Everything depends on making friends with Iran. Iran can try to calm down Hamas (or at least stop arming them - hopefully shutting them up tremendously),....
Making friends with Iran is highly unlikely. Iran seeks to position itself as the Muslim (Middle East) Super Power... You do this by talking tough, taking a stand against democracy and the "evils" of Western values, AND, (of course) by threatening Israel's existence.
Hamas seeks Israel's destruction... plain and simple.
They tell us so almost daily through their leadership's actions and have even been so kind as to
document this goal in their Covenant:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/hamas.htmThey have no intention of accepting Israel on any borders... no matter how much territory Israel pulls back from. They (Hamas) reject Israel's very existence whether on today's borders, borders "Fatah/Abbas" might agree to in peace talks,... '67 borders, even ...'48 borders..... ADD to this equation the FACT that the
Palestinian people ELECTED HAMAS into power. Then ADD also to this equation that "other" Palestinian leadership (namely Abbas/Fatah) has refused to act against Hamas and Terrorism in any meaningful way . (Yet Abbas is supposedly negotiating peace?? A peace he clearly is incapable of delivering as he's unwilling/unable to ACT against terrorism... a basic for any peace plan (??))
How quick the naive are to forget the
lessons of Gaza (not even 3 years ago).. A unilateral withdrawal asking nothing of Palestinian leadership but to maintain
security... Israel pulled out of numerous settlements, moved people, and troups, thus giving the Palestinians on the world's stage
an opportunity to DEMONSTRATE that they could police their own streets, manage their own affairs,... to demonstrate that they were ready for statehood...
AND WHAT DID ISRAEL AND THE WORLD GET IN RETURN?? violence, Fatah losing control of Gaza, a Terrorist organization (Hamas) taking control, and a daily barrage of rocket attacks aimed at random Israeli citizens. Instead of taking the opportunity to DEMONSTRATE to the world their readiness and willingness to live in peace NEXT TO (not instead of) Israel, they confirmed that in any land given to their control would turn into a haven for more terror against Israel... LESSON LEARNED.
2 1/2 years ago on Sept. 13, 2005.. I made the following post on this forum:
Do the Palestinians and their leadership recognize what's going on here?? Do they know that Israel has affectively
put the "ball in their court"??
The Gaza withdrawal is not part of a peace settlement or any "agreement"... It is unilateral...meaning that Israel is giving the Palestinians a peace of what they've wanted and expecting nothing in return...
Nothing, other than that they manage their own affairs and keep Gaza from becoming a hotbed for terrorism and violence. In other words, Israel (and the world which is watching) is giving the Palestinians an opportunity to prove that they can live in peace... and live in peace as a neighbor of Israel.
Will they rise to the occasion?? Or will we again here the excuses and blame being passed around??
Will Abbas see the light and actually act against Hamas, or will this be the beginning of Hamas gaining more and more significant power eventually rendering Abbas and the Palestinian authority effectively irrelevant??
Will this time be different(??) Or will violence and Terrorist groups reign in Gaza with the PA continuing to attempt to blame Israel for all that troubles them??
We will all be watching, and we will all be learning.
US praises Israel for troop pullout from Gaza
Mon Sep 12, 6:32 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States on Monday hailed Israel's withdrawal from Gaza as an "historic moment" and urged the Palestinians and Israelis to use the success of the disengagement to move forward on other key issues.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's courage and said the decision to withdraw from Gaza would both enhance Israel's security and allow the Palestinians to make progress in building the necessary institutions for a future state.
"We congratulate the Israelis and Palestinians on their effective coordination in recent months and particularly during the actual implementation of disengagement over the last four weeks," said Rice in a statement released in New York on the sidelines of U.N. meetings this week.
She hoped this cooperation would continue as the United States worked with the Israelis, the Palestinians and the broader international community to revitalize the Palestinian economy and helped Palestinian security forces restore law and order and fight terrorism.
Israeli troops pulled out of Gaza after 38 years of occupation following the evacuation of settlers last month from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
The United States hopes the withdrawal will jump-start the Middle East peace process, but U.S. officials have said it is clear there are still constraints on both sides of the conflict.
Representatives from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, as part of the so-called Quartet, are meeting in New York next week to discuss the Middle East peace process and how to move forward.
A U.S. State Department official said the ball was in the Palestinians' court after the pullout, and he said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had to work hard to achieve security he promised after the pullout.
"What we need is for the momentum to continue and to make sure that the Palestinian Authority moves to establish the kind of institutional order and security that President Abbas has said he is committed to achieving," said the official
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050912/ts_nm/mideast_usa_dc_1 2 1/2 years later
WE CLEARLY HAVE OUR ANSWER. Actually, we had our answer to the prosects of near-term peace when the Palestinian people elected Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization, into power. The Palestinian's through their leadership and actions are clearly not ready for peace with Israel. They're not ready to police themselves, and act against and their terrorism. IF they can't police themselves and their terrorism, that leaves the job to those being terrorized. If I had to worry about rockets landing on my head... ON A DAILY BASIS, I'd demand that my government act to protect me too... wouldn't anyone?
Peace and Hamas can't co-exist. It's simple... So long as Hamas remains dedicated to Israel's destruction... and so long as they're basically allowed to terrorize Israel under the "watchful eye" of Fatah who "pretends" to be in control( but everyone knows really isn't), there can obviously be no meaningful permanent peace...
The Palestinian leadership's refusal to act decisively against Hamas (again... and again) clearly indicated that no meaningful peace will be achieved until either new Palestinian leadership is in place and widely accepted,
or they (or outside forces) ACT DECISIVELY against Hamas stopping their terrorism and squelching them and their violent agenda.
