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Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557440550&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Why the Northern Ireland Comparison Doesn't Fit
[Jerusalem Post] Herb Keinon - On the day that the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee called for a dialogue with Hamas, the Labor Party chairman of the committee, Mike Gapes, said: "I think from experience in Northern Ireland, you know that sometimes you have to engage with people in a diplomatic way, sometimes quietly." If only Hamas would be willing to renounce violence and decommission its arms as the IRA did, but the difference between the two situations is enormous. The IRA never posited as its goal the replacement of England with Ireland, while the stated goal of Hamas is Palestinian rule not only in Gaza and the West Bank, but in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa as well. While the IRA saw Britain as the enemy, they never denied the legitimacy of the British state. The IRA was a brutal terrorist organization, but it sometimes sent warnings before the bombs blew up; it did not have the support of the Catholic Church; and it did not carry out suicide attacks or perpetuate a death cult.