'Just World News' with Helena Cobban: Kadima government helps break the boycott on Hamas?

'Just World News' with Helena Cobban Info, analysis, discussion-- to build a more just world
« Too much work on dead-tree publications! \| JWN front page \| US mis-steps and Shiite activism in Iraq » Kadima government helps break the boycott on Hamas? Posted by Helena Cobban May 9, 2006 4:14 PM EST \| Link Filed in Palestine 2006 In my piece on Hamas for Boston Review, the dateline for which was May 1, I had written that the continuation of the harshly damaging boycott on allowing any material or financial aid to reach the PA-held areas was most probably a function of the continuing (as of then) absence of a new government in Israel... And that most likely once a Kadima-led government had been formed and started to stabilize itself it would quietly put out the word to the Bush administration and the pro-Israelis in Congress to ease up on the boycott.... (This, in line with the way the US government became persuaded to change its views on talking with the PLO, back in 1993: In other words, only when the word goes out from the Israeli government-- and in line with that, also from their allies in Washington's powerful pro-Israel lobby-- do the US administration and the leaders of the US Congress "dare" to change their policy. Which, on that earlier occasion, they did with truly breathtaking rapidity.) So guess what. Today, suddenly we learn that a viciously anti-Palestinian piece of legislation called HR 4681, that had been proposed in the House of Representatives by the rightwing Islamophobe Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), has suddenly been taken off the floor and will not be considered this week. Interesting, huh? This, the same day that the WaPo published a piece from their Israel-Palestine correspondent Scott Wilson in which he writes, A full collapse of the Palestinian Authority ... could bring on a larger political and financial role for Israel in the Palestinian territories, which it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. That could complicate the agenda of Israel's new government, which is preparing to evacuate isolated Jewish settlements in parts of the West Bank. "Nobody needs the collapse of the Palestinian Authority," a senior Israeli security official said in a recent briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity. "When I say nobody, I mean nobody." Last week, Marc Perelman wrote this in the NYC Jewish weekly, the Forward: Efraim Halevy is no dove. The bluntly speaking former Mossad chief, a key adviser to former prime minister Ariel Sharon who supported harsh retaliation against Palestinian terror, is a supporter of the Iraq War who issues dark warnings about the dramatic increase in Europe's Muslim population. So, there were more than a few puzzled looks at a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations last week when Halevy spoke out about the need to engage Hamas. Twice he warned his audience that "we'll be seeing things we have not seen before," a seeming allusion to potential talks between Israel and Hamas. If you want to find out all of my reasoning on why I'd thought a Kadima-led government, once established, might start urging the US government to ease up on the suffocation of the PA, you'll have to wait till the BR piece comes out. But you can find a foretaste of my theory of "parallel unilateralisms" if you go back and read this March 9 column on the topic By the way, Ori Nir also had a good piece on the shaky international state of the boycott campaign in last week's Forward. He wrote there: Bush administration officials say that the pressure on Hamas will either bring about a gradual change in the movement's belligerent positions or accelerate the collapse of its government. On the other hand, according to diplomatic sources in Washington, America's European allies are not pressing for regime change in the territories. "I have never come across anyone in Europe who wants to engineer the fall of Hamas's government, both because it's counterproductive and because we don't want to tamper with a clean election," said Jonathan Davidson, senior adviser for political and academic affairs to Washington's European Commission Delegation. Like I said, interesting days... --- Addendum, Tuesday 10 p.m.: So, this evening there was a surprise announcement from NYC that the Quartet members have all agreed to form a special "Trust Fund" to supply funding to the people of the PA areas. That AP piece says, The new fund is supposed to administer only money for basic human needs. But both European and U.S. diplomats said that at some point it might be used to pay salaries for urgently needed doctors or teachers or for other services that the Hamas government otherwise would be expected to provide... Did I call it or what?? Last Thursday, Israel formed its government. Today, just five days later, we see what that AP writer calls "a slight softening of the hard U.S. line against financial engagement with Hamas." It is true that this "Trust Fund" money is not supposed to go to its recipients through the Hamas government. But it will presumably go through NGOs (and also may help pay the salaries of government employees.) Regardless of the exact modalities in that regard, what seems indisputable is that if a decent level of efficient, non-currupt human services are to be provided to the Palestinians, then Hamas-affiliated networks will be centrally involved with that effort... (As I wrote in this Salon article.) Next up: Watch as the Hamas government takes Gaza out of the Paris Agreement and into a new economic relationship with the world through Egypt. Exiting from Israel's economic stranglehold is a great way for the people of Gaza to get off the international welfare rolls... « Too much work on dead-tree publications! \| JWN front page \| US mis-steps and Shiite activism in Iraq » Comments Comment from... m.hasan, at May 11, 2006 07:33 AM: You look pretty sure of how things will evolve once the new Israeli government has been formed and stabilized . Early indicators show that your anticipation of coming developments is correct. An Israeli spokesman announced today that Israel will release some of the money it collects on behalf of the Palestinians ( around $50 m/month).I would like to read your article in the BR for a more detailed view of your reasoning. Why was the article delayed . You said that it was supposed to be published on May first. Comment from... John R, at May 13, 2006 05:30 PM: (This, in line with the way the US government became persuaded to change its views on talking with the PLO, back in 1993: In other words, only when the word goes out from the Israeli government-- and in line with that, also from their allies in Washington's powerful pro-Israel lobby-- do the US administration and the leaders of the US Congress "dare" to change their policy. Which, on that earlier occasion, they did with truly breathtaking rapidity.) That seems to me oversimplify, as there was an earlier, resultless, official dialogue with the PLO when Arafat accepted the Kissinger conditions in 1988 to US satisfaction. There was also the much more important Madrid round negotiations upstaged by Oslo, which were with Palestinian representatives , really the PLO with only a thin facade. These started under Republican administrations, and were in line with the lesser hold the "pro-Israel" forces have on that party, particularly with powerful presidents. The 1993 sequence of events were more typical of the strong hold on a first term Democratic administration. Bush, weak and uninterested, nowadays breaks that pattern, and is apparently subservient, as pointed out.	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Kadima government helps break the boycott on Hamas?

