Hamas VictoryThe victory of Hamas in the PA election is confirmation of what those of us on the right have been arguing for many years: Israel has no potential peace partner, and the Palestinian people are even more extreme than their (former) leadership.
While the Israeli left has surprised me before, it is hard to imagine that even Labor's Amir Peretz would in any way deal with a Hamas government.
It is therefore useless to discuss or speculate about borders in a final status peace agreement, since there is no chance of any such agreement for many, many years to come, if ever. For example, while I support territorial compromise for real peace and part ways in that regard with those on the far right, disagreements like that are rendered meaningless for the foreseeable future.
Instead, the debate must center on what Israel - faced with a Palestinian government sworn to its destruction - should do.
Most likely, the debate will be about whether further unilateral withdrawal is in Israel's interests. The withdrawal from Gaza was clearly seen by Palestinians as Israeli weakness in the face of terror, leading to the Hamas victory.
In my opinion, Israel's first step should instead be to pass legislation ensuring that the security fence is moved east, to cover more of the communities in Judea and Samaria, as well as the Jordan Valley.
Now that a terrorist group has been elected as leader of the Palestinian people, it will be interesting to see how the Bush Administration reacts. Most likely, when it comes to Hamas, the slogans about destroying terror will prove to be just slogans.
posted on 1/26/2006
