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Israel Is Already Talking to Hamas

By Adam LeBor / December 6, 2007

My suggestion that Hamas should have been invited to Annapolis triggered all sorts of reactions, from agreement to accusations of being a proto-Islamo-fascist-neo-old-Nazi-appeaser. Thanks to Michael D. Fein for pointing out a key, er, point, which I forgot to make: that we, the west, cannot claim to be supporting or promoting democracy in the Middle East and then ignore the results when we don't like them.

Anyway, it seems that like it or not (and I do), Israel is already talking to influential figures connected to Hamas. At least according to this report in last week's edition of the London-based Jewish Chronicle, which is usually a well-informed newspaper. I reproduce it here in full, as the website is subscription only:

Secret ‘diplomatic' overtures to Hamas

30/11/2007

By Anshel Pfeffer Jerusalem

A diplomatic back-channel is intensifying between Israeli and Muslim religious leaders, including figures identified with Hamas. The aim of the talks, taking place with the full knowledge of the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships, is to provide a wider consensus at the grassroots for an eventual accord.

While all eyes have been on preparations for this week's Annapolis summit, talks have continued between senior religious figures on both sides.

Israel has insisted on not talking to Hamas politically until it recognises Israel and renounces violence, but politicians are aware of the need to engage with Hamas on some level.

There is also a need to supply some degree of support for a possible peace deal within the Palestinian public, especially among the more Islamist elements. While a dialogue between Jewish and Muslim leaders has been taking place for over a decade, a senior Israeli government source told the JC this week that "it has greatly intensified over the past six months and is of a much serious order than in the past".

The Muslim sources involved confirmed the talks but refused to comment openly.

However, Rabbi Michael Melchior, the senior Israeli participant – a former minister and currently a Labour MK – said: "There are talks at all levels with Muslim leaders, including those who have influence over Hamas.

"We all feel that in the end, the success or failure of the Annapolis summit and subsequent negotiations, is tied to the goodwill of the public on both sides."

Abbas needed to gain support also within Islamist circles, he added. "Also, for many Israelis the fact that there is no consensus within the Palestinian people causes widespread scepticism and we are trying to disprove that."

Rabbi Melchior said that one aim was for a fatwa by senior Islamic clerics to affirm the right of a Jewish state to exist in the region.

Among others, the leadership of Israel's Islamic Movement and representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are involved. Both have close political and religious ties with Hamas. As Sunnis, they also have a joint interest in minimising Iranian-Shia influence in the region.

Rabbi Melchior's hope for a fatwa by Islamic clerics affirming Israel's right to exist as Jewish state seems over- optimistic. This demand for the Arab countries to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, as well as a sovereign state, is a new and not very welcome twist in the tangled Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. The aim should be for a secure Israel to be living in peace and security next to a viable, sovereign and contiguous Palestine. Adding new demands of Arab recognition for Israel's self-definition as a Jewish state only complicates the issue.

Rami G. Khouri, in yesterday's Beirut Daily Star, has an interesting take on this.

Under the headline 'A Jewish Israel needs a healed Palestine" he argues that

One of the most complex and confounding elements that emerged during the run-up to the Annapolis meeting was the demand by several senior Israelis, and its parallel rejection by Palestinian officials, that the Palestinians recognize Israel as "a Jewish state" as a precondition for the start of talks.

There follows some fairly standard anti-Israel arguments:

The issue of the Jewish nature of Israel is so vital for Israelis that it cannot be left totally hanging in the air, rejected outright, or vaguely held out as an undefined goal or prize to be attained after some future negotiations. We in the Arab world cannot be expected to become instant Zionists, proclaiming Israel as a Jewish state, while it continues to offer the Palestinians and other Arabs brutal and long-term occupation, colonization and theft of our lands, Apartheid-like segregation in the Occupied Territories, second-class citizenship inside Israel, the jailing of over 10,000 activists and militants, routine assassinations, and collective punishment of the entire Gaza population by strangulation combined with slowly reducing its supplies of gas and electricity.

Let's put aside for now the rights and wrongs of that paragraph, and instead look ahead at Khouri's rather imaginative and encouraging proposal. The answer, he says, lies in a Bob Dylan song.

As that great American political philosopher Bob Dylan said in one his war protest songs in the 1960s, "I'll let you be in my dream, if you let me be in yours."

In this case, Israeli and Palestinian national narratives must make room for the other, if either wishes to be acknowledged and legitimized. Mutual denial will only get us to where we are today – perpetual warfare, and chronic mutual national rejection.

Israel ultimately must recognize the crimes it and others committed against the Palestinians, and the unstable conditions created by Palestinian national statelessness must be redressed by statehood and a just, negotiated resolution of the refugee issue. Israel, in the same vein, ultimately must be recognized as a state of the Jewish people, as it defines itself, but this can only be formally done as part and consequence of serious negotiations for a comprehensive, permanent peace that resolves fairly the Palestinian national shattering. Both sides would do well to make these positions crystal clear, so that a Jewish Israel and a reconstituted, healed, wholesome Palestinian state and national community can live normal lives, side-by-side, with equal rights.

