The sanctions that Israel yesterday imposed on the Palestinians after Hamas members took their oaths of office effectively means that Israel is punishing the Palestinians for their democratic choice expressed through the ballot box. Israel’s withholding of $50 million in monthly customs revenues due the Palestinian Authority as well as tightening borders for people and goods crossing into Gaza is tantamount to blackmail. The proposed sanctions are likely to devastate the already frail Gazan economy.
The sanctions were announced, along with a tough political line, by acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, branding a Hamas-led PA a terrorist authority. Not surprisingly, Olmert failed to refer to President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech just a day earlier in which Abbas cautioned the new Palestinian leaders that they must work within the framework of peace agreements and policies with Israel. That Abbas implored Hamas to honor existing peace deals, take the path of negotiations and not endanger diplomatic gains worked out over years of painstaking talks with Israel and the international community are messages that Abbas is willing to continue talking with Israel, even if that means drawing swords with Hamas. Even Hamas has spoken in conciliatory tones. It will be talking with Abbas and has signaled a willingness to compromise with Israel, agreeing to a long-term truce if Israel withdraws from the West Bank and East Jerusalem which it captured in the 1967 war. A Hamas truce which prevailed throughout almost all of last year shows that the group can deliver on its promises.
Olmert and others should understand that Hamas, the government, will not necessarily look like Hamas, the resistance movement. It is all but certain that Hamas will concentrate, at least at the start, on domestic Palestinian issues, such as fighting corruption and effecting good, transparent governance — since those are what brought them to power. And since Hamas has so far adamantly refused to deal with Israel and vice versa, contacts with Israel, especially concerning the virtually moribund peace process, are likely to be left to Abbas.
Hamas’ dominance in Parliament does not imply autonomy, and Abbas is not without leverage in upcoming negotiations. The constitution gives Abbas a say in the confirmation of prime minister. He also has the prerogative to appoint a nine-judge constitutional court with the power to resolve any dispute between the presidency and the Parliament, including the right of the president to cancel any law approved by the new Parliament on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.
Hamas has up to five weeks to form a government but Olmert was unwilling to give Hamas a grace period of more than one day, even shunning a wait-and-see position adopted by the United States. Pursuing a tough line on Hamas could, of course, boost Olmert’s standing in the run-up to Israel’s March 28 general election. Then again, Olmert might not be around to pursue the policies he came up with yesterday.
