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Bringing Hamas in from the cold By Arthur Neslen Tags: Gaza, Hamas, Israel News In November, Ahmed Yousef, the speechwriter and aide of Gaza's prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, claimed that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's team had been in contact with the group during the U.S. election campaign. The Obama camp denied it, and Yousef now says the talks are on ice. But many of the incoming president's former and current foreign policy advisers favor some degree of U.S. engagement with the group. And if the United States were to stop boycotting Hamas, Israel could suddenly find itself internationally isolated on this point. But conservative and brutal as its politics can be, what is so frightening about talking to Hamas? The group does remain committed to the dream of a united Islamic Palestine, but its political leadership, including Khaled Meshal, has accepted the principle of a two-state solution, based on the 1967 borders, in return for a long-term hudna, or truce. When I spoke to Yousef last May, while researching a book about Palestinian identity, he told me such a situation could be extended "to infinity." Advertisement Hamas has long sought to transform itself from a guerrilla organization into a political party that can replace the PLO as the Palestinians' "sole legitimate representative." Its chief tactic - a pragmatic variant of the gun and olive branch gambit pioneered by Yasser Arafat - remains just that, a tactic. Hamas has always contended that Fatah's concessions to Israel without a quid pro quo weaken the national cause and little more. They point to mushrooming settlements, the separation fence expanding across Palestinian territory and continuing mass arrests and assassinations. If Hamas' "resistance and pragmatism" formula fails, much darker forces are already growing in the shadow of Gaza's ruins, ready to take its place. One source close to Al-Qaida that I interviewed over the summer claimed the group's ideas are increasingly influential in Gaza. He said the extremist group was hopeful that a split could occur within the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, if Hamas were to surrender or even start talks with Israel. The militancy of some Brigade members could be one factor pushing Hamas to confrontation. But there are others, and Israel's killing of six Hamas fighters in Gaza on November 5 was not the least of them. Rocket attacks may be criminal and ineffective - as well as self-defeating in the destructive response they elicit from Israel. But they also meet a very human need to maintain both honor under fire and the spirit of resistance. More than that, breaking the siege that has crippled normal Gazan life is the central challenge facing Hamas, both because it has decimated the lives of its electoral base, and because it is a litmus test of the group's alternative policy for statehood through resistance as well as talks. If the tahadiyeh (lull) had succeeded in opening Gaza's borders to aid, trade and free passage for Gazans - especially work-related passage - it would have been political madness for Hamas to break it. As things were, the Gaza closure pushed the organization's popular support down to 16 percent in November, according to one opinion poll, and it must have concluded it no longer had anything to gain by holding fire. At the best of times, Israel's fear of its resistance is the only leverage Hamas feels it has. As Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum put it, "Because the occupation decided to use every shade of punishment to destroy Hamas - collective punishment, deporting, arresting and killing - we need military resistance to force it to stop." Even Israel's supposed antidote to this tactic - assassinations - was counteracted by the cultural lionizing of shaheeds and an organizational tapestry of knowledge-sharing. "Hamas leaders believe in passing on experience to others before they are killed," Barhoum explained. "I received a lot ... from Abdul al-Rantisi before his assassination and I have had about seven people who are prepared to be the spokesman for Hamas if I am killed." As a precautionary measure though, he does not use a cell phone or car. Hamas had forgone suicide bombings "because the world community said it was a crime against humanity," Yousef said in exasperation at one point. "We listened to the world, hoping they would reward us; we didn't even receive praise. If the world's conscience won't hear Palestinian tears, we have other means at our disposal." When I asked Ahmed Yousef what forms of resistance he could see emerging in Gaza in five or 10 years, his reply was calibrated to