The AP on world reactions to the Hamas win.
PARIS (AP) – World leaders, uneasy at the prospect of a Hamas-led Palestinian government, immediately exerted pressure on the Islamic militants Thursday to recognize Israel and renounce violence as a precondition for ties.
France noted that the European Union lists Hamas as a terrorist organization, as does the United States. Italy said the militant group’s resounding – and surprising – victory in legislative elections Wednesday could indefinitely postpone any chance of Israeli-Palestinian peace and make the creation of a Palestinian state more difficult.
“It is a very, very, very bad result,” Italian news agencies quoted Premier Silvio Berlusconi as saying.
Concern crossed political divides, with traditional supporters of the Palestinian cause – such as Italy’s center-left opposition – among those expressing concern.
Gee, ya think?
“The whole of the international community has the responsibility to accept the outcome of any fair and democratic election,” said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. “But in this case Hamas has a clear responsibility to understand that with democracy goes a rejection of violence.”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman was blunter: “We can only do business with people who renounce terrorism,” he said.
Israel, the United States and the European Union have said they would not deal with a government led by Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings, seeks Israel’s destruction and has said that it opposes peace talks and will not disarm.
Freivalds, the Swedish minister, said the 25-nation EU will not be able to cooperate with Hamas unless it changes its policies. The French prime minister laid out what he described as “indispensable” conditions: Renouncing violence, accepting progress toward peace, recognizing Israel and recognizing international accords, notably the Oslo peace accords.
Here’s the biggest laugh of the article, though:
“It is obvious that the EU would never countenance funding a regime that continued an armed fight against Israel,” said Ignasi Guardans, a Spanish member of the European Parliament. “But we cannot push for democracy and then deny the result of free and fair elections.”
First off, refusing to recognize terrorists in a government is not denying the results of a democratic election. You recognize that they won. You simply refuse to deal with terrorists. However, I don’t expect the EU to stick to their current guns. You’ll be seeing pictures of the EU representatives having coffee with Hamas within the month.
Secondly: This quote is proof positive of the wilful blindness of the world regarding palestinian terror. They funded Yasser Arafat for decades. They were presented with the evidence of his involvement in terror. They ignored or denied it.
I said before that this is Ehud Olmert’s Harry Truman moment. It’s even more important than that. America wasn’t facing an existential threat when Roosevelt died. The war in Europe was in the mop-up stage. The war with Japan was in its final stages.
Israel’s war with the Arab and Muslim world is ongoing. Most of the Arab world has never recognized Israel. Syria is still at war with her. Lebanon has thousands of Iranian proxy troops waiting for the order to invade. And Iran’s president has stated many times in the past months that he wants to rid the world of Israel.
This is the opportunity for the world to step up and stand with Israel against those who would destroy her.
I’m not holding out a lot of hope for that right now, judging on the past. Every time the world has the chance to destroy Jews or save them, it always chooses the former.
The difference this time, of course, is that the Jews are armed. And dangerous.
Meryl,
I understand your position, but I’ve got a slightly different take on this one. I think this is a good thing – at least we can now confront the truth.
http://mailer-daemon.blogspot.com/2006/01/truth-is-out-there.html
Thank you, Meryl, for this fine coverage you presented here. I now know more than I ever did and it’s scary. I hope that all of us, including our governments, will support Israel and her right to exist and live peacefully, and not just with rhetoric but real actions-the cards are on the table now…
Ariel Sharon’s decision to close down the Gaza settlements and to start a security fence has been vindicated. The Palestinians are doomed. Nihilism underpins their overall culture and leaves them with little hope. It is a sad day when “Fatah” (which means ‘Conquest’)is considered to be the moderate party. Israelis and other normal people need to stay away from them as much as possible.
#1 Michaelson
You and I park our cars in the same garage. I especially agree with you regarding no jobs and no access to Israeli social services for Palestinians who are in effect now citizens of a de facto enemy state.
Unfortunately the small remainder of the once flourishing Christian population in the Palestinian controlled areas will now have to flee.
Joel–
Have you forgotten that the Christians in Bethlehem largely backed HAMAS over FATAH?
The world community wants to establish an Arab state in the territories that Israel conquered in 1967. Therefore it will deal with HAMAS. It’s as simple as that.
What we may see, however, is a revival of the notion, which the PA had been trying to subvert over the last few months, that the PA deals with internal affairs and the PLO deals with foreign affairs. This election involved only the PA; the refugees in the Arab states did not vote. Abbas will remain head of the PLO, and he may continue to manage the diplomatic front so that the US and like-minded countries can avoid meeting with HAMAS. Abbas’s claims of inability to disarm HAMAS will be more credible now than ever.