Posted by Helena Cobban
May 9, 2006 4:14 PM EST | Link
Filed in Palestine 2006

In my piece on Hamas for Boston Review, the dateline for which was May 1, I had written that the continuation of the harshly damaging boycott on allowing any material or financial aid to reach the PA-held areas was most probably a function of the continuing (as of then) absence of a new government in Israel... And that most likely once a Kadima-led government had been formed and started to stabilize itself it would quietly put out the word to the Bush administration and the pro-Israelis in Congress to ease up on the boycott....

(This, in line with the way the US government became persuaded to change its views on talking with the PLO, back in 1993: In other words, only when the word goes out from the Israeli government-- and in line with that, also from their allies in Washington's powerful pro-Israel lobby-- do the US administration and the leaders of the US Congress "dare" to change their policy. Which, on that earlier occasion, they did with truly breathtaking rapidity.)

So guess what. Today, suddenly we learn that a viciously anti-Palestinian piece of legislation called HR 4681, that had been proposed in the House of Representatives by the rightwing Islamophobe Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), has suddenly been taken off the floor and will not be considered this week.

Interesting, huh?

This, the same day that the WaPo published a piece from their Israel-Palestine correspondent Scott Wilson in which he writes,

"Nobody needs the collapse of the Palestinian Authority," a senior Israeli security official said in a recent briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity. "When I say nobody, I mean nobody."

Last week, Marc Perelman wrote this in the NYC Jewish weekly, the Forward:

The bluntly speaking former Mossad chief, a key adviser to former prime minister Ariel Sharon who supported harsh retaliation against Palestinian terror, is a supporter of the Iraq War who issues dark warnings about the dramatic increase in Europe's Muslim population. So, there were more than a few puzzled looks at a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations last week when Halevy spoke out about the need to engage Hamas.

Twice he warned his audience that "we'll be seeing things we have not seen before," a seeming allusion to potential talks between Israel and Hamas.

If you want to find out all of my reasoning on why I'd thought a Kadima-led government, once established, might start urging the US government to ease up on the suffocation of the PA, you'll have to wait till the BR piece comes out. But you can find a foretaste of my theory of "parallel unilateralisms" if you go back and read this March 9 column on the topic

By the way, Ori Nir also had a good piece on the shaky international state of the boycott campaign in last week's Forward. He wrote there:

"I have never come across anyone in Europe who wants to engineer the fall of Hamas's government, both because it's counterproductive and because we don't want to tamper with a clean election," said Jonathan Davidson, senior adviser for political and academic affairs to Washington's European Commission Delegation.

Like I said, interesting days...

---

Addendum, Tuesday 10 p.m.:

So, this evening there was a surprise announcement from NYC that the Quartet members have all agreed to form a special "Trust Fund" to supply funding to the people of the PA areas. That AP piece says,

Did I call it or what?? Last Thursday, Israel formed its government. Today, just five days later, we see what that AP writer calls "a slight softening of the hard U.S. line against financial engagement with Hamas."

It is true that this "Trust Fund" money is not supposed to go to its recipients through the Hamas government. But it will presumably go through NGOs (and also may help pay the salaries of government employees.) Regardless of the exact modalities in that regard, what seems indisputable is that if a decent level of efficient, non-currupt human services are to be provided to the Palestinians, then Hamas-affiliated networks will be centrally involved with that effort...

(As I wrote in this Salon article.)

Next up: Watch as the Hamas government takes Gaza out of the Paris Agreement and into a new economic relationship with the world through Egypt. Exiting from Israel's economic stranglehold is a great way for the people of Gaza to get off the international welfare rolls...

Comments

Comment from... m.hasan, at May 11, 2006 07:33 AM:

You look pretty sure of how things will evolve once the new Israeli government has been formed and stabilized . Early indicators show that your anticipation of coming developments is correct. An Israeli spokesman announced today that Israel will release some of the money it collects on behalf of the Palestinians ( around $50 m/month).I would like to read your article in the BR for a more detailed view of your reasoning. Why was the article delayed . You said that it was supposed to be published on May first.

Comment from... John R, at May 13, 2006 05:30 PM:

That seems to me oversimplify, as there was an earlier, resultless, official dialogue with the PLO when Arafat accepted the Kissinger conditions in 1988 to US satisfaction. There was also the much more important Madrid round negotiations upstaged by Oslo, which were with Palestinian representatives , really the PLO with only a thin facade. These started under Republican administrations, and were in line with the lesser hold the "pro-Israel" forces have on that party, particularly with powerful presidents. The 1993 sequence of events were more typical of the strong hold on a first term Democratic administration. Bush, weak and uninterested, nowadays breaks that pattern, and is apparently subservient, as pointed out.