send shudders through Israel's political-military complex. "We might have submarines," he said. "We might have drones. We might have both these things. It sounds very sophisticated, [but] we can do it. We have know-how in the field of military technology. The ball is in Israel's court." Hinting at where Israel's refusal to negotiate may push the group, Yousef suggested that Israel feared Hamas "might be able to mobilize Arabs in Muslim countries against the occupation." No doubt Egypt fears this too. Hamas grew out of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, now the biggest internal opposition to the undemocratic regime led by Hosni Mubarak, which declines to hold free elections. If Hamas were to abandon its policy of non-intervention in the affairs of neighboring countries, it might spark a quantum shift in the regional equation. An Islamic uprising against Egypt's treatment of the Palestinians would certainly alter the regional balance of power. On the other hand, if Hamas were brought in from the cold, it might smooth the edges of the peace deal that Obama's administration seeks and begin to heal the deep sense of hurt and alienation that bathes the Gaza Strip. Either way, trying to bomb Hamas into Gaza's scorched earth will not change the rules of the game, but only - temporarily - the strengths of the teams. Arthur Nelsen is the author of "Occupied Minds: A Journey Through the Israeli Psyche" (Pluto Press 2006). He can be contacted at artneslen@hotmail.com. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Crisis in question The Arab League slams Livni's remark 'there's no humanitarian crisis in Gaza' Acts of Terror In their waning days in power, Bush and Rice work to try organize a truce.   1.   Don`t leave it too late! 10:19  |  Manny Goldstein 02/01/09   2.   WITH OR WITHOUT HAMAS IN GAZA 11:18  |  indrajaya 02/01/09   3.   BRING HAMAS INTO THE HEAT 17:17  |  BOB KAY 02/01/09   4.   Mr. Neslen: try to provoke with a more reasonable topic. 17:24  |  Fortuna Benmayor 02/01/09   5.   It was time when they won the election 18:13  |  LisaV 02/01/09   6.   Open your eyes 19:17  |  Paul Dobson 02/01/09   7.   Hamas likes the heat I`m afraid 22:15  |  Peter Williams 02/01/09   8.   "Hamas had forgone suicide bombings" ! ! ! ! 00:08  |  Avrum 03/01/09   9.   For Paul Dobson, in Poland # 6 00:52  |  Fortuna Benmayor 03/01/09   10.   So Hamas started the war to do better in Pal polls? 01:03  |  Rob 03/01/09   11.   Shudders? 01:36  |  Daniel 03/01/09   12.   Reply to #4. Fortuna Benmayor 02:28  |  Phil 03/01/09   13.   The Israeli left is delusional and deatist. 02:45  |  David J Feiger 03/01/09   14.   David J. Feiger wants to choose the enemy 08:20  |  Mark B. 03/01/09   15.   Hamas point of view. 11:16  |  sandra chitayat 03/01/09   16.   # 3 to bob kay in MONTREAL- you really don`t understand; do you? 11:26  |  eric 03/01/09

Read & React Bush: Hamas attacks on Israel are an 'act of terror' Responses: 71 Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff: Now IDF is getting personal with Hamas Responses: 76 Yossi Sarid: If you (or I) were Palestinian Responses: 128 Anshel Pfeffer: Right and Left, Diaspora Jews more critical of Israel than ever Responses: 80 Bradley Burston: To win in Gaza, Israel only has to survive Responses: 50 More Headlines 01:36 Israel launches a ground operation in the Gaza Strip 01:36 WATCH: Israeli troops launch ground incursion in Gaza Strip 22:23 Barak: Gaza invasion won't be short, and it won't be easy 22:39 Hamas: Gaza will become graveyard for Israeli troops 00:03 Israel okays call-up of tens of thousands of IDF reservists 00:27 Hezbollah urges Hamas to 'kill as many Israeli soldiers as they can' during Gaza op 22:41 EU presidency: Israel ground op in Gaza 'defensive not offensive' 00:53 Tens of thousands rally across Europe against Israel's Gaza offensive 00:56 Thousands rally in Tel Aviv for and against Israel's Gaza op 01:17 UN Security Council to hold emergency session on Israel's Gaza operation 20:14 Netivot home collapses as Hamas intensifies rocket fire from Gaza 13:32 ANALYSIS / Are air strikes enough, or is a ground op needed in Gaza? 17:47 Arab League slams Livni remark 'there's no humanitarian crisis in Gaza' 14:04 Bush calls Hamas attacks 'acts of terror', says working on truce 10:41 ANALYSIS / Israel must prepare to turn its military might from Gaza to Iran 09:42 UN chief wants international monitors for Gaza cease-fire 18:59 Gaza 2009 - To win, all Israel has to do is survive 18:45 Top Iran official holds talks with Syria on Gaza violence Previous Editions Select Day 02 jan 01 jan 31 dec 30 dec 29 dec 28 dec 26 dec 25 dec 24 dec 23 dec 22 dec 21 dec

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