Even before the last Israeli soldier left Gaza last week in the latest attempt at a cease-fire, all parties were agreed that time was of the utmost importance. All realize that there is little enough and that negotiations on a final peace deal must get moving and get moving now. There is no time to waste because as is all too well-known, things can in the Middle East can change in the twinkling of an eye. A cease-fire may be in place at the moment but all it would take is one incident and Gaza would be occupied yet again. Such an incident would not be unexpected. A one-week-old truce cannot easily erase what has been going on since the June occupation which left Gazans reeling and angry. Gaza under siege was a case study in human despair. There have been months of misery and trauma, living under brutal occupation, agonizing and grinding poverty, slow starvation, repeated aerial bombardments and the loss of such essentials as water and electricity. When more than 400 mostly innocent people are killed and more than 1,500 Palestinians find themselves homeless because of demolitions and air raids, why is it so difficult for Western eyes to see that such levels of despair and frustration is what drives ordinary people to become suicide bombers?
Before it is again too late, talks must begin. They are being delayed primarily because neither the Palestinian national unity government nor the prisoner swap has materialized. The final details and method of the exchange, the timing of the release of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and the parallel and subsequent release of several hundred Palestinian prisoners are still being worked out. So, too, the unity government is being finalized. The elected prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, is supposed to give up his office. Hamas has agreed to remove all its prominent figures — including Foreign Minister Mahmoud El-Zahhar and Interior Minister Said Siyam — from the government.
What is crucial for the new government to do is to issue a general statement once final details have been agreed. The statement must denounce violence and outline a positive approach to agreements previously signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This is what Israel and the US want to hear as a unity government inches ever closer to the demands the West has made if financial assistance to the Palestinians is to resume.
As an unexpected extra, Hamas is presenting all concerned parties — Arab or non-Arab — an offer agreed upon by all Palestinians for the establishment of a state on 1967 borders. This is as close as Hamas has come to recognizing Israel since such a state could only be set up alongside Israel itself. The Palestinians have been told constantly in the past that they should help ensure stability and peace in the region. Hamas has now made concessions, but so far neither the US nor Israel has responded with the necessary guarantees for starting negotiations and resuming the flow of badly needed aid. It is almost as if Washington and Tel Aviv are waiting for the next calamity which they will use to prevent progress toward peace.
