The Trouble With Silence
Despite flaring Israeli-Palestinian violence, a chorus of security officials, academics and ordinary Israelis is urging direct negotiations with the radical Islamist group Hamas. In a recent Haaretz-Dialog poll, 64 percent of respondents favored such talks. Even among those from the hawkish Likud bloc, the idea was backed by 48 percent.
Israelis are fed up with what they see as a failed Gaza policy. Hamas's attacks keep spoiling the peace efforts of moderate President Mahmoud Abbas, and Israel's retaliatory strikes in Gaza have backfired. Public opinion was hit hard earlier this month when Israeli raids killed more than 50 Palestinian civilians. "Hamas is not going to disappear," says Shlomo Brom, a former Israeli military chief of strategic planning who advocates indirect negotiations. Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal told NEWSWEEK last year that his organization was open to direct talks, as long as there were no preconditions.
High-profile meetings are all but unthinkable. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, his popularity hovering in the single digits, doesn't dare alienate the right-wing parties that are keeping him in power. And which Hamas should Israel deal with? Since seizing control in Gaza last June, the organization has split into a pack of independent power bases. "When you talk to Hamas, you don't have one address," says a former Israeli intelligence operative who has held direct talks with the Islamists in the past and who asked for anonymity on such a delicate topic. "You have to deal with several figures in order to achieve approval for anything."
That hasn't kept Israel from quietly holding behind-the-scenes talks—especially with jailed Hamas representatives. Last summer Ofer Dekel, a former Shin Bet intelligence officer assigned to negotiate the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, met with senior Hamas officials at Israel's Hadarim prison. Lawyers for Shalit's father, Noam, are also seeking a sit-down with Hamas in Gaza. So far the Israeli government has withheld travel permission. But one thing is sure: ignoring Hamas hasn't made it go away.
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Posted By: perfectse @ 03/17/2008 10:53:09 PM
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Posted By: JohnGaltlaketahoe @ 03/17/2008 7:58:56 PM
Comment: With George W. Bush, his corrupt Congress on both sides of the isle and a failed domestic and foreign policy, why would'nt the American electorate want a consumer protection hero and a statesman in the Executive Branch?
The silencing of poltical voice in America is evident all across the nation. Has your local newspaper printed any coverage of the Silver Springs Maryland WInter Soldier hearings? How about any coverage of the secret session of the House of Representatives last Thursday night? A session in which all Congressional representatives were asked to sigh a non-disclosure statement. Your Congressional representative is supposed to serve, proctect and defend the Constitution the United States. Is this the way it is done while the US military is occupying a foreign nation in support of an incredibel Iraqi Parliament? I think not.
Neither the Democrat or Republican candidates can achieve a reconciliation with the American electorate. Only a candidate willing to discuss the issue of George W. Bush, a corrupt Congress and Attorney General Office of the United States and illegal international aggression can change the course for American foreign policy and domestic policy. This Administration has waged economic warfare against the American electorate.