"U.S. and Israel Differ on Contact With Palestinians
by:Isabel Kershner
March 19, 2007
The Israeli cabinet has voted to boycott the new Palestinian government, but the US consulate in Jerusalem "refused to rule out contacts with some moderate Palestinians who are now serving as ministers," the article says. The US position does not reflect a change in policy, but does add weight to the notion that the new government may have "openings" in the West for the resumption of international aid, which would hurt Israeli efforts to maintain the boycott. Britain also has not completely shut their ears to the new government. France has already invited its foreign minister in for a visit, and Norway has officially recognized it and is in the process of lifting sanctions and reinstating aid to Palestinians. The unity government is still mainly Hamas run, but has a few Fatah figures involved, as well as a few independents in the cabinet. In a vote on Sunday, the Israeli cabinet voted to boycott the new government, saying it "objected to any dealings with the new unity government because Hamas is a part of it," the article says. The American position on the issue is not to change policies of not dealing with terrorist organizations, Hamas included. Still though, the US has also said it will not rule out contact with certain individuals in the new government. There was, though, initial disappointment from American officials when they first found out about the new government's platform. It had been the hope of Israel and the West that the new governemnt would reconize Israel and its right to exist, and renounce the violence that has come from Palestinian militant groups. Instead, howerver, the unity government only agreed to obey the constraints of previous areements, and did not endorse the two-state solution that was previously being worked out between Israel and the Palestinian Fatah party. In an interview Sunday, Olmert said, ''The platform of the new government includes very problematic elements that cannot be acceptable to Israel or the international community.'' Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president under the former Fatah government and a "partner for dialogue" for both Israel and the US is not a member of the new government, so Olmert has said taht Israel will now limit their talks with him to humanitarian issues.
As I have said in previous blogs, I support the decisions of Israel and the US to boycott and tread delicately with this new Palestinian government. Still though, I think its weird that the US is dealing with only members of the government and not the government as a whole. This could complicate things, although the reasoning behind it is understandable. The US can't refuse to negotiate with them on the basis of not dealing with terrorists, because they are not specifically Hamas, but they cannot actually deal with them directly, because the majority of the government's leaders are members of the Hamas party. The US would be looked down upon for boycotting the government outright, but at the same time, is Israel's strongest ally and is engaged in a huge war against terrorism, so they must tread carefully when even coming close to dealing with Hamas, who they and others have deemed a terrorist organization.
1 comment:
Sam,
You are right in that it is strange for the United States to be in contact with only the Fatah members of the coaliton. It is an extremely delicate situation in which the United States must be very careful. Fatah just appointed Mohammad Dahlan, one of Hamas's largest foes as his national security advisor, which will only make the factional violence worse. Because of this, the United States is forced to choose a side, and sees Israel only dealing with Abbas, and not his party members as hippocritical. The U.S. is simply taking a more approachable side which is easier to rationalize to the international community, while Israel is doing the right thing for itself by only dealing with Abbas. Here, I believe both countries are acting in their own best interests, while also acting in good interest of each other.
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