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Carter: Hamas Will Accept 1967 Borders |
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In October, I recommended that we call Hamas’ bluff, arguing they would be willing to accept a two-state solution if pressured to do so:
Dear Secretary Rice:
[snip]
Hamas desires the creation of a Palestinian state. According to your statements, so do you. I believe that if Hamas was convinced an independent Palestine would soon be created, they would agree to recognize Israel. They have indicated their willingness to do so explicitly and implicitly since the late 1990s. Here is only one example:
After its unexpected landslide election victory in January [2006], Hamas said it would not retreat from its goal of replacing the Jewish state with an Islamic one. It also resisted negotiations.
But the group backed down after a threat by Mr Abbas to hold a referendum on the issue as a means to end crippling economic sanctions imposed by foreign donors until Hamas recognises Israel, renounces violence and agrees to abide by agreements in which the Palestine Liberation Organisation accepts a two-state solution. Opinion polls suggested Hamas would lose a referendum, because most Palestinians support negotiations with Israel.
Mr Abbas’s aides described Hamas’s endorsement of the agreement, drawn up by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as a “surrender to reality” and “showing the world that the Palestinians are partners for peace.”
Are you unable to comprehend the subtleties of this situation, Ms. Rice? If you ask Hamas to renounce its founding charter, it will refuse. But in this case, we are concerned with actions, not words. If you bring them to the table, they will play ball. If they play ball, the peace efforts stand a greater chance of succeeding.
Today Jimmy Carter, after talking with Hamas leaders in Egypt and Syria, offers confirmation of my suspicions:
“They (Hamas) said that they would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, if approved by Palestinians and that they would accept the right of Israel to live as a neighbor next door in peace,” Carter said.
[snip]
Carter urged Israel to engage in direct negotiations with Hamas, saying failure to do so was hampering peace efforts.
“We do not believe that peace is likely and certainly that peace is not sustainable unless a way is found to bring Hamas into the discussions in some way,” he said. “The present strategy of excluding Hamas and excluding Syria is just not working.”
[snip]
Carter said Hamas promised it wouldn’t undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, as long as the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum. In such a scenario, he said Hamas would not oppose a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
Carter said Hamas officials, including Mashaal, agreed to this in a written statement.
“Let me read exactly what they accepted verbatim. This is their language: ‘If President Abbas succeeds in negotiating a final status agreement with Israel, Hamas will accept the decision made by the Palestinian people and their will in a referendum monitored by international observers … even if Hamas is opposed to the agreement,’” Carter said.
But Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri in Gaza said Hamas’ readiness to put a peace deal to a referendum “does not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum.”
Such a referendum, he said, would have to be voted on by Palestinians living all over the world. They number about 9.3 million, including some 4 million living in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.
The only Israeli officials to meet with Carter during the former president’s latest Mideast mission were Israeli President Shimon Peres and Eli Yishai, one of several deputy prime ministers. Peres scolded Carter for meeting with Hamas but Yishai, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, said he was willing to meet with Hamas leaders to discuss a prisoner exchange.
Israel says Carter’s talks embolden Palestinian extremists and hurt Palestinian moderates as they try to make peace with the Jewish state. Abbas, who rules only the West Bank, is in a bitter rivalry with Hamas.
“The problem is not that I met with Hamas in Syria,” Carter said Monday. “The problem is that Israel and the United States refuse to meet with someone who must be involved.”
Carter said Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has “regressed” since a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference in Annapolis, Md., in November. He faulted Israel for continuing to build on disputed land the Palestinians want for a future state and for its network of roadblocks that severely hamper Palestinians traveling in the West Bank.
Undoubtedly this is all extremely complicated, and undoubtedly skeptics will be able to parse Hamas’ language for signs of hypocrisy or lack of good faith. But I believe there is mounting evidence that talks with Hamas could benefit the peace process. The fact that a former president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize should think so too, in a time when a far-right wing president has openly called for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, should signal to everyone that the terms of the debate are changing.
I don’t want to embolden terrorists. I don’t want to threaten the security or livelihood of innocent people. But I believe that there is a solution to the situation in Israel/Palestine, and that it can be achieved if we focus on taking practical steps toward the goal of peace, conducted without ideology or desire for revenge. Clearly many will disagree that Hamas could ever commit to these goals. But after 60 years of bloodshed, and 20 years of Hamas, it’s worth approaching the conflict with an open mind. We can afford to engage Hamas, because even if talks backfired, the majority of the power will still rest with Israel and the United States. And what if talks could achieve a lasting cease-fire? A lasting peace? Are we really willing to sacrifice that hope simply to maintain a silence that so far has achieved little?
