- A million and a half Palestinians are learning the hard
way that democracy isn't so good if you vote the wrong way. In 2006, they
elected Hamas when the US and Israel wanted them to support the more-moderate
Fatah. As a result, having long ago lost their homes and property, Gazans
have endured three years of embargo, crippling shortages of food and basic
necessities, and total economic collapse.
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- We spoke again Saturday with three of our longtime Gazan
contacts. They and their families, all Fatah supporters, were in their
eleventh day without electricity, running water, or heat. They are cowering
in cold basements trying to protect their children from the storm of explosions
that is filling Shifa hospital with amputees and the dead. Our friends
in Israel are likewise living in fear.
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- The 850-plus dead Gazans, more than a dozen dead Israelis,
and some 3,000 injured have since the end of the cease-fire become part
of what Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once called the birth pains
of a new Middle East.
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- It didn't have to be this way. We could have talked instead
of fought.
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- Hamas never called for the elections that put them in
power. That was the brainstorm of Secretary Rice and her staff, who had
apparently decided they could steer Palestinians into supporting the
more-compliant Mahmoud Abbas (the current president of the Palestinian
authority) and his Fatah Party through a marketing campaign that was to
counter Hamas's growing popularity all while ignoring continued
Israeli settlement construction, land confiscation, and cantonization
of the West Bank.
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- State Department staffers helped finance and supervise
the Fatah campaign, down to the choice of backdrop color for the podium
where Mr. Abbas was to proclaim victory. An adviser working for the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) explained to incredulous
staffers at the Embassy in Tel Aviv how he would finance and direct elements
of the campaign, leaving no US fingerprints. USAID teams, meanwhile, struggled
to implement projects for which Abbas could claim credit. Once the covert
political program cemented Fatah in place, the militia Washington was
building for Fatah warlord-wannabee Mohammed Dahlan would destroy Hamas
militarily.
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- Their collective confidence was unbounded. But the Palestinians
didn't get the memo. Rice was reportedly blindsided when she heard the
news of Hamas's victory during her 5 a.m. treadmill workout. But that
did not prevent a swift response.
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- She immediately insisted that the Quartet (the US, European
Union, United Nations, and Russia) ban all contact with Hamas and support
Israel's economic blockade of Gaza. The results of her request were mixed,
but Palestinian suffering manifestly intensified. The isolation was supposed
to turn angry Palestinians against an ineffective Hamas. As if such blockades
had not been tried before.
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- Simultaneously, the US military team expanded its efforts
to build the Mohammed Dahlan-led militia. President Bush considered Dahlan
"our guy." But Dahlan's thugs moved too soon. They roamed Gaza,
demanding protection money from businesses and individuals, erecting
checkpoints to extort bribes, terrorizing Dahlan's opponents within Fatah,
and attacking Hamas members.
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- Finally, in mid-2007, faced with increasing chaos and
the widely known implementation of a US-backed militia, Hamas the
lawfully elected government struck first. They routed the Fatah
gangs, securing control of the entire Gaza Strip, and established civil
order.
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- Its efforts stymied, the US has for more than a year
inflexibly backed Israel's embargo of Gaza and its collective punishment
of the Strip's 1.5 million residents. The recent six-month cease-fire
saw a near cessation of rocket fire into Israel and calm along the border,
yet the economic siege was further tightened.
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- Gaza's economy has collapsed, and the population, displaced
for decades from their farms and villages, relies ever more on food aid
from Hamas and the UN. The US expresses shock that Gazans resort to using
smuggling tunnels for survival rather than passively accepting the suffering
inflicted by the embargo. What would we expect Americans to do in the
same circumstances? With no easing of the blockade, the missile launches
have increased in range and frequency, yielding massive Israeli response.
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- Our "good," US-supported Palestinians did not
vanquish the "bad" Palestinians any more than Washington's Lebanese
clients turned on Hezbollah, despite the suffering and death of the 2006
war with Israel. Abbas sits emasculated in Ramallah. The Israelis continue
to build settlements while blaming Iran for their troubles, as though
the Palestinians have no grievances of their own. And we are further than
ever from peace.
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- Cultural differences aside, Gazans, like Americans, unite
in adversity. Neither punishment, nor a cease-fire that extends the embargo
will make them accept the loss of their property, 60 years of displacement,
or life in squalid refugee camps.
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- Nor, as decades of experience have proved, will too-clever
US manipulation make Palestinians pliable to US and Israeli wishes. US
financial and military support for Israel can maintain the status quo
indefinitely, if that's what we want, but it cannot resolve fundamental
issues or bring peace. For that, we need to talk, even if at arm's length
initially, and not leave the hard issues to the end. That only leaves
the radicals on both sides the opportunity to undermine peace efforts
and extend the senseless loss of life. Until we talk about real issues,
both Palestinians and Israelis will be cowering in cellars.
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- Such dialogue won't be easy, but with concerted US-led
effort, it is within reach. A significant portion of the provisions that
will constitute a comprehensive agreement, even on the most difficult
issues, have already been put together by discreet, experienced Track2
negotiators.
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- The difficulty lies in the politics of giving concessions
and selling them to the public. Only the US has the influence to move
the parties past their weaknesses with a comprehensive regional initiative,
thereby defusing those who argue against concessions for any bilateral
peace agreement while other enemies remain.
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- That's why President-elect Obama must reconsider his
plan to appoint a traditional Washington-based Middle East envoy, reportedly
former envoy Dennis Ross, and instead pursue a course that signals change.
He should:
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- · Declare his determination to pursue from his
first day in office, not the final six months, full peace between Israel
and/ all/ its neighbors. Only by doing so can he win support among Israelis,
Palestinians, the Congress, and the international partners we'll need
to support this historic effort.
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- · Name an outstanding peace envoy to be resident
full time in the region with authority over our missions in Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem. He or she must have the presidential backing and stamina to
withstand the pressures and pitfalls of a comprehensive peace process
over the long haul. In addition, this envoy must have authority over all
US interactions with the Palestinians and Israelis and later, with other
parties, reporting directly to the president in collaboration with the
National Security Adviser and secretary of State. Assisted with staff
comprising the US government's foremost experts, this envoy would be the
single US voice on this issue.
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- · Empower the envoy to engage with/ all/ parties
to the conflict, regardless of current prohibitions, on all issues, overturning
long- established policy.
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- · Fund a political and economic development process
second only to those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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- Only by an "all out" effort can we hope to
convince all the parties, and a skeptical international community, that
the US is determined to achieve peace and prosperity for/ /ALL the peoples
of the region.
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- