Has the Obama Administration Brought Hamas into A Palestine Unity Government?

Last Thursday George Mitchell, the US envoy in the Middle East, in a conference calls with Jewish-American leaders, stated the full support of the Obama Administration for a Palestinian unity government. That in itself is a long-standing American policy; what was significant was that Mitchell indicated the unity government could include not only Fatah, the party behind the Palestianian Authority, but also Hamas.

The timing of Mitchell’s intervention was even more important. As of last Thursday, Egypt’s efforts to bring Fatah and Hamas together in “reconciliation” talks, scheduled for 22 February, appeared to be going nowhere. Although Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas had praised Cairo’s initiative but Hamas had refused unless the Palestinian Authority released its members from jails in the West Bank. This weekend, after Mitchell’s statement was widely publicised by the Obama Administration (and after British and French delegations had met with Hamas representatives in Beirut and Damascus and after three US Congressmen visited Gaza), Egypt was able to announce that the talks would proceed on Wednesday.

Of course, Mitchell continued to emphasise the long-standing conditions of the “Quartet” of the US-European Union-United Nations-Russia for Hamas’ political participation: halting violence, recognizing Israel, and accepting previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements. But these demands have already been accepted, at least in their rhetoric, by the officials of Hamas, as the organisation moves away from its 1988 Charter. What has been needed, given the double standards applied to Israeli behaviour and that of Hamas, has been some sign of goodwill which would permit legitimacy for the Hamas leadership.

It is unclear what that sign, for Mitchell, was. On the surface, there was no need to recognise a “victorious” Hamas, because the party has been weakened by the Gazan conflict. While Hamas was not defeated militarily by Israel or even significantly damaged, and while it has had a short-term political boost --- especially compared with Fatah and the Palestinian Authority --- as the defender of Palestinians, it cannot turn this to a decisive advantage against Tel Aviv, as Hezbollah did in the Lebanon War in 2006. Politically, with its ostracism by the West, it still lacks the image of an established “authority”, in contrast to that given to the Palestine Liberation Organization from the 1980s.

However, Hamas’ inability to project “victory” --- at least to the West and Israel, if not its own people --- may have actually worked to its advantage and brought Mitchell’s signal. Because the group might be represented as needing to moderate its views in order to get any role in the peace process, the Obama Administration can contain the notion of Hamas as imminent threat to a new Israeli Government.

Indeed, with Israel itself in transition, Mitchell could put the challenge to Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu rather than Khaled Meshaal or Ismail Haniya: “Form a government that is ready for dialogue and cooperation in solving the Palestinian-Israeli problem.”

So the hand has been extended, very indirectly and at a distance but still extended, to Hamas by Obama. The 44th President of the United States of America, unlike his predecessor, has given priority to an meaningful peace process rather than the rigid mantra of “Israeli security”. If Hamas got the second of its nine lives through survival in the Gaza War, it now has a third political life. Whether that continues may be conditioned on whether it can find some consensus with Fatah now.

The Latest from Israel-Gaza-Palestine (22 February)

7:20 p.m.: Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured), the Likud Party leader, has said he will meet Tzipi Livni, the leader of Kadima,  in an attempt to form a coalition government in Israel.

Netanyahu also issued a reassuring pro forma to Washington, "I intend and expect to cooperate with the Obama administration and to try to advance the common goals of peace, security and prosperity for us and our neighbours."

12 noon (2 p.m. Israel/Palestine): Egypt has opened the Rafah crossing to students, but not to other residents, for three days. The sick are also being allowed to cross, although 200 have been unable to reach Egyptian hospitals because they lack "correct paperwork".

The Latest on Israel-Gaza-Palestine (21 February)

Evening Update: Egypt has said that the Palestinian "reconciliation" talks will take place on 25 February. Hamas has been holding against attendance at the discussions, which originally were to take place tomorrow.

The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz uses first-hand evidence to report, "Gazans: IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] used us as 'human shields' during offensive".

Afternoon Update: A spokesman has said Hezbollah is not behind the rocket attack from Lebanon into northwestern Israel this morning.

Morning Update (9:20 a.m. GMT; 11:20 a.m. Israel/Palestine): Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured), the Likud Party leader asked on Friday to form the next Israeli Government, has called for unity with other political parties such as Kadima and Labor and declared that Iran "is developing nuclear weapons and poses the biggest threat to Israel since the war of independence".

