The Waiting’s Over: Hamas Makes it Official

By David Schenker

Ever since the February 2007 Mecca Accords laid the groundwork for a Fatah-Hamas Palestinian national unity government, the US has largely taken a wait and see attitude. Some two weeks after Mecca, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice traveled to Berlin for a Quartet meeting and told an audience that “the best thing to do is to wait until this government is formed and them to make decisions” about whether the new Government would abide by Quartet requirements (to renounce violence, recognize Israel, and honor previously signed PLO agreements with Israel).

After Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement on March 15, the Administration started to raise concerns about the new government’s program, which affirmed that “resistance is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people.” Four days after the establishment of the National Unity Government, Secretary Rice said: “So I would put the question to the Palestinian government and to its [Hamas] prime minister: Do you mean the right of resistance by violence and let's get an answer.”

Well, yesterday Washington got its answer. According to Khalil Abu Lailah, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, Hamas will resume its efforts to try and kidnap Israeli soldiers. Abu Lailah said “Hamas’s decision to kidnap Israeli soldiers is not just a threat… it is a strategic issue.”

Although his comment was rather straight forward, some ambiguity remains. There are some reports, for example, that Hamas is denying that Abu Lailah represents the view of the terrorist organization’s parliamentary bloc. Given Abu Lailah’s seniority, however, it is difficult to dismiss the significance of the statement.

In recent months, Fatah—and not Hamas—has been responsible for many of the Qassam rocket attacks and interdicted terrorist infiltrations into Israel. While not welcome, Abu Lailah’s brutally candid admission of Hamas ongoing policy to kidnap Israeli solidiers may provide useful stimulus for Washington policymakers. Now that Hamas and has clarified its policies on the Quartet requirements, it would be an appropriate time for the Administration to do so vis-à-vis the National Unity Government.

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