The threat by Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas to resign cannot have pleased many people. The Palestinians, Israelis and the Americans need the moderating influence of Abbas if the Middle East conflict is ever to end. Without Abbas but with a Hamas government that lacks the backing of any of the major players, the conflict can only drag on.
Abbas has warned that he might resign if he felt too constrained by a Hamas government. He wants the group to renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist before it takes power sometime next week. Abbas’ requests to Hamas are in fact identical to Israel’s. The Israeli sanctions last week against the Palestinians are meant to coerce the Hamas-led Palestinian government into accepting Israel’s three conditions for coexistence: recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, disarmament of the Palestinian resistance and adherence to all previous PLO-Israeli agreements.
These are the stated objectives but as all are aware, Hamas has not agreed to any of them and certainly will not do so under duress. Palestine Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniyeh’s denial that he had suggested in a Washington Post interview the group might one day recognize Israel, saying there was only a possibility of achieving a long-term truce, shows how wide is the gulf separating the two positions. However, this has not been the Hamas position always and can change again. Statements by assassinated Hamas leader Abdul-Aziz Al-Rantissi had pointed to an acceptance of Israel within its borders before 1967, in return for ending the armed struggle and for Hamas’ recognition of Israel. Some in Hamas suggest the group would accept a long-term, transitional solution involving a truce on the Palestinians’ side and an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Other Hamas members claim the group is ready to offer Israel a formal truce for a number of years, during which a peace deal could be negotiated ending in a two-state solution. Recognition of Israel and a re-writing of Hamas’ charter would come at the end of this process.
Such pragmatic scenarios have a source. The mere fact that Hamas participated in the election signified a de facto acceptance of the two-state formula. Taken a step further, the mere fact of its taking seats in the Palestinian Parliament — a body formed under PLO auspices in the context of the Oslo peace process — can be taken as a de facto acceptance of Israel.
In the foreseeable future, though, Hamas leaders are very unlikely to announce a U-turn on recognizing Israel. The position has become the major international objection to the movement taking its place as the Palestinians’ elected representative on the world stage. It has also now become a sticking point between Hamas and Abbas. Abbas is trying to be conciliatory. He says Hamas has been working to halt rocket attacks on Israel that have drawn retaliatory Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire. At the same time, he has urged the international community to give Hamas a grace period. He is the bridge linking all the diverse forces. Palestine cannot afford to lose him at this moment.
