Last June, after wrapping up the final primary, Barack Obama gave
a highly-publicized speech
to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in order to
assuage concerns about his views regarding Israel. It was in this
speech that he said:
We must isolate Hamas unless and until they renounce terrorism,
recognize Israel's right to exist, and abide by past
agreements. There is no room at the negotiating table for
terrorist organizations.
Today, the Guardian
reports that the "incoming Obama administration is prepared
to abandon George Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas by
establishing a channel to the Islamist organization, sources
close to the transition team say."
Granted, we don't know for sure that this report is accurate, and
it deserves at least some level of skepticism as with all
anonymous reports. But if true, it certainly should not be a
surprise to anybody who is a regular reader of this site,
which scrutinized
Obama's trail of associations throughout the campaign and
examined the broader implications of his pledge to meet with our
adversaries. Robert Malley was forced to resign as a foreign
policy adviser to Obama when it was revealed that he was meeting
with Hamas, and it was perfectly logical to assume that Obama's
rational for meeting with Iran could easily be extended to the
Palestinian terrorist group. As I
wrote last May, "Why should it be beyond the pale to question
the earnestness of Obama's vow not to negotiate with Hamas, when
he has promised, as part of his sweeping program for change, to
negotiate with its patron, which shares the same ultimate goal?"
Unfortunately, those of us who asked such legitimate questions
were dismissed as paranoid along with the rest of the conspiracy
theorists and smear artists who sent around emails claiming Obama
is a Muslim and that he was born in Kenya.
I don't want to do too much preaching to the choir. I'm sure
there are people reading this who share my mix of anger and
sadness at this development. That the American government would
want to legitimize a terrorist group that not only is dedicated
to destroying Israel, that not only raises its children to aspire
to exterminate Jews in Israel, but that has declared all Jews in
the world
legitimate targets, right down, presumably, to my school-age
niece and nephew, is just unconscionable. As much as I saw this
coming, I remain heartbroken by the reality.
But I know that there are others who don't feel the same way as
me and who would argue that there's no harm in merely talking,
and that pragmatism requires that we're in contact with all
players involved in this volatile region. Okay, so let me put
aside any Israel-centric reasons for isolating Hamas or any moral
arguments. What signal does it send to the Fatah leadership in
the West Bank if America were to reverse its policy of isolating
Hamas? Fatah has suffered internally for its moderation relative
to Hamas and the perception that its relationship with Israel and
America is too cozy. One of the motivating factors for their
relative moderation is that they do not want to suffer the
diplomatic isolation that Hamas has, and they hope to be the
legitimate government of any newly-created Palestinian state. It
would be nothing short of a slap in the face to Fatah, which has
participated in the peace process and critcized Hamas rocket
fire, if America were to bring Hamas into the fold. From Fatah's
perspective, they have done everything right, and Hamas has been
an obstacle to peace. Given that Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza
at gunpoint, I don't see how America can deal with the terrorist
group without completely alienating Fatah and strengthening the
more militant wing of the group. The prospect of the U.S.
engaging Hamas is a troubling development no matter how you
analyze it.
