According to Hamas, the Jews are responsible for all the ills of modern society - the French Revolution; the Communist revolution; the establishment of secret associations (Freemasons, Rotary and Lions clubs, B'nai B'rith) designed to help them gain control of the world by secret means. They control the economy, press and television; they are responsible for the outbreak of World War I, which they initiated in order to destroy the Muslim caliphates (the Ottoman empire), to get the Balfour Declaration and set up the League of Nations with the aim of establishing their state. They also initiated World War II in order to make a fortune from selling war materials; they use both capitalism and communism as their agents...
But perhaps it is nevertheless worthwhile talking to Hamas - not about its contribution to peace but rather about what is stated in its covenant. Perhaps those who espouse the view that we must talk with Hamas will first talk with it about these subjects? Who knows, perhaps it will change its principles? I do not expect this to happen exactly, but I am certainly curious to know what those who think Hamas is the key to peace in the Middle East will say about these things.
And perhaps they are actually correct, perhaps Hamas is the key. If that's the case, it's difficult to expect that peace can be established in our region.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Talk to Hamas
Shlomo Avineri gets it right:
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3 comments:
Yaacov, don't be naive. Talking to Hamas will (a) give Hamas a propaganda victory (b) convince more Palestinians to support Hamas (c) reward Hamas for its behaviour (d) under-cut Palestinian moderates.
The best approach to the Palestinians (and Lebanese and other Arabs) is clearly carrot-and-stick -- reward moderates and penalise extremists.
Talking to Hamas runs directly counter to such common sense.
The difficulty is that "those who espouse the view that we must talk with Hamas" have no hard problems with the Hamas charta of destroying Israel. So, their disappointment you are hoping for, might not happen.
If Hamas is the key, the door is most likely booby-trapped.
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