Carter’s Hamas Bid
April 22nd, 2008 by JEB KOOGLER
Carter’s meeting with Khaled Meshaal over the weekend wasn’t exactly a blinding success. Dion Nissenbaum, the Jerusalem bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, has the scoop:
In his talks with Hamas leaders, Carter sought to persuade the group to declare a unilateral, 30-day cease fire in Gaza as a good-will gesture. But Hamas was having none of it. Early Monday, Carter said, he called Mashaal one last time to try and convince the Hamas leader to accept the idea. “I told them, ‘don’t wait for reciprocation,’” Carter later told reporters. “Just do it unilaterally. This will bring a lot of credit to you around the world, doing a humane thing. They turned me down. I think they’re wrong. I did the best I could on that. I don’t understand their rocket decision.”
Carter [also said that] Hamas was willing to accept any peace deal Abbas signed with Israel - if it was put to a vote of the Palestinian people. Within hours, though, a Hamas leader in Gaza poured cold water on the statement. Sami Abu Zhuri told the Associated Press that Carter’s comments “do not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum.” So much for that.
And so much for Carter’s attempt to achieve the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. Despite the requests of Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father, as well as Shas Party leader Eli Yishai, Carter wasn’t able to get Meshaal to budge. The only “concession” he received was an agreement to release another letter from Shalit to his family. Meshaal, Carter noted, also indicated his willingness to release the soldier as part of a general prisoner swap - nice of him, except that that’s been Hamas’s position all along.
Carter’s lack of success, however, shouldn’t undercut calls for engagement with Hamas. The arguments for direct negotiations are many times stronger than those against, and Carter’s poor showing hasn’t changed that fact. The Israeli policy of isolating Hamas has brought few positive results to speak of: Hamas continues to have the capabilities to fire rockets and detonate suicide bombs and the Gazan people are no less anti-Hamas than when the policy began (in fact, polls have shown that support for Hamas is on the rise.) Carter, it appears, has acknowledged this reality – that Hamas isn’t going anywhere and therefore must be dealt with diplomatically – and has tried to open the door to a new policy. In fact, he’s one of the only prominent Israeli or American political figures who’s had the guts to point out that a different strategy is needed, and then actively push for its implementation.
He deserves applause for his efforts.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am and is filed under Gaza, Hamas, Palestine. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
