Israel Matzav

The end of the 'peaceful' Hamas illusion?

In an earlier post, I linked to a tweet in which it was reported that Hamas had condemned the 'murder' of Osama Bin Laden by US Navy Seals. Most of you probably missed it, but it's important, so let's come back to it and expand on it a bit. Jackson Diehl has the full quote from Hamas 'Prime Minister' Ismail Haniyeh.

And then there is the Palestinian Hamas, whose top leader in the Gaza Strip mourned bin laden on Monday as an” Arab holy warrior.” Ismail Haniyeh, who is Hamas’s prime minister, told reporters that “we regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood.”

“We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior,” said the man who has assured former president Jimmy Carter, among other envoys, of Hamas’s peaceful intentions toward Israel and the United States. “We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs.”

Haniyeh's words are making it impossible for anyone to allow Hamas to be a partner in the 'peace process.' Not even the Obama administration.

Haniyeh’s comments will be even more concerning, as they come days before a planned meeting in Cairo at which Hamas and the secular Fatah movement are to agree on a reconciliation. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas long ago renounced violence against Israel, and his West Bank security forces are funded and trained by the United States.

Now Abbas will find himself agreeing to form a joint Palestinian government with a man who has just condemned the U.S. killing of “Arab holy warrior” bin Laden. The broker of the deal, Egypt, has been pressing the Obama administration to accept the accord and to put forward a plan for Palestinian statehood in response.

Should the mourner of bin Laden be recognized as a worthy partner for peace with Israel, or a potential leader of a new Arab state? Haniyeh’s comments won’t leave the White House -- which has been weighing how to respond to the Palestinian unity deal -- with much of a choice.

I'm sure 'Abbas' isn't too bothered by that. But Obama ought to be.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Ismail Haniyeh, Mahmoud Abbas, Osama Bin Laden

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:40 AM