The short list of influential Israeli ministers who have publicly stated that their government should examine any serious cease-fire proposal from Hamas, even as Hamas refuses to recognize the existence of the Jewish state, is encouraging. The three top officials who say they would support a conditional cease-fire with Hamas have considerable leverage. Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz and the latest addition, Cabinet Minister Ami Ayalon; all have clout because of their current posts and for being formerly defense minister, foreign minister, and head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, respectively. This threesome could conceivably expand and, should there be an increase in their numbers, the hopes for a true peace, as envisioned by the Annapolis summit, rise in proportion.The ministers do have conditions if a truce is to be made with Hamas: It must stop firing rockets into, and all other attacks against, Israel from Gaza; must agree to stop arms smuggling on the Egypt border, and must negotiate the release of Israeli soldier captured last year, the kidnapping of whom triggered the 2006 Israeli seizure of Gaza.
These are decisions which only Hamas can make, but the point is that there are now some high-ranking people in Israel who do not insist, as conditions for a truce with Hamas, that it renounce all violence, recognize Israel’s right to exist and accept previous peace agreements. This should send a welcome signal for Hamas to return, not just to the peace talks but to the Palestinian fold as well. Its seizure of control of Gaza by force in June has made both Gaza and Hamas largely isolated since then. An international boycott has put the Hamas government under tremendous pressure, with the coastal strip closed off from the rest of the world which translates into severe shortages of basic goods, a 50 percent unemployment rate and a halt to almost all imports and exports.
Hamas is not included in the peace process and was not involved in Annapolis. It is also excluded from steering committee talks set up to conclude an agreement by the end of 2008. US President Bush will not meet any Hamas member on his nine-day swing through the Middle East next month to build on whatever progress was made in Annapolis. Israeli and Western leaders now deal solely with Fatah. But the policy ignores a reality: Hamas has the capacity to wreck anything Annapolis produces. Abbas does not control all the territory that he wants to include in a Palestinian state. Hamas is in charge of internal affairs in Gaza. It will be hard for him to deliver anything if he is not the master of the entire house.
Despite their importance, the ministers who to date are willing to talk with Hamas are probably insufficient to swing the pendulum Hamas’ way. The office of the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert believes that embargo and isolation are the only ways to dispatch Hamas permanently. Apparently, however, not all Israelis share the same opinion.