I thought this was a remarkable and encouraging article. A columnist in a Lebanese newspaper is arguing for mutual recognition of Israeli and Palestinian narratives and for a Jewish Israel and Palestinian state to live in peace. Call me a hopelessly naive idealist – and I am sure some of you will – but as Mr Zimmerman himself sings: 'The times they are a-changing'.

POST A COMMENT

  • By Ismail 12/10/07 at 10:10 a.m. UTC

    Sadly for mhpine, no one but the straw men residing in his fevered imagination has ever made the ridiculous argument that governments should never face opposition, no matter what they do, as long as they are freely elected. And surely even the most committed Zionist can discern a difference between Turkey invading Kurdistan and Hamas taking a stand against the corrupt and meaningless "peace process" as practiced by Fatah and Israel.

    By the way, are you suggesting that, if Turkey did invade Kurdistan, there are no circumstances under which you'd advise negotiating? 

    Hamas has repeatedly offered an indefinite truce. Yeah, it's not recognition, and , yeah, they don't accept the legitimacy of a Zionist state. So what? Lieberman and the National Union parties also promote all sorts of vicious racist policies. And if Hamas said, "Fuck 'em, we'll never deal with those guys", I'm sure you'd be happy to point out how impossible it is to get anywhere with them.

    Point is, most of us would prefer a truce to the continued savage assaults on Gaza and the rocket attacks on Sderot.

    You call a truce with your enemy, with whom you presumably have a whole skeleton of bones to pick, not with your friends. Unlike most of the weary Israeli public, the elites in Israel have no interest in peace. Herein lies the similarity between the US and Israel.

     

  • Michael Pine
    By mhpine 12/9/07 at 11:52 p.m. UTC

    There's a significant difference between keeping a back-channel open with Hamas and inviting them to a international peace conference.  How exactly are Abbas and Fayyad supposed to sell the virtues of moderation to Palestinians on the fence if Hamas reaps the same diplomatic rewards while retaining its rejectionism? 

    <blockquote> Thanks to Michael D. Fein for
    pointing out a key, er, point, which I forgot to make: that we, the west,
    cannot claim to be supporting or promoting democracy in the Middle East and
    then ignore the results when we don't like them.     </blockquote>

    This is a ridiculous statement.  Are democratic governments exempt from the consequences of their foreign policies simply because their leaders were elected in relatively fair and free elections?  If Turkey invaded Kurdistan, should US simply stand by because, after all, Turkey's leaders were elected in free and fair elections.  If heaven forbid, Avigdor Lieberman became PM of Israel, would you make the same argument no matter what policies he promoted?  Hamas was given an opportunity to despite its opposition to Oslo, join the peace process.   Instead it continued to reject Israel and therefore has face diplomatic sanction.  (Compare this to the way Bibi, despite Likud's prior rejection of Palestinian nationalism, continued the Oslo process.)   The next time Palestinians have elections they will understand that there is a downside to electing a party with a hard-line foreign policy.  

  • By Anonymous 12/7/07 at 2:03 p.m. UTC

    I'm not impressed. First of all, I don't see two narratives in this case, there's only one narrative.  

    Anyway, recognizing the crimes committed against the Palestinians and so on is is a simple matter of justice. If you agree that justice must prevail, you don't ask for something in return; justice itself is your reward, you can now sleep better. Of course – justice must prevail, criminals must be punished, victims compensated, and that's all there is to it, you're not getting any candies.

    Now, you sound like a smart guy, tell me: this idea that someone outside Israel should officially recognize Israel as a 'Jewish state' – isn't it complete nonsense? What's the point? It's clearly an internal matter and it might change (hopefully) tomorrow; Israel could become, say, a humanistic state. Then what?

    Wasn't this incredibly idiotic demand invented specifically to derail any possibility of peace? Obviously it was, wasn't it, I don't see any other explanation.

  • By Shmuel Sackett 12/6/07 at 9:43 p.m. UTC

    A few weeks ago, the State of Israel commemorated two very sad anniversaries. On November 21st Jonathan Pollard began his 23rd year in prison and on that same day the 6,311th rocket fell on the Israeli city of Sderot.

