I also think that the previous attempts for ending the conflict through negotiations with Israel (the PLO's experience of recognizing Israel) did not produce positive results and gave the Palestinians none of their rights, which made them understand that by recognizing Israel, they will gain nothing.

It was made clear by the spokesmen of Hamas that it would not recognize Israel, no matter what; they are sure that such a step will not lead to Israel acknowledging the rights of Palestinians. However, Hamas has expressed its desire to achieve stability in the region by accepting to have a truce with Israel for at least 15 years. But, in light of what happened during the few past months, I think that Israel will not respect such a truce.

David, you said that Hamas would lose Western financial aid by failing to recognize Israel. Well, Hamas has made it clear that it will not beg the West for money because it is a movement that depends on itself and on the Arab world. Hamas is totally aware that Western support can only be gained through accepting whatever the West pleases. Yet, I find it strange for the West not to help Hamas financially; Hamas has made it clear that its aim now, after coming to power, is to spend the money it receives on industry, health care and education, not on buying weapons to fight Israel since it was able to buy weapons without Western money.

Let me answer your question regarding Fatah's stance on the existence of Israel. Fatah is part of the PLO, which is the faction that started the negotiations with Israel. In those negotiations, it recognized Israel. However, while the PLO recognized Israel as a state, Israel only recognized the PLO as a movement.

Finally, I wanted to assure you that all Arabs understand that the United States is totally controlled by the paranoia you talked about, and they know that this paranoia makes Americans look at us as inferior to them. I believe this has fueled hatred in the hearts of Arabs towards the United States, which sometimes effects the way they deal with Americans no matter what their stance on our cause is. I really hope that this ends because I know that not all Americans agree with their government's policies. Those policies are the main cause of hatred.

Tasneem

*****

February 19, 2006

Dear Tasneem,

Fatah recognizes Israel! Interesting! Fatah is the movement of Yassir Arafat, the very symbol of resistance to the Jewish state. Over the years, Fatah carried out numerous guerilla raids against Israelis. It also fired innumerable artillery shells into northern Israel from Lebanon in the 1980’s. And during the Intifada, the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade carried out deadly suicide operations.

And finally, as you said in a previous email, the Palestinian Authority, dominated by Fatah, eventually became wrought with scandal and corruption; the armed groups operated under their own control and no one had any peace. Yet despite all of this violence, when the Israelis have a choice between dealing with Hamas or Fatah they seem to want Fatah so much that they will do anything — even overthrow an obviously democratic election that the whole world is aware of — to ensure they get Fatah.

Why Fatah? Yes, Hamas has blood on its hands, lots of red Israeli blood. This is a fact. But Fatah’s hands are not any cleaner, not even a lighter shade of red. Yet Israel wants to talk with them, not Hamas. Why? There are many factors, but I believe it all begins with Fatah recognizing Israel and Hamas refusing to do so.

Tasneem, Hamas has to accept Israel. I am not saying you have to like Israel. I am not saying you have to legitimize the horrible things they have done. I am saying that if the Palestinians want any chance of bringing about their own state, one that is not imposed on them unilaterally, you have to talk with Israel, and to talk with them, you have to recognize them. Nothing but negative statements are coming from Israel and the United States now concerning Hamas. But I think there is a lesson to be learned in how the two countries treat Fatah: Accept Israel and history can be ignored, if not forgiven.

Without accepting Israel’s existence as a state, and without being willing to talk with the Israelis, I think it is pointless to talk about the refugees’ right of return and the long years of sorrow and pain. Not that the issues are pointless, they are full of importance, but without accepting Israel the refugees will stay refugees and the painful history will just continue. Many believe that Israel is already preparing a Palestinian state’s territory with the pullout from Gaza and the construction of the security wall. If Palestinians want to fight for a fair state, the way to do that is not to ignore Israel.

True, accepting Israel is a demand of the United States, which is something Hamas, understandably, loathes doing. However, it would be good for Hamas to make conciliatory moves in the current state of the conflict. I am not saying here that Hamas needs to be a slave to the United States , but rather they need to recognize that the United States is the only power that can really pressure Israel to do anything. Certainly, the Arab states cannot help.

I have never bought the argument that the Arab world supports the Palestinian cause, much less Hamas.

I may be wrong about this, but I have never bought the argument that the Arab world supports the Palestinian cause, much less Hamas. Oh, no doubt, they give the Palestinians money, but true support for their cause seems to be lacking. The Palestinians are not really welcomed anywhere except for Jordan, and the Arab countries just seem to use the Palestinians as a stick with which to hurl insults at Israel once in a while. But what most convinces me that the Arab world is not something to put much faith in is the fact that Palestinian resistance came down to young men and women blowing themselves up. I accept the suicide bombers to be a form of resistance, but the fact that resistance had to come to such measures is sick.

I have been to other places in the world where people are heavily oppressed, but the people in those places do not blow themselves up because they still have some hope. It seems that life in the territories got so hopeless that the only way to resist was to detonate oneself. Immense blame for what has happened in Palestine is justly put on Israel and the United States. But the Arab world never did anything either. So when the Arab world isn’t blamed, but rather said to be a source of support, I get confused.

But I think that with Hamas’s election victory, hope is revived. I think the reason previous recognition of Israel brought nothing of value for the Palestinians (Fatah did okay of course) was that there was no security in the Occupied Territories and suicide bombers and rockets were hitting Israeli targets.

Israel is as paranoid about security as is the United States, and does not seem to be interested in negotiating fairly if it feels threatened. But now, one of the groups making the security situation unstable in the past, the most powerful one, has entered politics. I believe Hamas can secure the territories, and that this, coupled with recognition of Israel, will be good in that it will provide both political breathing space and goodwill points for Hamas and the Palestinians as a whole.

I know that Hamas does not care about goodwill points from the West. But in order to operate in the political world effectively, they have to learn that democracy requires not acting with disregard to the feelings and needs of others. If you act purely out of self-interest, difficulty always comes. The United States forgot that important lesson and now it is a country with deep problems. And oh yeah, Iraq is a mess. What do you think of all this?

David

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