Posted on 06/09/2005 5:06:02 AM PDT by SJackson
FrontPageMagazine.com | June 9, 2005
I am getting weary and wary of this United States obsession with "Nice Guy Diplomacy."
There is no doubt that sometimes it is important to be "nice," to be giving and accommodating, to be helpful, offer assistance and sometimes, to even eat crow. Sometimes, that's what it takes to make things work in the international arena. The problem with Nice Guy Diplomacy, US Style, is that the United States knows no limits.
In previous administrations there was very little that the United States would not accede to in order to achieve the desired diplomatic goals. That explains why Yasser Arafat was the most hosted foreign dignitary in the Clinton White House.
I would have hoped that in the aftermath of 9-11 the United States would have learned that there are areas that are diplomatically sacrosanct. There are times when being nice is not only inappropriate it is wrong. President Bush felt that way instinctively when it came to dealing with the villainous Saddam Hussein. His instincts have been blurred, however, when it comes to dealing with another terror group --- Hamas.
The United States is reaching out to Hamas.
Hamas is one of the easy terror groups to label. Hamas does not hide its objectives. Hamas has stated its desire to murder Israelis. Does Hamas do anything else? Yes. They minister to the sick and the needy. They provide social services, free food and free health care.
And now, in part because of those social services, Hamas is a strong political force in the Palestinian Authority. What else is propelling Hamas into mainstream Palestinian politics? US "Nice Guy Diplomacy."
The United States is urging Hamas into politics. The United States is not insisting, even conditioning, that before they turn into politicians that Hamas disarms. I would call that more than playing nice guy, I would call it playing patsy.
There is plenty of European pressure on the US to ease up on anti-terror guidelines. One would expect that from Europe. Europe thinks differently, Europe believes that negotiations are more important than platforms. I had hoped that the United States would stand up to the pressures of France and England on this issue. But no! Obviously, I expect too much.
Not only is the United States administration actually dealing with these terrorists before they disarm, they are doing exactly what Europe has always done. The United States, like European nations, is splitting hairs.
They are rationalizing and justifying their new policy.
Puzzle this one out. In an official statement, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said about would-be Hamas politicos that they "may be members of organizations, but are not terrorists, versus terrorists, people who have blood on their hands."
Wow, a distinction with a huge difference. Only one big problem. According to United States law, being a member of a terrorist organization is a violation of US law. Rationalize that one please.
The US must demand that Hamas reject terror before entering politics. The US must demand that Hamas lay down their weapons before entering politics. The US must demand that Hamas accept a waiting period during which the organization proves its new resolve before entering politics.
If the Bush administration continues to go along with Europe in supporting a political entity called Hamas in the hope of stabilizing the Palestinian Authority they will be making a tragic mistake. It will be a mistake similar to the mistake the Clinton administration made by placating and empowering Arafat.
The best way to aid the Palestinian people is to help them get rid of the terror and the violence. Without disarming Hamas the official Palestinian establishment will sanction an army, independent of the State, outside the parameters and the laws and the best interests of the State.
No doubt. Hamas is a force to contend with. But the US will loose a significant measure of respect and valued influence in the Middle East if it does not stand firm on this issue of terror.
If the United States does not insist on disarming Hamas, Hamas will achieve even greater goals. If the United States does not insist on disarming Hamas, Hamas will become mainstreamed and they will keep their weapons. If the United States does not insist on disarming Hamas, the United States will have facilitated a terrorist organization, not destroyed it. If the United States does not insist on disarming Hamas, the United States will never again be able to take the high road on the issue of terror.
That is not the legacy the United States wants to leave in its battle against terror.
If GWB want's a palestinian state before he leaves office, he's going to have to cozy up to Hamas and Hizbollah, ignore most of the road map, and pressure Israel. The alternative, pressuring the palestinians to disarm and dismantle the terror organizations, would be a long, unpleasant process.
