Hamas and the rebirth of illusion
By Jonathan Spyer Haaretz 27 May 2005
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/581101.html

A process of rethinking is currently taking place in British and American
foreign policy establishments regarding Hamas. The movement's ability to
command high levels of popular support is giving credence to formerly fringe
opinions that have long advocated rapprochement between the Western
democracies and militant Islamism.

The shift is currently most advanced in Britain, though it is present in the
United States, too. The group around former MI6 officer and European Union
envoy Alistair Crooke is finding that its long-held view of the Hamas as a
"national Palestinian movement centered on mobilizing a community to resist
an illegal occupation" is now swaying mainstream opinion in the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office. Crooke and Co. see Hamas as reflecting "fundamental
issues of justice and democratic reform" in Palestinian politics.

There have been reports of an imminent major shift in British policy, toward
open engagement with Palestinian Islamism. In the U.S., too, a growing
number of veteran advocates of a similar position are using the space
provided by reports of the "Arab Spring" to advance their views. The
argument now made is, well, if elections are the answer, and Islamists win
elections, then Islamists must be welcomed as partners. Thus, Mark Perry, of
the Washington-based Alliance for Security, describes Hamas as one of a
number of movements that have made the "historic choice" to "build their
societies on values we hold dear - of justice and peace, of accountability
and transparency."

The trouble with this line of reasoning is that those using it are asking us
to ignore the actual, openly proclaimed aims and practices of Hamas. This is
a movement whose founding charter contains in its opening paragraph the
following declaration: "Israel will rise and will remain until Islam
eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors." This is followed, in
article seven, with the exhortation that "the time will not come until
Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind
rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me,
come on and kill him!"

The charter goes on to advocate the creation of an Islamic state, aiming "to
raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine." And declaring its
ultimate goal as "Islam, the Prophet its model, the Koran its constitution."

The actions of the movement in support of its goals are well known. They
include an ongoing commitment to the practice of terror that brought chaos
to Israel's urban centers in the darkest days of the last five years. The
list is long, and respect for the dead enjoins us occasionally to remind
ourselves of it: The Park Hotel, Mike's Place, the Dolphinarium, Sbarro and
Moment are but a few of the names to be remembered.

But Hamas, with its commitment to the imposition of "Islam as a way of
life," is oppressive also to its own people. The movement has a long history
of using violence to impose Islamic norms in areas where it holds sway. In
particular, efforts to ensure the continued subjugation of women have
characterized its activities. The recent murder of 20-year-old Yusra Azzami
in Gaza by movement members is in line with this side of its activities.
Azzami had been seen in the company of a young man (her fiance, it later
became clear, which prompted a curious and half-hearted apology for her
killing from Hamas spokesmen in the Strip).

In some ways, the atmosphere that Crooke, Perry and Co. wish to manufacture
is redolent of the early days of the Oslo period. At that time, doubts
raised regarding the willingness of Yasser Arafat's leadership to reach a
compromise peace with Israel were airily brushed aside. Those who pointed to
incendiary statements by the PLO leadership, such as Arafat's speech in a
Johannesburg mosque in 1994 advocating continued holy war, were encouraged
to develop greater political sophistication. One must differentiate the
rhetoric from the reality, we were told. And we well recall when rhetoric
and reality finally came together at the end of that illusory process in the
autumn of 2000.

There is no doubt that the popular support enjoyed by radical Islamist
forces raises a serious question for advocates of regional democratization.
Hamas' friends in the West wish to lever the confusion surrounding this
matter to ensure a place for the movement at the table. But for progress on
the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and indeed broader regional democratization
to be possible, it is essential that this confusion be dispelled.

History is replete with examples of movements that sought to combine the use
of the tools of democracy with the substantive rejection of its goals, and
the desire eventually to subvert and destroy it. The totalitarian ideologies
of the 20th century were examples of this type. The continued health and
existence of democracies required that they identify those threats in good
time, and did not lack the will to act against them. Such requirements also
hold for the threat represented by the Hamas, which seeks both to destroy
Israel and to enslave the Palestinians.

It is therefore essential to make clear that the continued ascendance of
this movement means the termination of hope for progress toward improved
relations between the two peoples. The disarming of Hamas and the defeat of
its ideas is the common, urgent interest of Israelis, Westerners and
Palestinians alike.
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Dr. Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in
International Affairs Center at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya.