(Weekly Standard) Jonathan Schanzer - Last week's unity deal between Hamas and Fatah signals that Fatah no longer believes U.S. recognition and support are essential to their national aspirations. The Hamas-Fatah reconciliation is a blow to U.S. policy, and makes it more difficult for Washington to support a Palestinian state. Washington rightly regards Hamas as a terrorist organization for its decades-long involvement in attacks against Israeli civilians. The State Department lists Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, barring all formal diplomatic engagement with it. The Treasury Department also lists Hamas as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, banning direct U.S. aid to all institutions in which Hamas is involved. Abbas knows this. So his decision to embrace Hamas was a deliberate choice to run around Israel and the U.S. The writer, a former intelligence analyst at the U.S. Treasury, is vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2011-05-11 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive