Sunday, June 29, 2008

EDITORIAL The Japan Times online.  http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/ed20…

Subtle change in the Middle East.

It did not take long before the ceasefire that went into effect on June 19 between Israel and Hamas was tested. The launch of rocket attacks last week from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory prompted Tel Aviv to launch an armed incursion, leaving the truce tattered, but not yet terminated. Peace must be restored.

Obscured amid the confusion was one important development: the beginnings of a dialogue, however tentative, between Israel and Hamas. This could be the first step toward real peace in the region.

Egypt, which controls one of the borders of the Gaza Strip, has worked for months to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that wrested control of the territory last year from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and is now trying to prove that it can govern as well as it can lead the armed struggle against both Israel and the PA. Cairo’s efforts culminated in an agreement that called for a complete end to mutual attacks in and around the Gaza Strip.

Israeli security forces killed two Palestinian militants Tuesday in the town of Nablus, which is in the West Bank and, according to the Israelis, not part of the agreement. The militants were from Islamic Jihad, a radical group that responded with rocket launches from inside the Gaza Strip. Israel rightly denounced the attacks as a “grave violation” of the truce and closed the border with Gaza. Israel kept the border closed after a rocket attack Thursday.

Hamas’ instinct is to escalate, but it has very good reasons to look for ways to restore the truce; indeed, both sides do. Hamas wants the borders open after a yearlong closure brought considerable hardship to most residents of the Gaza Strip. Despite substantial aid and assistance, Gaza today is one of the poorest areas in the Middle East.

The Tel Aviv government has launched attacks against Gazans as well, in retaliation for the frequent rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli civilians living near the Gaza Strip.

Hamas wants some relief, not only to end the suffering of those people but to demonstrate that it can govern. Both sides also launched negotiations for a prisoner swap that would win the release of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza since 2006.

While trying to persuade them to honor the agreement, Hamas has said it will not enforce the truce against other Palestinian groups. That policy is not good enough.

An essential — if not defining — attribute of government is its monopoly on the use of force within its territory. If Hamas is not willing to enforce that monopoly, then it does not deserve to be considered the ruling authority in Gaza.

To make its point, Israel has decided to respond to violations of the ceasefire with border closings. After three days, the flow of goods will increase, and then a week later, will increase yet again, to include other essential items, such as fuel. Each time the truce is broken, the clock will restart. That is a structured and measured response that should give Hamas incentive to step up its efforts to enforce the deal.

Apart from the hope that the agreement can end the violence and provide some relief to the long-suffering Palestinians, this truce is significant because it represents the first real engagement between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli officers insist that Egypt produced the real compromise and that “the Israeli position regarding Hamas as a terror organization has not changed one iota.” But the truth is the truce constitutes de facto recognition of Hamas — and that should give the Islamic group even more incentive to enforce the agreement.

Israel’s readiness to deal with Hamas would make it more difficult for others — such as the United States and other Western governments — to refuse to do so. And if it can deliver on a real peace, then Hamas will have shown the world that it can do what Mr. Abbas cannot: Enforce a peace among militant Palestinians.

If Hamas can take control of the border with Egypt — it is currently in negotiations with the PA and Cairo to do just that — then it will have demonstrated yet another attribute of a functioning government.

Peace aside, this is the real significance of the truce. It is the first critical step in Hamas’ struggle for international legitimacy. The world should encourage the group to continue down this path, to give up violence in exchange for recognition and the right to rule the Palestinian people. It is a long process, but these past weeks have marked the first tentative, and vital, steps forward.

———–

so, we were right all along in having two buttons for Palestine - The Bank and Hamasstan. In the meantime the two areas are being governed separately. The PA has no power in The Bank and even less in Gaza. If Hamas proves it can handle Gaza better, and Israel agrees to talk to them - then the Japanese see here a road to peace. It can be assumed that a President Obama, despite what others at Japan Times think, will also come along and help in negotiations for Middle East peace.

Further, let us note that the last moves were done without US help, and perhaps even in spite of a n Administration’s position of not talking to terrorists.