Hamas has taken over the Palestinian nationalist movement
Palestinian reconciliation provides Netanyahu with an escape from the rut he has fallen into because of the deadlock in the peace process.
By Aluf BennThe Palestinian reconciliation deal, if realized, heralds the takeover of the Palestinian national movement by Hamas, providing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an escape from the rut he has fallen into because of the deadlock in the peace process. This is just what Netanyahu needed to unite the Israeli public behind him and thwart international pressure to withdraw from the West Bank.
A "unity government" or "technocracy" - as the Palestinians called it yesterday - is a nice but empty headline. In real life, there is no a-political rule and there are no egalitarian governments. There is always a ruling side with partners being dragged behind it. The stronger, more organized, better armed side, i.e. Hamas, will rule the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, not "technocrats." This is how the communists took over East Europe after WWII.
 |
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City on March 18, 2007. |
| Photo by: AP |
As for Netanyahu, the Palestinian reconciliation deal justifies his warnings that any territory vacated by Israel will fall into Hamas hands and become an Iranian terror base. It strikes any proposals for interim agreements and unilateral withdrawals, intended to appease the world, off the agenda.
Only two options remain - that Israeli surrender to the expected UN resolution on Palestinian independence and agreement to withdraw to the Green Line or entrench itself in its current position.
Netanyahu is expected to choose the second alternative. Israel is being attacked with missiles on Ashdod and on school buses and explosions in the gas pipe from Egypt, he will say.
There is nothing like a sense of emergency and siege to unite the Israeli public behind his government. When the third intifada erupts, Netanyahu will be able to portray Israel's war against it as a war against Iran and its satellites and neutralize criticism from the left about missed opportunities for peace in the past two years.
From here on, the pressure will mount on Tzipi Livni to join an Israeli unity government to stand against the Palestinians and international community. When Mahmoud Abbas joins Hamas, Kadima cannot say it has a peace partner and cannot propose an alternative policy. Why should Kadima stay in opposition now?
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman grasped the situation first. He proposed to Netanyahu and Livni two weeks ago to work with him on an Israeli proposal for a final-status arrangement with the Palestinians.
The reconciliation has also saved Netanyahu's trip to Washington to speak at the AIPAC convention and in Congress. He no longer has to line the trip with concessions to the Palestinians. The pressure is off. He can make a Churchillian blood-sweat-and-tears speech, the kind he loves, and appear as the West's last bastion of hope in the face of the Islamic wave washing over the Middle East.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
It seems strange to see a picture of Abbas together with Haniyeh. Maybe this will now be a more common sight. We had grown accustomed to seeing Abbas in the company of Netanyahu, Olmert and Livni. It was almost as if he was in their government, and not a representative of a people occupied and disposessed by them.
"...and appear as the West's last bastion of hope in the face of the Islamic wave washing over the Middle East". Israel has traded on this worn-out racist cliche for too long. The world can see straight through it.
In yesterday's article, you were talking of withdrawal and a Palestinian State. things move so fast, now we see what Shamir, Bibi, and the other Likudniks predicted prior to Oslo. The PLO will always be a terror org, and they will simply use politics as a means to destroying Israel. This could be their dumbest move since backing Saddam's invasion of Kuwait.
..... that this new situation is a good thing: No more pushing Israel to agree to a peace that DOES NOT AND CANNOT EXIST anywhere within the Palestinian camp because of the existence of Hamas ... furthermore ... Abbas was always running away from a "peace" he knew that he was not entitled to deliver in the name of Palestine. Let Europe and Pres. Obama scratch their heads now! PA or PLO, whatever, are nobodies, good to take the American money and improve the lives in the West Bank, in other words their bellies, ... BUT NOT their hearts! .... HAMAS CALLS THE SHOTS. If they win the election fine. If they lose they go back where they stand now. And Abbas goes back to his villa happy that he is out of this nightmare. Either way forget about peace! And one more thing: ISRAEL HAS NO PARTNER FOR PEACE! AND IF AMERICA AND EUROPE UNDERSTANDS THIS, THEY WILL HAVE TO REDO THEIR THINKING ON HOW TO PROMOTE A REAL PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.
what you give is what you get israel
...He should make West Bank Palestinians a better offer.