U.S. maintains contact with Hamas behind closed doors
By israelinsider staff and partners June 9, 2005
Hamas' political clout in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been growing steadily. In three rounds of municipal voting since December, the group sworn to Israel's destruction won more than a third of the 120 communities up for grabs, including some of the largest ones.
Mohammed Ghazal, a senior Hamas representative in the West Bank, on Wednesday rejected calls by the U.S. and others for his group to disarm but said a dialogue with the West would be beneficial for Hamas.
"We are interested in the dialogue," Ghazal said. "But we are not able to meet their conditions now, before resolving our national cause."
Hamas already has informal contacts with former American and European officials, he added.
The Bush administration rejects Ghazal's call for dialogue, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Paul Patin.
"There's been no change in our position. We consider Hamas a terrorist organization," he said.
Ghazal spoke a day after British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, during a visit to Israel, ruled out contact with Hamas leaders until the group renounces violence.
But even that vow was engulfed in nuance: Straw acknowledged in an earlier radio interview that British diplomats recently met with Hamas-affiliated politicians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Hamas' violent aspect has emerged in two days of Gaza violence. Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists fired mortars and rockets at Jewish settlements and Israeli towns, killing three workers, and on Wednesday Israel hit back -- sending its air force to fire on militant's mortar launchers.
The West's dilemma in deciding whether to deal with Hamas-backed politicians came about through the militant group's success in the very democratic election process the Bush administration is promoting for the Middle East.
"History will see this as the grand contradiction of the entire Bush post-9/11 strategy," said Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher, referring to the U.S. policy of pushing for elections, but then refusing to talk to the winners.
Some, especially in the European Union, argue that dealing with Hamas might make the group more pragmatic and less extreme. Israel, however, insists that talking to Hamas damages peace prospects by propping up violent hard-liners.
Sylvana Foa, a spokeswoman for USAID, said the United States has "a very firm policy" of not talking to Hamas, but added, "we have not stopped any ongoing projects because the leadership of a town, city or village has become Hamas." Foa said that U.S. officials "do not meet with those people."
The Bush administration, she said, is still deciding what to do about future aid projects, including US$200 million (?163 million) in new funds approved for the Palestinians.
Many of the new Hamas-backed mayors are not actual Hamas members; they ran on Hamas-affiliated tickets to capitalize on widespread discontent over graft in the ruling Fatah party.
Israel and newly elected Hamas-backed mayors have confirmed that they will cooperate on matters such as electricity, sanitation and water, though Israel says it will not speak to anyone directly involved in violence.
Cooperation is unavoidable in Palestinian towns such as Qalqiliya, which throws its refuse into the same dump as the neighboring Israeli town of Kfar Saba. Hamas recently swept all 15 local council seats in Qalqiliya.
Mohammed al-Masri, the town's Hamas-backed deputy mayor, recently told The Associated Press that he has "no problem talking with anybody who can help us."
And Ahmad el-Kurd, the Hamas-affiliated mayor of the poverty-stricken town of Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip, said his town is "open to receiving help from any country in the world, including Israel."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas last week indefinitely postponed parliamentary elections set for July, apparently fearing Hamas' rapid ascendancy.
U.S. and British officials confirmed there are high-level discussions underway in each government to decide whether it's OK to deal with nonviolent politicians affiliated with Hamas.
After much prodding from the United States and Israel, the European Union in 2003 placed Hamas on its own list of terror organizations.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said he hopes the international community will stick by its decision to brand Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in Israel, as terrorists.
"It was so difficult to put Hamas on the terrorist list, especially in Europe," Meir said. "So I cannot see that America would go one step forward and two steps backward. This will take everything backward."
In the meantime, the leader of the terrorist Hizbullah group blasted the United States Wednesday as being eternally opposed to his faction, but urged his supporters to vote for an opposition ticket that enjoys unofficial Western support.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah was speaking at a rally in the southern Beirut suburb of Roeis two days after Hizbullah and its ally Shiite Amal took all 23 seats in the parliamentary elections in south Lebanon.
