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Afternoon Thread: Carter Moving the Window? |
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Hopefully the haters have something better to do than criticize their 83-year-old elders. So let’s cut to it:
On his trip to the Middle East, Carter has already met with Hamas officials in Egypt and will meet soon with Khalid Meshaal, the leader of Hamas’ external branch. He also met with Israeli President Peres and Syrian President Assad.
Carter has been critical of US and Israeli policy toward the conflict.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called the blockade of Gaza a crime and an atrocity on Thursday and said U.S. attempts to undermine the Islamist movement Hamas had been counterproductive.
[snip]
Israel has not accepted Hamas proposals for a truce including an end to Hamas rocket attacks on Israel and to Israeli attacks on Hamas personnel in Gaza and the West Bank. Israeli officials say a truce would enable Hamas to rearm.
Carter said Israel and its ally the United States were trying to make the quality of life in Gaza markedly worse than in the West Bank, where the rival Fatah group is in control.
“I think politically speaking this has worked even to strengthen the popularity of Hamas and to the detriment of the popularity of Fatah,” he added. The United States has been trying to achieve the opposite outcome.
Carter, who helped make peace between Egypt and Israel while president in the 1970s, said the Hamas leaders he has met so far told him they would accept a peace agreement with Israel negotiated by Mahmoud Abbas — the Fatah leader and Palestinian president — if the Palestinians approved it in a referendum.
Israel and the United States say they refuse to deal with Hamas as long as the Islamist movement does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and renounce violence.
But Carter said Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, had to be involved in any arrangements that could lead to peace.
“One of the reasons I wanted to come and meet with the Syrians and Hamas was to set an example that might be emulated by others… I know that there are some officials in the Israeli government that are quite willing to meet with Hamas and maybe that will happen in the near future,” he added.
The example Carter sets may already be moving the window, opening a larger space for Israeli leaders to express opinions that diverge from Olmert’s:
Correspondents say Mr Carter has been snubbed by other senior Israeli leaders because of the meeting with Mr Meshaal.
But Israeli industry minister Eli Yishai has told Mr Carter he is willing to meet Hamas leaders to negotiate the release of prisoners held by the group.
His spokesman said Mr Yishai had passed the proposal to Mr Carter ahead of his trip to Syria, saying he was “ready to meet with all necessary Hamas members” - including Mr Meshaal - for talks.
Palestinian militant groups including Hamas captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a raid into Israel two years ago.
Such a meeting involving Mr Yishai - the leader of the orthodox Shas party - would be against Israeli government policy. Shas is an important member of the governing coalition in Israel, holding four cabinet posts.
To lay it out there, I think Carter is right. I think Israel should hear out Hamas, and America should too. I’ve long thought that Hamas’ statements about not accepting Israel’s right to exist were at least partly if not entirely a bluff, one they use because they’re afraid of being weakened like the PLO. Some public statements from Hamas officials, such as the ones referred to above, confirm this speculation.
If we don’t like what they have to say, we can always go back to not talking. But I really don’t understand this philosophy of never talking because you’re afraid of legitimating the other guy. Are we that insecure? Is Carter really emboldening Hamas?