HAMAS wants to continue to offer a “calm” with Israel so that it can re-arm, unmolested. Israeli actions to disrupt this “calm” will draw international condemnation. And al Qaeda will burrow deeper into Palestinian society.
The Jews are armed, Meryl, but I’m not sure that under a Kadima regime we are dangerous to anyone but ourselves.
No time to say everything I think about the Hamas win, but an ethical, practical response from the US and Europe would be to say: We will not fund a Palestinian government containing Hamas. We will be happy to resume funding if and when the Palestinian people see fit to vote them out, or if Hamas replaces its charter with one recognizing Israel and disarms. In the meantime we note that for a century the Arab world has made much of Arab unity and brotherhood. With revenues boosted by oil at $60 a barrel, we suggest that the Arab states are well able to make up the resulting shortfall in the Palestinian budget themselves.
Wonder what Jeeemy Carter will say the next time the Pals decide to throw a missile, send out someone with an explosive vest, or any other typical act. If the Pals want to act like grownups they should be held to grownup standards. Then maybe the EU and our State Dept will start demanding grownup standards of the rest of the world (instead of just Israel). I’ll keep buying bonds, sending JNF money, and planning my next trip to Israel. And putting the prayer machine into full gear (again). And sending gelt to friends in the IDF.
Paul M–
You are missing the point. HAMAS is an integral part of a branch of Islam (the Muslim Brotherhood) that considers jihad to be the “sixth pillar” of the religion. Read the covenant. Just as a “Palestinian” who seeks peaceful coexistence with Israel is an oxymoron if one accepts the PLO Charter’s definition of a “Palestinian,” no Muslim who adheres to the faith reflected in the HAMAS covenant can renounce the armed jihad or recognize the legitimacy of a Zionist state.
Demanding that a faith community renounce its beliefs is about as productive as trying to teach a pig to sing [sic]. You know the punchline–not only can’t you succeed, but you also annoy the pig.
Therefore, calls that HAMAS change its essence are going to be perceived–correctly, I believe–as signs of weakness, the opening steps in a process of self-deluding dhimmitude on the part of the West. On an earlier post, Meryl deemed such self-delusion “absolutely unbelievable,” but I find it all too believable in light of the precedents.
Hope that’s not a yes for Bibi?
Watching an interview with him blame the Disengagement for the Hamas win and the hype made me think of a demagogue.
Hamas is now out in the open for those who choose to look, as Emanuele Ottolenghi’s article points out:
Hamas Without Veils No more hiding behind the PA.
Pity many have forgotten Bibi the prime minister. He couldn’t handle Fatah: how would he handle Hamas?
By big talk, logistical problems and falling investment?
It was only Sharon who got things under control and corraled Arafat and brought back confidence to the financial sector and thus foreign investment.
Sharon’s team have been primed on his strategy so they will in all probability follow through.
If an example of Bibi’s judgement is his jumping ship (first he voted for , then he bailed = JF Kerry?) then G-d help the Israelis if he and the Likud’s nepotistic and corrupt Central Committee are to lead them against the Arabs.
I think that we have to accept the fact that Hamas was, in fact, voted into power using all the democratic “processes” that exist…..The question now is……..Was the vote a repudiation of the PA and it’s policies, or was it a vote for terrorism…???
This is not a Harry Truman/North Korea moment. This is a Cuban Missile Crisis moment for Olmert and Israel. It may even be worse than that if Iran says that Hamastan (Gaza), Fatahstan (West Bank)and Syria are under its nuclear umbrella.
chsw
Cynic–
Not gonna get into a long political debate here. But will note several things.
One, Bibi got a far better agreement (Wye) while dealing with a relatively hostile US adminstration than Sharon did (Road Map) while dealing with a relatively friendly US administration.
Two, while Bibi always opposed unilateral disengagement, he stayed in the cabinet in order to try to shape it, and “jumped ship,” as you call it, only after losing the argument over whether to abandon the Philadelphi corridor. Plus, it allowed him to extend his stellar performance as finance minister.
Three, the Sharon family played no small role in the nepotism and corruption within Likud. The recent departures did not eliminate Likud’s problems in this regard, but Kadima certainly has no bragging rights on the issue. Nor, for that matter, does Labor.
But my comment wasn’t so much about Bibi or Likud as about the fact that the post-Sharon Kadima government is untested on the security front. Just about the only thing that we know is that this is the side that “won” the argument over abandoning control of the border between Egypt and Gaza.
I stopped trusting Europe to watch our backs when they stopped protecting us. Oops, my bad, when has Europe spent any real time looking out for us.
