Don't Punish the PalestiniansCarter is so incredibly willfully blind, so unbelievably wrongheaded as to make it remarkable to conceive that he was once President of a great country.
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The role of the prime minister was greatly strengthened while Abbas and Ahmed Qureia served in that position under Yasser Arafat, and Abbas has announced that he will not choose a prime minister who does not recognize Israel or adhere to the basic principles of the "road map." This could result in a stalemated process, but my conversations with representatives of both sides indicate that they wish to avoid such an imbroglio. The spokesman for Hamas claimed, "We want a peaceful unity government." If this is a truthful statement, it needs to be given a chance.
During this time of fluidity in the formation of the new government, it is important that Israel and the United States play positive roles. Any tacit or formal collusion between the two powers to disrupt the process by punishing the Palestinian people could be counterproductive and have devastating consequences.
Unfortunately, these steps are already underway and are well known throughout the Palestinian territories and the world. Israel moved yesterday to withhold funds (about $50 million per month) that the Palestinians earn from customs and tax revenue. Perhaps a greater aggravation by the Israelis is their decision to hinder movement of elected Hamas Palestinian Legislative Council members through any of more than a hundred Israeli checkpoints around and throughout the Palestinian territories. This will present significant obstacles to a government's functioning effectively. Abbas informed me after the election that the Palestinian Authority was $900 million in debt and that he would be unable to meet payrolls during February. Knowing that Hamas would inherit a bankrupt government, U.S. officials have announced that all funding for the new government will be withheld, including what is needed to pay salaries for schoolteachers, nurses, social workers, police and maintenance personnel. So far they have not agreed to bypass the Hamas-led government and let humanitarian funds be channeled to Palestinians through United Nations agencies responsible for refugees, health and other human services.
This common commitment to eviscerate the government of elected Hamas officials by punishing private citizens may accomplish this narrow purpose, but the likely results will be to alienate the already oppressed and innocent Palestinians, to incite violence, and to increase the domestic influence and international esteem of Hamas. It will certainly not be an inducement to Hamas or other militants to moderate their policies.
The election of Hamas candidates cannot adversely affect genuine peace talks, since such talks have been nonexistent for over five years. A negotiated agreement is the only path to a permanent two-state solution, providing peace for Israel and justice for the Palestinians. In fact, if Israel is willing to include the Palestinians in the process, Abbas can still play this unique negotiating role as the unchallenged leader of the PLO (not the government that includes Hamas).
It was under this umbrella and not the Palestinian Authority that Arafat negotiated with Israeli leaders to conclude the Oslo peace agreement. Abbas has sought peace talks with Israel since his election a year ago, and there is nothing to prevent direct talks with him, even if Hamas does not soon take the ultimately inevitable steps of renouncing violence and recognizing Israel's right to exist.
It would not violate any political principles to at least give the Palestinians their own money; let humanitarian assistance continue through U.N. and private agencies; encourage Russia, Egypt and other nations to exert maximum influence on Hamas to moderate its negative policies; and support President Abbas in his efforts to ease tension, avoid violence and explore steps toward a lasting peace.
Is he completely unaware that Abbas is also the leader of Fatah, which is responsible for scores of terror attacks? Is he clueless about the Palestinian Arab "policemen" who are nothing but terrorists in uniform? Does he really consider money that others pump into the Palestinian economy for free "their own money?" Can he really believe that after seeing the lies of the PA over the past decade that the "peace process" has any value to anyone? Can he not read the Hamas charter in black and white? Why does he believe an anonymous Hamas spokesman who doesn't even say anything remotely peaceful over the explicitly anti-semitic and genocidal statements of Hamas in Arabic?
Perhaps the most clueless and dhimmified part of the article is the part that is unwittingly bigoted towards Arabs. Yes, Jimmy Carter is a bigot against Arabs. He holds them to a much lower standard than human beings , and he justifies their terrorism as a natural part of their personalities. How else can he say that withholding money from them is an incitement to violence? What exactly is the genetic psychological condition that Palestinians evidently have that means that if we don't do what they want, they are justified in killing Jews?
No, according to the liberal mindset typified by Dhimmi Carter, all of their violence is our fault. Somehow when the Mafia threatens violence when they don't get their "protection money" it is a crime, but when Hamas does exactly the same thing it is reason to bow before Allah and submit to an Islamic 'ummah.
And now Hamas doesn't even have to make that threat explicit. President Jimmah will do it for them, in the pages of the Washington Post.