Possibly big news buried on p. A7 of today's Boston Globe:
Jimmy Carter is still trying his hand at peacemaking - this time among Palestinians themselves. In an interview with the Globe yesterday, Carter said he had obtained an agreement in writing from the leaders of the militant movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the moderate Fatah party, which rules in the West Bank, to form a unity government of technocrats.
If true, this development undoes a major accomplishment of Bush foreign policy in Israel, which had largely achieved its objective of isolating Hamas internationally, and also removes a major obstacle to the achievement of a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians -- the lack of a single, credible actor on the Palestinian side with the power to deliver a peace deal.
More on the flip...
Carter claims the breakthrough began with discussions he held with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Dec. 10 while touring the Middle East, followed up by subsequent talks with Palestinian President and the leader of Fatah Mahmoud Abbas. Both agreed in principle with
the idea of forming a joint government of technocrats in order for new elections to be held.
Following the meetings, Carter said he sent a letter to both leaders outlining a framework for a new government which they had discussed, and said they both sent him a written response approving the plan. Carter declined to detail the components of the proposal they endorsed but said he forwarded the letters to Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian official in charge of efforts to broker a lasting cease-fire with Israel.
According to Carter, then, the major leaders of both Fatah and Hamas have agreed in writing to the major components which would allow the reestablishment of a unity government. For the moment, Carter is keeping both letters in confidence, though -- as noted above -- he has forwarded the letters to the Egyptian diplomat trying to broker peace.
Furthermore, Carter tells the Globe that
They both have some preconditions, which is not very good... But [Prime Minister] Salam Fayyad, representing Fatah, could form a government with Hamas in a very short time under the auspices of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
He appears optimistic that a deal could be reached in short order.
It is not clear whether the Obama administration would sign off on a Palestinian unity government. Obama's public statements echo those of Bush that Hamas is a terrorist organization, but the divided Palestinian government clearly makes reaching a peace agreement more difficult. Furthermore, Carter reports that he has good relations with Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell, and that Mitchell requested a copy of Carter's new book before departing on his current trip to the Mideast.
Clearly, there are grounds for optimism.
In other news, Hamas has claimed victory in the recent war in Gaza. At a Gaza rally yesterday in front of the damaged Palestinian Parliament building, Hamas legislator Khalil al-Hayeh declared
We thank God when we see our houses bombed and our institutions destroyed but our people say yes to the resistance and yes to martyrdom for the sake of God... We say proudly that Gaza has won the war, the resistance has won the war, and Hamas has won the war.
He also expressed his support for Turkish prime minister Reccip Tayep Erdogan, who caused a stir the other day at Davos when he told Shimon Peres to his face, "You kill people."