With few exceptions they have been nothing but useless.
hi there,
thank you for the factual analysis of these elections. i have a tongue in cheek evaluation of the elections on my blog.
Ben,
No, I don’t think I’m missing the point. I don’t expect Hamas to change it’s essence. The most I expect is more of their evasions and quieting of the rhetoric when it suits them.
It doesn’t matter so long as Israel holds firm: Olmert or whoever follows him must, in every speech, (1) ram home the credo of Hamas, quote from their charter and generally make sure their beliefs follow them like a bad smell, and (2) refuse to negotiate peace and statehood with a Hamas-tainted PA unless they rewrite their charter and destroy their weapons. For the rest, they can be left to mend the roads and make the trains run on time, so long as there are no attacks on Israel.
I know Hamas can’t back away from its charter, but that’s not Israel’s problem: It’s the Palestinians’. By now it’s clear to Israel and to Hamas, if to no-one else, that Israel can survive the terror war and beat Hamas into the ground as needed (even though the effect is never permanent). At some point, the Palestinians will have to choose between clinging to Hamas and remaining in eternal limbo, or voting them out to have a shot at a negotiated peace and statehood. Hamas, in turn, will have the option of reforming itself, which it can’t do; accepting electoral defeat—at which point it has lost; or rejecting popular will and staying in power by force—at which point it has still lost.
If European and American backers of the PA can develop some spine and act likewise, that would be a huge help—which was the point of my previous post. And handing responsibility for funding the PA to the Arabs would pile more pressure on Hamas, because the other Arabs don’t like the Palestinians enough to want to put out all that money, and they are afraid of Islamists.
What would truly be fatal weakness would be for Israel, the US or Europe to give Hamas any “face-saving” option that allows negotiations without renouncing the charter and proving their change of heart by disarming. In the case of Hamas, it’s not actions alone that count—the words are what will choke them.
I would never say that it is good that Hamas, the true heirs to the Nazis, won the election. After all, they want to kill me (and Meryl, and most of the posters here). But I do agree that it clarifies the situation.
Ben F
Bibi basically got non-compliance of the agreement from Arafat in exchange for Hevron; the same non-compliance as the Roadmap. Bibi couldn’t even complete a term and the people threw him out.
Since the madness of Oslo made its appearance Sharon was the first one to get things under control.
As for the Sharon family their corruption was purely a family affair. The Likud Central committee is now the bane of Bibi’s life until he/they can get that in order.
US pressure whether from the Clinton Admin or the Bush one forced Israel into agreements that were never complied with by the arabs.
The Roadmap was a laugh from the start with Israeli TV coverage of the Arabs taking part at Aqaba exposing their hypocritical attitude. Just the visual, far from poker faced, expressions of Mubarak and co. as they reacted to statements made Bush appear a dupe.
As it was termed here: “The Roadmap to Hudnas Where”.
As for the Gaza borders:
the side that won was the Rice/Wolfensohn side in what Dry Bones described as “brokering Israel’s arms”.
See his November 16 cartoon.
Pity more people did not see the interview on Israel’s Channel 10 when London & Kirshenbaum had Wolfensohn whining about the tough questioning that had him admitting that what they forced on Israel was for the good of the Palestinians and that any security issue was Israel’s problem to resolve.
Now with hindsight maybe the couple can tell what they accomplished by permitting a jihadist footing in the region.
The Israeli public found confidence in the Sharon led govt., and even if he is not at the helm, his team apart from Bibi is intact and certainly more convincing than the names likely to make it to ministerial positions in the other parties. When Livni took over the Foreign Ministry from Shalom there was a sigh of relief across the country.
If people did want to resolve the conflict without war the only feasible way I can see to do so is to completely cut off the Palestinian Arabs from any money. No money funneled from Europe or America, no Arab money, no transfers from Palestinian Arabs living abroad. Suddenly the Palis’ welfare state is cut off, and they have to learn to earn their own bread. At that point they won’t have time for terrorism. But this will never happen.
It looks to me like terrorism has been very good for Hamas. They are now in charge in the PA and I’ll bet they move to muscle in on the PLO soon. They’ve got lots of money coming in from Arab and other sources. They “won a victory” over Israel about Gaza, at least in their own minds. The only other Arabs to win such a victory over Israel are Hezbollah, who are also terrorists come to think of it. And Hamas’ advocacy of terror is one of their main appeals to the Palestinian electorate. The terrorists will consider that they are on a roll.
The Palestinians have been the Arab’s proxy in their war on the Jews/Israelis along with being the Communist world’s Realpolitik goons.
One can be sure that the UN will prop them up even as it conducts eventide services for Holocaust Memorial Day.