In seeking to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the US & the international community are ignoring two obvious facts: first, that the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas and Salam Fayyad may not be able to deliver and, second, that Hamas remains a major player in the Palestinian political arena.
The Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip now know that Abbas and his ruling Fatah faction are no longer the sole players able to implement a peace agreement with Israel. Abbas and Fatah lost the Gaza Strip elections, and as such have lost direct control over nearly 1.5 million Palestinians living in the area. Their credibility may have also been damaged by their close alliance with the US, and ongoing attempts to overthrow the Hamas regime. Many Palestinians, protective of their democratically elected government, are distrustful of Fatah’s affiliation with international agendas. For all these reasons, it should be quite obvious to decision-makers around the world, that Abbas cannot be the sole addressee for negotiations.
We can no longer ignore the fact that Hamas remains a major player in the Palestinian political arena, whether we like it or not. In ignoring Hamas, are we actually burying our heads in the sand? It may be an illusion to expect Hamas to become a pro-Zionist movement, but some positive changes have occurred within the organisation over the past five years. In 1996, the movement boycotted the first parliamentary election, condemning participants as traitors, as the vote was held under the umbrella of the Oslo Accords, which envisaged the idea of a two-state solution. However, their readiness to run in the January 2006 parliamentary election has been interpreted by some as acceptance of the two-state solution. Hence, instead of seeking to bring down Hamas, should the international community be looking for ways to engage the movement? Boycotting Hamas has proved to be a failed policy.
