be better at this than we are. In the Middle East, peace is made by individuals willing to be the true shahid, the person who is willing to become a sacrifice to the cause of creating a future for two peoples, leaders who are willing to become in a literal sense a martyr for peace. Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin were such, as were lesser know but no less heroic people like Issam Sartawi and Emil Grunzweig, people killed by extremists on their own side, for the crime of having worked for reconciliation. Yasser Arafat, who said he was our friend, repeatedly spoke of the peace of the brave, but lacked the courage to become that martyr for his people. In the end, I have much more faith in the courage of the worst of our enemies. _______________ Previous blogs: The New 12 Tribes of Israel A place at the table I want the Palestinians to win The jihad against the Jews Ten ways Israel keeps Hamas afloat Macho U.S. Jews, pantywaist Israel Bookmark to del.icio.us   Shimon goes green Peres says to fight terror Israel should reduce its dependence on oil. Voices of heroism IDF releases audio recordings from famed 1976 Entebbe raid.   1.   EVERYBODY WHO STAND FIRM IS THE ENEMY OF ISRAEL 12:39  |  indrajaya 22/04/08   2.   Bradley Burston, are you sure you understand the Middle East...?? 12:53  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   3.   Bradley, What are your feelings on a moat and tower setup? 13:15  |  Natallie Durson 22/04/08   4.   B`KAROV ETZ`L`CHA #1 13:49  |  Ari ben Yisrael 22/04/08   5.   INDRAJAYA HAMASS IS STANDING FIRM ON NO PEACE EVER 13:52  |  PETER SM 22/04/08   6.   to the Jakanta Islamic propagandist 14:07  |  Hilda 22/04/08   7.   Mr. Burston, our worst enemy cannot read English. 14:11  |  Mr. Ami Goldman 22/04/08   8.   bradley & irony! But you it wrong Brad! 14:12  |  lakshmi 22/04/08   9.   HILDA correction please to the PAID Islamic progandist 14:24  |  PETER SM 22/04/08   10.   Iran is our presently most dangerous enemy 14:35  |  Shalom Freedman 22/04/08   11.   #2 it is the swiss roll who doesnt know the mid east 15:04  |  v hardman 22/04/08   12.   I`m not sure Hamas is the worst enemy ... 15:05  |  Edith 22/04/08   13.   WORST ENEMY ? 15:10  |  MICHEL KESLACY 22/04/08   14.   # 1 Indy....You have zero to be proud of or to really say 15:12  |  Lynn 22/04/08   15.   # 2 Swiss...so, now you don`t believe security 15:16  |  Lynn 22/04/08   16.   lakshmi...just a note....... 15:19  |  Lynn 22/04/08   17.   Hamas is right to suspect Israeli insincerity. It is real. 15:20  |  Nick Ferriman 22/04/08   18.   Greater Israel or Islamic Palestine is end result 15:23  |  Sam 22/04/08   19.   As you wait Americans die 15:37  |  dan 22/04/08   20.   A great column! 15:45  |  Canderra 22/04/08   21.   Strange discussion - Hamas is being decimated... 15:45  |  17 22/04/08   22.   Natallie Durson # 3 "Defensible Borders" (part 1) 15:46  |  Jeff Northridge 22/04/08   23.   defensible borders 15:46  |  Mark Lincoln 22/04/08   24.   at Shalom Freedman 15:52  |  Marco 22/04/08   25.   Bursting in Dreamland 16:02  |  Tosefta 22/04/08   26.   Natallie Durson # 3 "Defensible Borders" (part 2) 16:13  |  Jeff Northridge 22/04/08   27.   Jeff Northridge 16:25  |  Natallie Durson 22/04/08   28.   Jeff Northridge 16:32  |  Natallie Durson 22/04/08   29.   Hey Jeff #22 your wrong 16:37  |  dan 22/04/08   30.   # 15 Lynn 16:37  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   31.   Other choices?? 16:38  |  a wandering Jew 22/04/08   32.   # 11 v hardman 16:42  |  Swiss (Dino) 22/04/08   33.   some theories 16:45  |  montgomery rosen 22/04/08   34.   # Natallie Durson - You are right it is quite possible - 16:49  |  17 22/04/08   35.   #17 nick the fairy man and more its israels fault! 16:49  |  v hardman 22/04/08   36.   I agree with Bradley-DISARM HAMAS 16:51  |  Anonymous 22/04/08   37.   The end of Israel according to Natallie Durson 16:51  |  Tulip 22/04/08   38.   Mark Lincoln # 23 What 1967 Borders? (part 1) 16:53  |  Jeff Northridge 22/04/08   39.   Thank G-d the Israel-Palestine problem became a laghing matter. 16:57  |  Akram Zekaria 22/04/08   40.   to Sam #18 - on total victory 17:01  |  zeev 22/04/08   41.   Just how indefensible are the 1967 borders? 17:02  |  Walter 22/04/08   42.   3# Natallie Durson . Hamas made Palestine melt from the map. 17:12  |  Akram Zekaria 22/04/08   43.   Mark Lincoln # 23 What 1967 Borders? (part 2) 17:25  |  Jeff Northridge 22/04/08   44.   Defensive borders and evolution 17:31  |  Tosefta 22/04/08   45.   Haaretz: Message Boards for Fools 17:37  |  Tex 22/04/08   46.   Good article Brad! 17:39  |  PantherJet 22/04/08   47.   #3 Nathalie You Wrong again...BUT 17:40  |  Alfred 22/04/08   48.   Burston & Haaretz are sold to shallow epater le bourgeois 17:48  |  Fortuna Benmayor 22/04/08   49.   Lynn, your note to Lakshmi was terribly racist. 17:48  |  Ibrahim 22/04/08   50.   zeev-You are a putz 17:49  |  Sam 22/04/08   51.   ask some military 17:57  |  cool 22/04/08   52.   #1 Indrajaya 18:08  |  Moshe 22/04/08   53.   What about Jerusalem? 18:12  |  Refugee 22/04/08   54.   dan # 29 That Is Not How Wars Are Decided 18:18  |  Jeff Northridge 22/04/08   55.   40# Zeev. If Meshal can give Israel 10 years Hudana, 18:26  |  Akram Zekaria 22/04/08   56.   Hamas, Carter and Abbas 18:35  |  Ilan 22/04/08   57.   Natalie salivaters at nuclear destruction of Pals 18:39  |  FOX 22/04/08   58.   Sorry Ibrahim, but Islamic imperialism is a historical fact, 18:42  |  Freethinker 22/04/08   59.   tosefta and evolution 18:44  |  harzion 22/04/08   60.   what would the arab world look like when it is unfettered 18:47  |  harzion 22/04/08   61.   What`s more, Ibrahim, your example of the Muslim pediatrician 18:47  |  Freethinker 22/04/08   62.   Evolution + mutation = Tosefta 18:48  |  FOX 22/04/08   63.   Tosefta 18:55  |  PlanoStu 22/04/08   64.   23# Mark Licoln you forget one thing. No Arab country on Israel 19:05  |  Akram Zekaria 22/04/08   65.   Natalie - here she goes again 19:11  |  PlanoStu 22/04/08   66.   to clear-minded Sam #50 19:11  |  zeev 22/04/08   67.   #17 Nick Ferriman 19:15  |  Moshe 22/04/08   68.   Ibrahim what do muslims as muslims offer? 19:16  |  unmuslim 22/04/08   69.   Ferryman you did get lost in your negatives 19:19  |  x-ray 22/04/08 &nb