Throughout all the years ther were talks with the PA. Nethanyahu decided that stop these negotataions, and see the outcome. If Israel is no partener to talk with, then go to the Hamas Sad
Throughout all the years ther were talks with the PA. Nethanyahu decided that stop these negotataions, and see the outcome. If Israel is no partener to talk with, then go to the Hamas Sad
BOTH sides Fatah and Hamas sign reconciliation deal. no one can take over the Palestinian nationalist movement, but the Palestinian people.
Israel biggest dream is to keep the palestinian split.
First, they were split into states, and each state was given a reason to be at war with at least 1 neighbour. Then the states were split into factions, and each faction was given a reason for war. I guess the next step might have been for sub-factions and street gangs to start fighting. This way, the Arabs annihilate each other whilst Israel looks on, smiling!
Everyone knows the colonialist Israelis weren't going to budge an inch on issues of apartheid and land thievery. The native Pals need to do what they feel.
The Churchillian speech will find sympathetic ears in the US Congress, but only there. The rest of the world, including much of the US public, recognizes that this is more word play and stagecraft from the Netanyahu government which has shown no appetite for meaningful negotiation since inception. Sadly, the people of Israel no longer seem to require the "sense of emergency and siege" to unite them. The polls show a public increasingly satisfied with its economic success and deaf to the cries of those whose land they occupy nearby. Their tilt to the far right requires little additional encouragement from the prime minister. This only portends greater isolation for Israel at a time when the Middle East is reconfiguring itself and Israel's sole claim to the mantle of democracy in the region is looking somewhat threadbare.
Great to see Palestinians united. Hamas is still the only democratically elected government of Palestine.
Because with Hamas, 1+1=2 With Israel and fateh 1+1+11
The unity of the palestinian people is essential for them, and israel has to find a more constructive way of dealing with it than transparently , destructively trying to cause them to fight one another. All occupied peoples, especially the jews, begin with terror techniques to throw off the yoke of oppression. Hamas will revert to nonviolent diplomatic tools because now independence is within reach.
Today's terrorist is tomorrows freedom fighter!
the self hating lefties can not swallow down that netanyahu really tried to make peace but the hamas and plo do not recognize us and what to kill us all.Israel should stand strong and oprotect its nation
will believe this article's argument. Palestinian reconciliation totally adds pressure on Israel to come up with a final outcome package, including borders and security, that can be presented as fair and practical. Until today Netanyahu had the plausibe argument that Palestine was not united so there was noone to negotiate with or who could deliver on what was negotiated. That argument has 100% gone.The Palestinians are doing everything right. Israel's turn. Shun the Palestinians and you deliver them to Iran. And you will lose the world even faster than you are now. Your call
We all know that for any peace deal to be struck Hamas must be involved. Otherwise the deal-makers will always have the hardliners suggesting that they made too many concessions. One could draw some parallels with Northern Ireland. No peace deal could be made without the involvement of Sinn Fein/I.R.A . Not talking to `terrorists` is not an option. They are precisely the people whom you make peace with- anyone less just won`t carry enough authority. Fatah have prepared the ground but it is Hamas that will ultimately decide whether or not any peace agreement holds. Of course the dynamic on the Israeli side is a whole other kettle of fish .
The Palestinians were never invaders. many of them, perhaps most, are the descendants of the Jews who were there before Islam arrived. They changed their religion, not their DNA. In any case, they lived in Palestine for many centuries before the European Zionists started their colonies there.
