Israel wants to use Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s weekend visit to try to stem the growing political and diplomatic clout of its arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, political sources said.
Israeli leaders are increasingly worried about the Islamist faction’s successes in local Palestinian elections, its recent contacts with European Union diplomats and the threat of renewed militant attacks that could disrupt Israel’s Gaza withdrawal.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon may even ask Rice to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to bar Hamas from running in coming parliamentary elections, a Sharon confidant said.
If Israel truly wanted to “stem the growing political and diplomatic clout of its arch foe” it would not manufacture reasons they should have it. Inciting tension as always, diverting attention from Israel’s illegal destructions/constructions, all of it enthusiastically financed by the United States.
The Lost Palestinians
By Hussein Agha, Robert Malley
There is turmoil on the Palestinian political scene and out of it has come hyperbole and misconception. Fatah’s decline has variously been belittled as the result of a temporary conflict between generations or it has been overstated as the prelude to Hamas’s inexorable triumph. Hamas’s ascent has led to exaggerated fears of an Islamist takeover coupled with inflated concerns that it will thwart the Palestinian president’s plans. In turn, Abu Mazen’s decision to bring Hamas into Palestinian institutions has been criticized as naive, dangerous, or both.
There is indeed a problem with Palestinian politics today. But the core of the problem concerns the identity of the two principal Palestinian organizations, not a conflict between young reformers and old diehards. And it is best dealt with by bringing more forces into the political mainstream, not by excluding them in the name of a putative Islamist threat.