What are you talking about? Hamas declared a 10-year ceasefire just after winning the 2006 elections. Israel responded by pushing for International rejection, boycott and isolation (i.e. collective punishment of all Palestinians), followed by more killings and kidnapping of Palestinians, an attempted coup that split Gaza from the West Bank, and ultimately a criminal siege on the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza.
In 2008 Hamas and Israel agreed on a new 6-month truce. Hamas stopped launching rockets, as agreed, but Israel kept on killing, kidnapping, wounding and harassing Gazans, while leaving the blockade fully in place, in flagrant breach of the truce agreements.
What's the point for Hamas to keep on agreeing on truces, if Israel keeps ignoring them?
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Unity Is the Answer
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Is reopening the Rafah crossing to Egypt a realistic possibility in the short term?
Of course it's possible. If you close off the tunnels, you stop the illegal finance and illicit smuggling gains. But you've then got to reopen the crossings so the people of Gaza can be properly provided for. I think you can begin that relatively quickly. But first of all you need a ceasefire that's fully respected on both sides.
Will beefing up a contingent of U.S. engineers on the Egypt side of the border do enough to help stop the smuggling?
I think that if all that stands between us and stopping this is making sure that these tunnels are rendered useless, then I cannot believe it is beyond our wits to organize it.
Bush is at the end of his term, Obama has been very quiet. Do you see a leadership deficit during this crisis?
I think everybody's working hard to bring it to a solution. But the problem is—the problem remains the problem. The problem is that the Palestinian side is divided. The only way out of this, in the end, is to provide that viable way forward for a Palestinian state. It can be done. Whether it's the present administration or the next administration, that's what it takes.
The United Nations announced it would suspend aid deliveries as a result of the fighting. What impact will that have on the humanitarian situation?
It will have a serious impact. The U.N. has rules it has got to abide by for the protection of its own employees. But of course, the sooner we manage to get the humanitarian corridor working again, the better. But let's be clear. Whatever amount of humanitarian aid we put in there isn't going to compensate for the fact that life is hell for the people there.
Is it possible to deter asymmetric enemies like Hamas?
It is not possible to do it solely by military means, in my view. Which is why I've always argued that this broader struggle has to be answered by a combination of standing up militarily whenever it's necessary, but also being prepared to engage in the ideological debate. This is quite simple. You can debate the military effectiveness, and there are people who are lot better qualified to do that than me. But whatever the outcome of the military campaign, in the end the only solution to this is to offer people a viable, clear, credible alternative toward a Palestinian state.
© 2009
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