IF you read your history strait , am sure you will pack back to Sinia for 40 yrs, then Cairo on the way to Medinah and Mecca. your GPS is dysfuction by coming to Palestine
It's right here: "Hamas, will rule the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, not 'technocrats.' ". Errr, dude, how does this reconciliation process allow Hamas to "rule the PLO"? After all, Hamas isn't even a member of the PLO......
While I agree that during the interim period up to the election, the pressure is off, if Fatah wins the election, the pressure will be back.
Barring a repeat of its previous political blunder!
This article may be correct but it does not answer the question of why 'Fatah' would want to commit suicide in this way. Will it really surrender to 'Hamas' in the 'West Bank' knowing that once 'Hamas' takes over its own people will be subject to the kind of 'democracy' Hamas specializes in?
The public relations and marketing segment of class is finished.
And it goes without saying when Hamas takes over it will provide its citizens with a democratic choice of one vote one value election system. Only Joking!!!
It really doesn't matter if Hamas and Fatah unite or they don't unite. Israel will just continue what they have always done, talk peace while stealing more land. Those Israelis who truly seek peace are a perpetual minority.
Iran? Huh? I fail to see the connection
to drag Iran into any situation.
Any time Israel has a problem, its ultimate cause is "the Iranian terror machine". Understand now? Its 1939 all over again.
Iran supplies weapons and provides political legitimacy to Hamas-and does so openly and proudly. Not much to not understand.
In case you really don't know, Hamas is an Iranian funded and supported organization.
In case you don't know Israel helped found and fund Hamas as a foil against the PLO/... poetic justice.
It's behind ALL of Israel's problems with getting along with its neighbors. Iran's sole objective in this world is the demise of Israel. Everything it does is oriented toward that end...and there's an Iranian behind every door, peeking through every window, and lurking in every bush - they're everywhere - and they're out to get Israel! Just ask Bibi - he'll tell you.
In case you really don't know, Israel is an American funded and supported regime.
Israel created Hamas by it's actions not Iran, Israel should look on it's own doorstep.
The articles author is simply proving Bibi right. That is exactly the position that Bibi is in. Aluf Benn is too clever by half.
fantastic article... poignant indeed
Please read my followup... as this comment was cuttoff. I was being slightly ironic.
Here is the deal. Palestine will be formed on West Bank on Gaza or all of historic Palestine. Choice is with Israeli's. Within a decade or some there will be no support among the Americans jewish or otherwise for Israel as it is. Israel will be viewed as another Sudan or if you are lucky Libya. Wake up people don't let Aluf Benn fool you like an aloof!!!
1) Deal with who exactly? Hamas? Is your proposal to have Hamas set up mortars next to the Western Wall to bomb West Jerusalem?
There was never a Palestine. I don't know what you are talking about. It just sounds like another attempt to end Israel. Sorry to disappoint you, but there will still be a lot of Jewish American support for Israel. Oh. I forgot. Jordan is Palestine.
Israel is being attacked because of it's entrenchment ..withdraw and peace, no puppy harmed..picture that?
Are you suggesting that Hamas will declare peace if Israel withdraws from the West Bank? Really? They don't even recognize the state of Israel.. Why would any sane person expect a withdrawal from areas that will surely now fall to Hamas? In any case, we are not leaving the Western Wall, so Hamas will just keep accusing Israel of continuing the 'occupation'.
to see Israel mobilizing to face the threat of peace.
Last I checked it doesn't even recognize Israel, so how could its taking over of the Palestinians even closely look like a peaceful overture?
Hardly. There will eventually be unilateral moves to further seperate from the Palestinians in the West Bank and to strengthen already Israeli controlled zones. Israel will never surrender southern and old city Jerusalem neighborhoods lost in the 1948 war and regained in '67, no matter how the rest of the world chooses to describe them. Hamas will never recognize any independent Jewish national rights in the Middle East, and is proud to publicly proclaim that as well to anyone not invested in "projecting" their own opinions onto the Palestinian perspective.
You can continue to repeat slogans