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Washington's response to Hamas
We are in 1992 once again. Will the victorious Islamist political party Hamas be allowed to govern in Palestine, as the triumphant Islamic Salvation Front was "allowed" when it won the Algerian elections in 1992?
The denial of incumbency to the democratically elected Algerian Islamists resulted in a bitter and bloody civil war that cost thousands of lives over a decade. It set back the democratisation trend in the Middle East by at least a decade, at a crucial moment after the cold war when democracy was spreading throughout the world.
Decisions made today may be equally fateful. How the United States, Europe and Israel respond to Hamas' assuming control of the government in Palestine may well define political trends and militant violence throughout much of the Middle East for years to come. This is because several historical factors have converged to make the success or failure of the Hamas-led Palestinian government a litmus test of broad perceptions and relations between the United States and the Arab world.
At stake here are several major issues:
Not surprisingly, the American response to Hamas was a main theme at the annual US-Islamic World Forum, organised by the Brookings Institution and the state of Qatar that I just attended in Doha, Qatar. The prevalent sentiment among Arabs and Muslims from other parts of the world was that Hamas should be given an opportunity to form a government and declare its policy programme before it is sanctioned through aid cut-offs or other such punitive measures, as Israel has already imposed. American participants generally seemed less convinced, wanting specific assurances that Hamas would end its military resistance against Israel and recognise it.
My own sense is that the Hamas victory provides a rare historical opportunity to achieve goals that all the main parties should welcome, especially Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and Europeans. The best possible scenario would be for the US to repeat its existing opposition to Hamas' military resistance and terror against Israeli civilians, but state that it will continue to deal with a legitimately elected Palestinian government that adheres to existing agreements and aims to achieve a negotiated peace settlement based on the Israeli and Palestinian states living peacefully side by side. The Hamas-led Palestinian government, after intensive consultations with Arab states, should declare its acceptance of the 2002 Arab peace proposal, which offers coexistence with Israel in its 1967 borders and requires a fair resolution of the Palestine refugee problem. The Arab plan is almost identical to Hamas' position on Israel, so it should not be difficult to accept it.
The United States can achieve several important goals by responding slowly, clearly and positively to Hamas and engaging it in a diplomatic dialogue.
It would:
Israel and its slightly hysterical polemicists and lobbyists in Washington are in overdrive these days. They wish to prevent any possible thoughtful American response that gives Hamas time to show whether it is willing to move towards a position that accepts Israel's existence in return for legitimate Palestinian demands of an end of the occupation, the birth of a Palestinian state, and a fair resolution of the refugee issue.
If the US follows Israel by isolating and sanctioning Hamas, and punishing the Palestinians for electing it, the consequences would seem grim:
The choice is laden with huge consequences. Washington should recognise the enormous and historic opportunity that stares it in the face, and for once adopt a Middle Eastern policy that is a win-win situation for all concerned.
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This article was published in the Friday-Saturday, February 24-25, 2006 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.
