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Talking to Hamas Undermines Palestinian Moderates

[Daily Star-Lebanon] Michael Young - You can say many disparaging things about Yasser Arafat, but he did manage to preserve the independence of Palestinian decision-making and avoid falling under the sway of any Arab state. Hamas has pawned much of its political liberty to Syria and Iran. It is counter-intuitive that legitimizing Hamas, a movement that opposes a settlement, will make a settlement more likely. Furthermore, opening a dialogue with Hamas would signal the political end of Fatah and of the PLO as we know it. Once states begin normalizing their relations with the Islamist movement, the nature of the PA will change and Mahmoud Abbas' de facto marginalization will be formalized. Do those who want to see the Palestinians gain their rights really feel that their cause will gain once it is represented by a militant Islamist movement? You also have to question why the engagers, many of them Western or Arab liberals who tend to be secular and nonviolent, see so many possibilities in a movement that is deeply illiberal, religiously intolerant, and violent.
2009-03-05 06:00:00
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