[WCUSP] Olive Branch from Hamas

Mon Apr 16 20:51:42 CDT 2007

_http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR20070415005
63.html?hpid=opinionsbox1_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/15/AR2007041500563.html?hpid=opinionsbox1) 

�

_NEWS_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/?nav=pf)  | _OPINIONS_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/opinions/?nav=pf)  | _SPORTS_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/sports/?nav=pf)  | _ARTS & LIVING_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/?nav=pf)  | _Discussions_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/liveonline/?nav=pf)  | _Photos & Video_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/?nav=pf)  | _City Guide_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artsandliving/cityguide/?nav=pf) 
 | _CLASSIFIEDS_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/admin/classifieds/?nav=pf)  | _JOBS_ (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wl/jobs/home?nav=pf)  | _CARS_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/cars/?nav=pf)  | _REAL ESTATE_ 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/realestate/?nav=pf) 

Olive Branch From  Hamas
By Robert D.  Novak
Monday, April 16, 2007; A17 

On April 7, ending a  seven-day visit to Israel, I finally got an interview I 
had sought for a year. I  sat down in a Palestinian Authority office in 
Ramallah with a leader of Hamas,  the extremist organization that won last year's 
elections. This leader pushed a  two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution and 
deplored suicide bombers. But  officials in Washington seem not to want to hear 
Hamas calling for  peace. 
No fringe character,  this was Naser al-Shaer: education minister and deputy 
prime minister in the new  coalition government. Shaer signaled that the 
regime recognizes Israel's right  to exist and forgoes violence -- conditions 
essential for talks about a viable  Palestinian state adjoining Israel -- even if 
Hamas does not. "We hope that it  is going to be a matter of time," Shaer told 
me. "But there is a big chance  now." 
When I returned to  Washington last week, I sought the reaction of Bush 
administration officials  (who refuse to have any contact with Hamas). I asked to 
talk to Elliott Abrams,  the deputy national security adviser who is most 
influential in policy on  Israel. Abrams was once a fellow Cold Warrior and friend 
whom I have defended,  but an aide let me know on Thursday that Abrams would 
not talk to me about  Hamas. A senior State Department official also showed no 
interest in what Shaer  said. 
U.S. policy is not  just adherence to the economic boycott that has 
devastated the Palestinian  Authority since Hamas won elections in January 2006. U.S. 
government officials  and contract workers in the Israeli-occupied territories 
must leave when someone  from Hamas enters a room. Because the State 
Department lists Hamas as a  terrorist organization, Americans not employed by the 
government fear that  contacting a Hamas member of the Palestinian government 
would violate the USA  Patriot Act. 
Accordingly, a year  ago, sources who put me in touch with other Palestinians 
refused to help with  Hamas. The best contact I could make then was a brief 
telephone conversation  with a Hamas underling. 
I was back in  Jerusalem on April 3, two weeks after Hamas brought the more 
moderate opposition  Fatah party into the new national unity government. The 
Los Angeles Times had  just run a remarkable op-ed by the new government's 
finance minister, Salam  Fayyad, a political independent who lived in Washington 
for 20 years, served as  a World Bank official and is well respected in the 
West. Fayyad wrote that the  Palestine Liberation Organization's 1993 acceptance 
of Israel and disavowal of  violence is "a crystal-clear and binding agreement" 
that "no Palestinian  government has the authority to revoke." He added that 
the unity government's  platform "explicitly" pledges to honor all PLO 
commitments. 
Over dinner in a  Ramallah restaurant on April 4, Fayyad told me that he 
offered his column  simultaneously to several major American newspapers to get 
this story out  quickly. But do his Hamas colleagues accept his reasoning? Fayyad 
made clear  that he was not flying solo. 
Just before my trip  ended, the Palestinian Authority put me in touch with 
Shaer. On Aug. 19, when he  was deputy prime minister in the all-Hamas regime, 
Shaer was seized in an  Israeli raid of his Ramallah home and held for a month 
without charges or  evidence. 
In his ministry  office a few days later, Shaer, who holds a doctorate from 
England's University  of Manchester, looked nothing like the shirt-sleeved, 
tie-less man photographed  when he was released in September. He was dressed in a 
stylish suit, but more  telling than his appearance was what he said. 
When I asked whether  Hamas agreed with Fayyad's formulation, Shaer said it 
did not matter: "We are  talking about the government, not groups." He said 
Hamas was no more relevant to  Palestinian policy than the views of extremist 
anti-Palestinian cabinet member  Avigdor Lieberman are to Israeli policy. 
Unexpectedly, Shaer expressed dismay  that "previous attempts at peace were ruined by 
suicide bombers. Now, we look  forward to a sustained peace." 
While avoiding  Israel-bashing, Shaer conjectured: "I don't think the Israeli 
government wants a  two-state solution. Without pressure from the president 
of the United States,  nothing is going to happen." That sounded like a plea 
for help from George W.  Bush. But will he hear it if Elliott Abrams does not 
listen? 
� 2007 Creators  Syndicate Inc.

************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wilpf.org/pipermail/wcusp_wilpf.org/attachments/20070416/96c5a10b/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://wilpf.org/pipermail/wcusp_wilpf.org/attachments/20070416/96c5a10b/attachment.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 2592 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://wilpf.org/pipermail/wcusp_wilpf.org/attachments/20070416/96c5a10b/attachment-0001.gif 