By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM–On the face of it, the latest agreement between Hamas and Fatah, signed in Qatar by Khaled Mashaal (who left Damascus presumably because of what’s going on in Syria and announced his impending retirement as the leader of Hamas) and Mahmoud Abbas (the President of the Palestinian Authority) could be a step towards creating a stable Palestinian government in both the West Bank in Gaza and thus bring the two-state solution closer to its realization. Peaceniks everywhere might, therefore, feel hopeful.
But that’s not how Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sees it. For good reason he identifies Hamas as an Iran-sponsored terrorist organization and, therefore, he challenged Abbas to choose between peace withIsrael and life with Hamas.
Though Netanyahu would have cause to worry about Palestine becoming Hamastan, he might also be relieved to be free from the pressure to talk to Palestinian peace negotiators, especially as elections in Israel are on the horizon and the need to appease the right-wing within his own party as well as in the coalition becomes urgent.
It’s not clear how the US Administration will react. Congress has long ago declared Hamas to be a terrorist organization. If Hamas dominates the Palestinian Authority, the billion-dollar annua lUS subsidy will vanish. That, together with some punishing steps Israel could take, would cripple the still fragile Palestinian economy.
On the other hand, the Americans might be impressed by the analyses that suggest that as radical Islam, notably in Egypt, is becoming more pragmatic and realistic, so will Hamas swallow its inflammatory rhetoric and accept the reality of a two-state solution. It may even recognize, at least de facto, the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.
Optimists may also be cheered by a report in Tuesday’s New York Times that, speaking on condition of anonymity, “there are senior defense officials in Israel who see a significant shift happening in Hamas.” Military experts are likely to have a more sober assessment of the situation than politicians with an agenda of their own.
Pessimist that I am I was getting more and more alarmed by the prospect of Gaza moving to Ramallah – a match made in hell – and the ensuing death blow to the peace process, or what’s left of it. But then I read the analysis of Khaled Abu Toameh in the February 7 edition of the Jerusalem Post. He’s refreshingly skeptical and points to failed deals between Fatah and Hamas in the past. Therefore, he predicts a similar fate for this one, too. He writes that “it’s hard to see how the new deal could work.”
Having listed the Arab countries that have already failed to act as mediators between the two Palestinian factions – Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt – and assuming that Qatar will soon join them, Abu Toameh ends his piece with the question about which will be the next country to have a stab at making peace between Fatah and Hamas. Needless to say, he has no answer. So perhaps we need not panic.
Not that his skepticism and prediction are cause for euphoria, but at least it suggests that all the previous options are still open. All we need now is to sit it out until the US presidential election and wait until the Israeli general election is over, so that a new chapter in the old story can begin. It seems obvious that the present situation isn’t tenable in the long run, even though politicians on both sides seem to prefer it to a peace deal that will cost each of them more than they’re currently prepared to pay.
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Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Now dividing his time between Canada and Israel, he may be contacted at dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com