Posted by Benjamin on: 04.15.2008 /
So who’s going to turn out to have been closer to being on the right track, in the end, do you suppose?
Jimmy Carter, who is planning to meet with Hamas leaders, and said on Saturday:
I feel quite at ease in doing this. I think there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that, if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next-door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process.
I think that it’s very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views, to ascertain what flexibility they have, to try to induce them to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel and to cooperate with the Fatah as a group that unites the Palestinians, maybe to get them to agree to a cease-fire - things of this kind.
Or George Bush, via Condoleeza Rice and Stephen Hadley, who said (respectively)
The position of the government is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don’t negotiate with terrorists. We think that’s a very important principle to maintain. The State Department made clear we think it’s not useful for people to be running to Hamas at this point and having meetings.
and
I find it hard to understand what is going to be gained by having discussions with Hamas about peace when Hamas is, in fact, the impediment to peace.
Leave a Reply
Comment by: David H
1 04/16/08 11:23 PM | Comment Link |Hard to say. Part of the problem is that Hamas is an impediment to peace. But they aren’t the only impediment.
I applaud President Carter for reaching out to them even if it does not bear the desired fruit. Maybe there is too much pain, too much animosity, too much desire for retribution for simply talking to make everything better. But Hamas isn’t going away no matter how much the US pretends that organization can be ignored.
We will have to wait and see if there is a right track on this.
Comment by: Doreen A Mannion
2 04/22/08 4:11 PM | Comment Link |I give President Carter credit for trying a different approach. I agree with you, David, that we cannot pretend that Hammas is going away.