The United States and Europe got their way. The democratically elected Hamas government, which they boycotted, has been replaced by a national unity government, which includes Fatah, the losers in last year’s Palestinian elections. Nevertheless, the signals from Washington and Brussels remain negative. Both the Americans and the Europeans are refusing to talk to Hamas ministers within the new unity government. Is this really a fair reward for the long and difficult negotiations that at last brought Hamas and Fatah rivals together and hopefully ended the civil conflict in Palestine? The Palestinians have once again given ground for no obvious recompense. Their statesmanship is not apparently being mirrored in the response from Washington and Brussels.
There could however be more happening here. The Bush White House, which in six years of largely uninformed interference in the Middle East has not advanced the causes of peace and stability an inch, could not reverse its slavish pro-Israeli policy at a stroke. Yet by talking directly to the acceptable Fatah ministers within the new government, it is also speaking indirectly to its “unacceptable” Hamas members. This in itself is an advance.
More importantly, the Europeans, who have generally taken a more realistic view of the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation, may now be less reluctant to strike out on a more overtly sympathetic line toward the Palestinians. If such a change has Washington’s quiet approval, it will be the more effective. However, even if the Americans remain stuck in their Israel-right-or-wrong groove, the Europeans may judge the time has come to take the initiative, probably in concert with the Russians.
The rejection of the Hamas government, for which the majority of Palestinians voted, never sat easily with European democratic principles. Apart from ending the corruption of a Fatah party too long in power, Hamas’ key electoral plank was a refusal to recognize the Israeli state. European leaders and officials, more subtle than their Washington counterparts, probably always understood this Palestinian vote for what it really was. It was never a call to drive Israelis into the sea but an attempt to arm a Palestinian government with a significant bargaining chip. If Israel would not recognize and implement the creation of an independent Palestinian state, why should the Palestinians recognize Israel? For sure, there are some radicals mad enough to imagine that Israel could be wiped off the map, but despite their despair, humiliation and anger, the majority of Palestinians are not stupid enough to believe that such a thing could ever happen.
And there is a far more telling point. Long before Hamas existed, Washington still refused to negotiate seriously with the Fatah government of the late Yasser Arafat and the Europeans followed the US lead. The time has surely come for Brussels to take the lead, with or without US-support and start to treat the new Palestinian unity government with the respect it deserves.