The United States, which considers Hizbullah a terrorist organization, expressed concern over the party's success, saying an armed militia should not have a role in a democratic system.
"Don't waste your time thinking about what the Americans say," Nasrallah told the crowd of thousands. Referring to the legislature's 128 seats, he added: "Even if the Lebanese people, all the people of Lebanon, elected 128 Hizbullah members as legislators, the American administration would still say that Lebanon, its parliament and its people, are terrorists that should be wiped out."
"Death to America!" the crowd shouted in response.
The AP contributed to this report.
It's probably a "carrot or stick" (candy or whip) strategy, funding the local government while warning for any assistance against terrorists and being too soft on detaining terrorists.
Oh, I figured we were just trying to get their media outlets to take them out for us...
Well he's not going to get the Peace Prize no matter what happens. A state, particularly on GWB's terms, sovereign and with an Arab veto over any changes to the 1949 lines, would be a major victory for the Arab regiemes in the region. They can't be sure the next administration will buy into those concepts, none of his predecessors have, so the time for the Saudi's to apply any pressure they have is now. Beyond that, having commited to the concept, he may not want to back out. The fact is that no one cares if the palestinians carry out their obligations.
IMO, if he wants his finger in the pie, the best thing to do would be to insist on at least the preliminaries, dismantle and disarm the terrorists and stop media incitement, then come to us for money.
I seems that he's already doing much of the first part (pressuring Israel, starting the cozying, and starting to change the road map) - which, along with ignoring the illegal immigration issue, has alienated me from him (which is sad, since I voted for him).
That's certainly possible, though acceptance of terrorists won't be a positive for Iraq either.
“The West's dilemma in deciding whether to deal with Hamas-backed politicians came about through the militant group's success in the very democratic election process the Bush administration is promoting for the Middle East.
History will see this as the grand contradiction of the entire Bush post-9/11 strategy," said Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher, referring to the U.S. policy of pushing for elections, but then refusing to talk to the winners.”
Mr Alpher and this author are mistaken. There is no “contradiction.” The easiest formulation to understand what is meant by democracy and elections is that posed by Natan Sharansky. In a “fear society” there is no democracy and so-called free elections are an illusion. The Palestinians live in a fear society. Armed Hamas and other terrorists roam freely. Under such conditions elections are not “free” and democracy can not exist. That is Pres Bush’s error, labeling the recent elections and Abbas’s election legitimate and “free.”
The Palestinian policy of death to so-called collaborators is in and of itself evidence that no freedom exists and it is a fear society. The violence, armed militias, gangs and thugs, the extortion, embezzlement, and theft, and the continuing incitement to kill Jews, that still goes on today are all signs that nothing has changed.
ARUTZ SHEVA.com: "HAMAS BOMB-MAKER STAR OF SYRIAN PRODUCED TV SERIES A 12-part series on the life of the “father of suicide bombings,” Hamas bomb-maker Yihye Ayyash is set to be aired on the Lebanese-based Hizbullah satellite television station al-Manar." (April 18, 2005)
JIHAD WATCH.org (YNET): "PALESTINIAN GIRL HIDES GUN IN UNDIES" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The soldiers in the Balata refugee camp, a terrorist hotbed, found the gunman inside his house and ordered him to surrender his weapon. He refused, saying he didn't have it. After questioning, they found the man's sister had hidden it her underwear. Troops then arrested the Hamas terrorist. They also found a gun holster and bullets inside the building.") (April 16, 2005) (Read More...)
WorldNetDaily.com: "DOCUMENTS SHOW ARAFAT PAID FOR DISCO BOMBING Sent Thank-You Note to Family of Terrorist Who Killed 21, Injured 120" by Aaron Klein (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The attack on the Dolphinarium was one of the most brutal massacres of the Palestinian intifadah, killing 21 people, mostly teens, on a Friday night in June 2001. More than 120 people were injured in the powerful blast carried out by Hamas terrorist Hassan Khutari.") (September 15, 2004)
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