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The End of the "Peace Process"

(Council on Foreign Relations) Elliott Abrams - The agreement between Fatah and Hamas marks the end of a long period of cooperation and negotiation between Israelis and Palestinians. Cooperation with Israel to improve life in the West Bank and security cooperation against terrorism have now been jettisoned in favor of the appearance of unity. Why now? Hamas' invaluable support from Syria is as shaky as the Assad regime itself, and its usual opposition to PA elections is softened by the prospect of winning them. Moreover, Hamas has long sought to enter and dominate the PLO but was kept out of it. Abbas' willingness to let Hamas in is a considerable victory for Hamas. But why did Abbas do it? Public opinion polls suggest that Palestinians want national unity and reconciliation, so Abbas is playing to the voters. With polls showing that Hamas is quite unpopular in Gaza and weaker than in 2006, Fatah should be able to win the PA and PLO elections. Due to the deal with Hamas, any hope Israel's enemies, or its "friends" in Europe, had that President Obama would push Netanyahu into serious concessions when they meet in late May is now gone. The U.S. needs to be far clearer: we cannot and will not support any government where Hamas has a real influence and the security forces stop fighting terror. We must certainly not fund such a government, and indeed once Prime Minister Fayyad leaves we should be very wary of the financial practices of the PA. We do no favor to any Palestinian who really seeks peace, democracy, and independence if we pull our punches when a murderous terrorist group maneuvers to gain power in - and then take power over - all the Palestinian territories.
2011-05-09 00:00:00
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