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Fatah-Hamas-Israel: A Problematic Relationship

[bitterlemons.org] Yossi Alpher - Israel and Fatah/Ramallah have embarked on a two-track process that involves confidence- and institution-building along with an attempt to draw up a new declaration of principles for final status. The underlying concept of this approach holds that success in creating peace and prosperity in the West Bank, coupled with misery in Gaza, will somehow topple Hamas through grassroots pressure. Alternatively, it holds out the prospect that the Hamas leadership will passively accept Fatah's two-state deal with Israel and breathe a sigh of relief because this would allow Hamas to have its ideological cake - refusal to recognize Israel - and eat it too, with Fatah taking care of coexistence issues with Israel. According to this approach, Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza last June, which by any standard signaled the abject failure of American and Fatah policy, is now defined as a "window of opportunity" for those actors to regroup and outflank Hamas at the peace table. This concept willfully ignores Hamas' capacity to torpedo the new process through violence. It downplays the real, extreme nature of the Hamas leadership. It makes light of Abbas' weakness as a leader. And it falls into the old fallacy that economic prosperity will win the hearts and minds of Palestinians who are otherwise committed to a more extreme agenda. In Damascus, the Hamas leadership is fomenting new suicide bombings against Israel as well as attacks on Fatah, all aimed at derailing current peace efforts. The writer is former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.
2007-09-03 01:00:00
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