IPF: Requires Finding a Way To Bring Hamas Into the Process

Dear friends,  

The Israel Policy Forum  is one of the more forward-looking mainstream, Jewish-American organizations working on the Palestinian-Israeli issue.  Their letter below is a bold move in the right direction.  They suggest to the US Administration to stop pretending like Hamas does not exist.

I’ve been saying this since day one of this round of the conflict…if Bush gets his way in ‘destroying’ Hamas, Hamas just goes back to where it was pre-elections, to the trenches, where it will set all of our agendas — Palestinian, Israeli and American — without any accountability whatsoever.

Wondering if Bush and Co can remove their deeply embedded heads from the sand,

Sam

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Reaching an Israeli-Palestinian Agreement  

Requires Finding a Way To Bring Hamas Into the Process,

Israel Policy Forum Writes to Rice 

Israel Policy Forum Letter to Secretary of State Rice:  

March 21, 2008  

Dear Madame Secretary:  

We are writing to urge you to continue and intensify your efforts to end the violence along the Israel-Gaza border and to help establish conditions that would enable Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas to implement any agreements they may have reached in their bilateral discussions. Clearly, until all violence ends, any Israeli-Palestinian agreement, no matter how acceptable to the respective sides, will languish on the shelf.  

With your determined and sustained personal involvement, a Hamas-Israel cease-fire and a border agreement among Israelis, Egyptians, and Palestinians could be reached. This could facilitate the conditions for reaching a Final Agreement on Permanent Status by the end of the year.  

This requires finding a way to bring Hamas into the process. While we share your concerns over direct engagement with Hamas, we believe that it is impossible to achieve an agreement on any of the key issues — including the release of Corporal Shalit — without engaging Hamas through some means, simply because Hamas is the governing authority in Gaza.  

Furthermore, no progress can be made with a divided Palestinian polity. Abbas cannot make peace alone. Nor can Israel reach a binding agreement with the Palestinian Authority while at war with the de facto Palestinian government in Gaza. Israelis cannot be expected to make the sacrifices needed to establish peace if Hamas, the most violent actor, is not included, at least tacitly.  

Accordingly, we support your actions encouraging Arab states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar or whichever interlocutor you deem appropriate, to determine Hamas’s willingness to establish a cease-fire and to help stabilize the current situation. We say this with the recognition that — as in the case of Israel’s indirect dealings with Hamas to free Gilad Shalit — no progress can be made if Hamas is totally excluded from the process.  

Should a ceasefire be established, we urge you to craft a new regime for protecting the ceasefire, either through international monitors, a multinational force on the Gaza borders, or at least through better coordination among Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinians. A ceasefire must not only be created; it must be sustained.  

This is a moment of decision. An immediate end to the Israel-Hamas violence and a rejuvenated peace process are of critical importance to the Israeli and Palestinian people, and to American interests in the Middle East. This is an essential step on the difficult road leading to Israel living in peace and security alongside a stable and peaceful Palestinian state.  

The Bush administration should act decisively to help bring an end to the deaths and suffering on both sides and to immediately revive the peace process. Otherwise, the initial gains of Annapolis and the President’s trip to the region in January will be lost, and the current American policy will have failed.  

Sincerely,  

Seymour D. Reich, President 

Peter A. Joseph, Chair 

Nick Bunzl, Executive Director

http://www.ipforum.org/display.cfm?rid=2588

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