There have been a few diaries so far today that have characterized the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections as a disaster. They may well be proven right.I just want to offer another angle.
If history has taught us anything, it is that, at some point, we have to negotiate with the terrorists, however horrific their actions may have been in the past. And it is never quite as simple as: okay, you guys renounce violence, and we'll sit down for a chat. The landslide victory that Hamas appears to have achieved in the Palestinian elections is extraordinary, in that it is the result of the growing political sophistication of a movement (and an electorate) that is working within a democratic framework, at the same time as refusing to give up terrorist violence. This moment is an opportunity for the US and for Israel - as well as for the Europeans, who are already scrambling to work out how to move forwards in light of the election results - to recognize the tensions that exist within Hamas between the unreconstructed suicide bombers and those who want to re-build Palestinian society; who want to forge political partnerships; who will, eventually, work with Israel. Remember, Hamas has been on a ceasefire, officially at least, for some eleven months already.
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From today's Ha'aretz:
Hamas overall leader Khaled Mashaal called Abbas from Syria, where he is in exile, to discuss the outcome of the vote, and told him that the Islamic militant group is ready for a political partnership.
Unofficial election results indicate a crushing victory for Hamas, which seems to have garnered an absolute parliamentary majority after cleaning up in almost every constituency.
The unconfirmed results show that Hamas has captured almost all of the 16 constituencies in the West Bank and Gaza, in particular the Jerusalem district, where Hamas won all four seats allocated for Muslim candidates. Two seats are also reserved for Christian delegates in Jerusalem.
Abbas, who also heads Fatah, called on the Palestinians on Thursday to honor the results.
Abbas is to address the Palestinian people in a televised speech to be broadcast once the official results have been announced. As leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Abbas would still remain in charge of negotiations with Israel.
Hamas ready to extend cease-fire
As news of the results started to trickle in, Hamas senior officials began outlining the organization's policy as the ruling Palestinian faction. Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said Thursday he was ready to maintain a cease-fire with Israel forged last February if Israel does likewise, but that the Islamic group will respond to Israeli attacks.
"If they are going to continue commitment to what is called quietness, then we will continue," he said in an interview with The Associated Press Television News. "But if not, then I think we will have no option, but to protect our people and our land."
Asked if a Hamas-run government would enter peace talks with Israel, Zahar said there that even prior to his party's apparent election success, there had been no movement toward peace and therefore, there is no point to hold dialogue at this time.
"We have no peace process," he said. "We are not going to mislead our people to tell them we are waiting, meeting, for a peace process that is nothing."
Zahar said the fact that senior Hamas officials, many of them in Gaza, would be unable to cross Israeli lines to reach Palestinian government headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah would not prevent them from taking part in decision-making, as many members of the outgoing parliament had been in the same position.
"They are running an administration through video-conferencing," he said. "We are going to continue this policy."
He promised a complete overhaul of Palestinian public services and administration.
"We are going to change every aspect, as regards the economy, as regards industry, as regards agriculture, as regards social aid, as regards health, administration, education," he said.
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I'm sure I won't be the first or the last person to draw an analogy between what's going on in Palestinian politics, and the so-called `long war' fought by the IRA over the last couple of decades in Britain and Ireland. But it's about the transition from terrorist violence to democratic representation; and as we've seen in Iraq, it has to come from within - you can't impose it.
In 1981, as the republican hunger strikes wore on in Long Kesh prison, and a few months after a dying Bobby Sands was elected as a Member of Parliament, an IRA member called Danny Morrison said this to an assembled Sinn Feín conference:
"Who here really believes that we can win this war through the ballot-box? But will anyone here object if, with a ballot paper in one hand and an armalite in the other, we take power in Ireland?"
Twenty-five years later, Sinn Fein is the fastest-growing political party in Ireland, north and south; the IRA has permanently disarmed; and former terrorists are central players in the political structures of the post-Troubles landscape. That's not the whole story, of course, but it is a truly remarkable situation. And it took political leadership, not mutually exclusive blanket denial.
Hamas clearly intends to proceed with the ballot paper in one hand and an explosives-belt around its waist. But it is a beginning. Let us not squander it with bombastic statements about not negotiating with terrorists. Hell, we've been negotiating with them in secret for years.