Egypt has told Hamas that if the new Palestinian government wants Cairo’s help, it must maintain its current cease-fire, honor existing peace pacts and recognize Israel’s right to exist.
That pragmatic policy sets a solid stage for other Arab governments to prod Hamas away from its violent past and toward its new practical need to govern and pursue statehood.
Hamas has indicated it can accept the first two conditions, but not the third. We hope Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will hold tight to recognition, and prevail.
The threat of withholding aid is the most effective tool the international community has to push Hamas into acceptable behavior. Since Palestine has no real functioning economy of its own, it has (to paraphrase the playwright) depended on the kindness of strangers – or at least the bank accounts of allies and optimists.
Shortly after Hamas’ Jan. 25 victory in Palestine’s parliamentary elections, President Bush said that unless Hamas recognizes Israel’s right to exist, the United States would withhold the $225 million Washington had planned to send the Palestinian Authority. The European Union also said it was prepared to withhold its $600 million aid package. Russia and the U.N. Secretary-General’s office – the other two members of the Middle East diplomatic effort known as “the quartet” – are in agreement. These threats ,are the only appropriate policy. given that Hamas’ central political tenet is the destruction of Israel.
The key question of Arab support for Hamas remained unanswered until Egypt took its stand. Mubarak’s leadership has already garnered support from other regional leaders, including Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Egypt has good reasons for wanting to keep the peace process alive, or at least on life support. Cairo recognized Israel 27 years ago. But Hamas, founded in 1987, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical group born in Egypt that looms large as Egypt takes its own baby steps toward a full-fledged democracy.
If Hamas snubbed the moderate Arab governments, it may need additional support from more radical states like Syria (which long has given it a base from which to launch terrorist attacks) and Iran (with whom Hamas shares a vision of Islamic theocracy, albeit a Sunni one instead of a Shiite one). Israel’s intelligence agency says Hamas already gets at least $3 million a year from Iran and $12 million from Saudi Arabia, where radical Islamic factions also work.
Hamas is clearly hoping that others will blink and settle for something short of peaceful recognition of Israel. To the contrary, Cairo has the right prescription.