    23 years in prison. 6,311 rockets. Is there a connection?
    There most certainly is and you don't have to open your eyes too wide to see it. The reality of the connection between these two events is right in front of us. Simply put, the government of Israel wants Jonathan Pollard to remain in jail and that same government wants the Arab enemy to shower Sderot with rockets.
    Yes, I realize what I just wrote and to make certain it was understood, I will write it again in even clearer words: The Israeli government wants Jonathan Pollard to die in jail (G-d forbid). Not only is it not doing anything to help him, it is actually hurting him!
    A similar claim can be made about Sderot. The government is not just allowing the rockets to fall – it is actually helping the terrorists manufacture them!
    Think I'm nuts? (Hey, don't answer that!) Consider the following:
    A few weeks ago, after 100 rockets were fired into Sderot over a three-day period, the Israeli government ordered an electricity blackout in the area of Gaza from where the rockets were shot. It must be stated that the State of Israel supplies the electricity — free of charge — to Gaza and was therefore able to quickly "shut the switch". The formula was simple; No electricity – no rockets. For two days there was quiet. Not one rocket was fired! Normal life began once again for the men, women and children of Sderot.
    On the third day, the Israeli government changed its mind. The official statement was that this method represented a horrible concept called "communal punishment", since several "innocent" Gazans were negatively affected by the electricity blackout. Prime Minister Olmert immediately ordered the electricity turned back on. The Arab response was simple; within one hour – five rockets were fired on Sderot!
    Let's take this even one step further. Every one of these rockets is made from metal and home-made materials such as flour, water and sugar. Most people reading this article make delicious cakes and cookies from these ingredients (minus the metal, of course) but Arabs in Gaza use these everyday ingredients to manufacture bombs and kill Jews.
    Now comes the $64,000 question: Where do the Arabs of Gaza get those ingredients from? Answer: From Israel!!! That's right — WE give them the raw materials when we know full well that a significant part of them will be used to manufacture rockets and wreack havoc on thousands of Jewish lives! We give them everything they need and then supply the electricity to the factory to build them. This is not a crazy "conspiracy" theory. It is 100% true. Feel free to check it out, if you don't believe me.
    The same is true with Jonathan Pollard. Two top ministers in the Israeli government, Ehud Barak and Rafi Eitan, were directly involved in the Pollard affair and those men do not want him out. Neither does President Shimon Peres who runs around the entire world meeting with global leaders to discuss everything under the sun except the name "Pollard". And of course, neither does Prime Minister Olmert who — in a measure of "good faith" – released over 500 terrorists since he took office but never once thought of asking Bush to release Pollard.
    These words were spoken by Jonathan Pollard himself in a November 2007 interview given to Israel's largest newspaper, Yediot Aharonot. The interview was conducted by journalist Yaniv Halily who raised the following point; "All of the American officials that I spoke with asked, 'How is it that Israel is not taking any meaningful action to free the agent who worked on behalf of the State and in its name? How can the State abandon a man who risked his life to save the lives of Israeli citizens?"
    The article continues; "Pollard feels this way as well. 'There are people and institutions in Israel that are trying to save their own blood by spilling mine. We are talking about people who were thoroughly involved in my operation. If I were returned home they would be very embarrassed and perhaps find themselves subject to legal action. I am talking about politicians who have denied involvement in the espionage operation, when they knew every single detail of it. People like Shimon Peres, Rafi Eitan, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert have a personal agenda against me. They resent the embarrassment that I caused Israel and are furious that I am still alive."
    As you can see, to these "leaders", Jonathan Pollard is a nuisance and they would love nothing more than to have the whole affair permanently forgotten.
    Unfortunately, however, this deletion of Pollard extends way beyond Peres and Olmert. For the last month, several people in New Jersey tried scheduling a speaking engagement for me in Teaneck on November 21st — the anniversary of Pollard's incarceration. The goal was to speak about Pollard and find out what could be done to help this heroic Jew. Three Orthodox synagogues in Teaneck responded that the event was "too political". In one of those cases, the Rabbi agreed to hold the event, only to have it cancelled by the board of directors. When the Rabbi called to inform us of the change he apologized profusely, admitted his embarrassment and bewilderment but said there was simply nothing he could do.
    An evening to help Jonathan Pollard was "too political"??? How sad!
    Dearest friends, we are in trouble. When the weak, un-Jewish concepts that have plagued Israeli leaders for 50 years begin creeping into our local synagogues,  Heaven help us!
    This must be stopped now! Don't sit quietly while your leaders set you on a course for destruction. Don't believe the lies from Olmert and Peres about how they are trying to stop the rockets but cannot. Don't become sheep who follow leaders blindly and accept everything they are told. Need I remind you of the many leaders who told their followers and students to remain in Europe in the 1940's and that everything would be ok? Don't make the same mistake they did!
    Demand answers from your leaders. Demand that they explain their hypocritical behavior. Demand to know why after 23 painful years the name "Jonathan Pollard" is still virtually non-existent. Demand to know why Arab leaders are proud of their heritage, are never willing to compromise and never forget their prisoners while Jewish leaders are weak, embarrassed of their heavenly mission and quick to leave the fallen behind.
    It is for precisely this reason that Moshe Feiglin and I started a group 7 years ago focused on bringing new leadership to the Jewish nation. Simply put, we are no longer willing to accept the evil leadership of those who run away from everything that is dear to us. We don't believe those leaders, we don't trust them and we want nothing to do with them.
    We are a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation! We deserve to be led by people who believe in those lofty ideas and who focus their leadership ideology on making Israel the shining light of G-d's world.
    I urge every reader to pray for leadership of this kind to emerge. Stop focusing just on private goals and start giving serious attention to national ones as well. Evil succeeds in the world when good people sit quietly and do nothing. Make your voices heard! Raise up a call for proud and strong leaders who will free Jonathan Pollard and shut off the electricity to terrorists as a mere "step one" in a program to make Israel a safe and beautiful place.
    Leadership of this kind is closer than you think. With G-d's help it will become a reality very soon!

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