Three Israeli medics were injured in northwestern Israel, by one of two rockets fired from Lebanon on Saturday. Israel fired artillery into Lebanon near Tyre.

Two Gazan militants were killed on Saturday. Local medics claim they died from Israeli shellfire, but the Israeli military denied that they launched any attack.

The Latest on Israel-Gaza-Palestine (20 February)

Evening Update: The wrangling over the formation of a new government in Israel continues. Meanwhile in the UK it has emerged that 400 BBC staff have signed a petition in protest at BBC Director General Mark Thompson's decision not to air the DEC's Gaza appeal.

3.30 p.m. GMT / 5.30 p.m. Israel/Palestine: A spokesman for Hamas has denied that it gave a letter for President Obama to Senator John Kerry yesterday, but at the same time stressed that Hamas is "open to hold dialogue with any country and our only enemy is the Zionist occupation."

Afternoon Update : The BBC reports that Likud's Benjamin Netanyahu will form the new Israeli cabinet. CNN also carries the story, and suggests that the support of other right-wing parties such as Yisrael Beytenu and the Orthodox Shas movement will allow Netanyahu to build a coalition.

Netanyahu has told reporters he wants to form a unity coalition with Kadima and Labour: "I call on Kadima chairwoman Tzipi Livni and Labour Party chairman Ehud Barak and I say to them -- let's unite to secure the future of the State of Israel. I ask to meet with you first to discuss with you a broad national unity government for the good of the people and the state."

Morning Update (8 a.m. GMT; 10 a.m. Israel/Palestine): No progress in Israel-Gaza talks with the continuing stalemate over the precondition of a prisoner swap including Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (pictured). Senior Hamas official Mahmoud az-Zahar has tried to press Tel Aviv and secure Hamas' relations with Egypt, claiming that Cairo and the Gazan leadership are in agreement over the prisoner issue.

Two rockets landed near Sderot in southern Israel on Thursday night.

In an interesting intervention over recent Israeli-Turkish tensions, Congressman Robert Wexler visited Turkish officials and, on CNN-Turk, underlined the importance of Turkish-American relations. He warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to leave behind his criticism of Israel's Gaza policy at the Davos Summit. Wexler said, “The close relationship with Israel is not going to change after taking over of the administration by President Obama. In the Middle East, whether in humanitarian or in security areas, Washington is going to continue standing by Israel.”

We remember Mr. Wexler in 2006 when Erdogan met with Hamas officials in Ankara. He urgently came to Turkey and warned Ankara in order to stop that unilateral political initiative that was not approved by American, European and Israeli leaders. This time, his warning is perceived as a much significant one, especially by the bureaucratic circles whilst anti-Israeli discourses backed up by the walkout in Davos may lead to a crisis among Israel, American, Turkey, and American Jewish lobbies in prior to the coming of a proposal concerning 'the approval of Armenian genocide' to the House of Representatives.

Updates from Israel-Gaza-Palestine (19 February)

Latest Post: Is US Now Talking to Hamas?

Evening Update (9 p.m.): Hamas has written a letter to President Obama and attempted to send it to Washington via Senator John Kerry (pictured), one of three US Congressmen visiting Gaza.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency confirmed that it had received the letter from Hamas but did not say whether Mr Kerry had then accepted it. (cross-posted from Is US Now Talking to Hamas? thread)



Afternoon Update (1:30 p.m. GMT): Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Likud Party, has moved closer to becoming Prime Minister, winning the support of the Israel-Beitenu Party, which finished third in last week's election.

Israeli warplanes have launched at least three airstrikes near Rafah.

Senator John Kerry and two US Representatives, Keith Ellison and Brian Baird, have made the first visit by US congressmen to Gaza in four years.

Morning Update (6:20 a.m. GMT; 8:20 a.m. Israel/Palestine): The negotiations between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Egypt, have effectively been suspended with the Israeli Cabinet's confirmation that kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit must be released before any further measures and Hamas' rejection of that precondition. "Reconciliation" talks between Hamas and Fatah are also in abeyance.

That leaves the sideshow announcement from the US State Department that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be attending the Gaza donors' conference in Egypt next month. It is a public-relations move that may quickly be exposed, given Israel's continuing restrictions on any assistance into the area; the real intent may be to slap at Hamas by insisting that all aid must bypass the Gaza authorities.