Ben Ami: 'All we are saying is give Jew-hating murderers a chance'
In Italy on Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the United States would not deal with a unified 'Palestinian Authority' that includes Hamas unless Hamas 'reforms.' “We’ve made it very clear that we cannot support any government that consists [sic] of Hamas unless and until Hamas adopts the Quartet principles,” Clinton said at a press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, referring to the conditions set by the US, UN, EU and Russia.
Frattini said he, like Clinton, was waiting for further details on the exact nature of the new Palestinian Authority government, but stressed that Italy, too, felt Hamas must comply with the Quartet requirements to be a suitable partner.
“There is no doubt that complying with the principles of the Quartet is a prerequisite before Hamas can be considered by Italy as a potential interlocutor,” he said.
But for J Street's Jeremy Ben Ami, that's not good enough. He wants to deal with Hamas now. “Jumping out to say either this is a terrible thing or good thing is in our opinion not the wisest move, and the real question is, what this new alignment really going to stand for and what is it going to do, and that we don’t know,” he said.So I guess that Jeremy Ben Ami agrees with Jimmy Carter.
“There are lot more questions than answers even today after the signing [in Cairo]. Even the parties have more questions than answers: Who is going to be prime minister? What role does [current Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam] Fayyad play? Who really controls the security forces? Are they going to cooperate with the Israel Defense Forces?” In light of comments such as Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh this week calling al- Qaida’s Osama bin Laden a “holy warrior” and condemning his killing by the US, the Post asked Ben-Ami why he thought Hamas might be willing to change its tune towards Israel anytime soon.
“I condemn unequally Haniyeh and his remarks,” he answered. “No question this was a horrible way to react and it shows a real serious flaw in one’s worldview and personality, but the bottom line remains, if Israel wants peace and security it must reach a resolution of the conflict with its enemies.”
What could go wrong?Labels: Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Hillary Clinton, J Street, Jeremy Ben Ami
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:32 AM
2 Comments:
Hamas won't negotiate with Israel.
Negotiations imply mutual compromise. This is exactly what the Palestinians reject.
How then does Jeremy Ben Ami envision a peace agreement happening? The answer it won't unless Israel elects to commit national suicide.
There is no great popular mood for a piece of paper with the Palestinians in view of Egypt's desire to tear up its peace treaty with Israel, among Israelis.
The peace process is dead.
..and the problem, as Carl's following blogs indicate, is that Obama and his Obamii reflexively refuse to recognize the self-evident trashing of declared US policy requirements, whether by Hamas (or Fatah or Syria or Iran), continuing to "engage" their enemies--on the pretext of not "putting them in a corner"--smart power, engagement, leading from behind: euphemisms for appeasement and passivity.
So pressure is exerted on Israel, notwithstanding Hamas continues to violate US diktats, because in the indefinite interim Obama ends up demanding that Israel itself engage through unilateral concession.
Notwithstanding intermittent nods towards sanity, If Obama wants to embrace his inner Ben Ami, Israel doesn't have to play the role of helpless, hapless enabler.
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