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Ulster's Lesson for the Middle East: Don't Indulge Extremists

[Guardian-UK] David Trimble - Nowhere is the Northern Ireland analogy applied more vigorously than in the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If negotiations with the IRA led to the peace agreement in Northern Ireland, we are often told, Israel must be prepared to take the same approach with Hamas. But agreement will mean an accommodation, not a victory of one side over another. Will Hamas accept a two-state solution? Will it end violence? Hamas' failure to satisfactorily reply shows that it would be wrong to try to include it. The preconditions for engagement were clear for the IRA in the early 1990s, and they are clear for Hamas today - renounce violence, recognize Israel, and accept previous peace agreements. Hamas must be encouraged to take the same sort of steps the IRA took towards the negotiating table. If there is one lesson to learn from the Northern Ireland experience, it is that preconditions are crucial in ending violence and producing a settlement. Being overgenerous to extremist groups is like giving sweets to a spoiled child in the hope that it will improve its behavior - it usually results in worse actions. Our experience suggests that while some flexibility is desirable, there have to be clear principles and boundaries. A failure to recognize this risks drawing the wrong conclusions from the recent history of Northern Ireland and fundamentally misunderstanding the peace process. The writer was formerly leader of the Ulster Unionist party, first minister of Northern Ireland, and a Nobel peace laureate.
2007-10-10 01:00:00
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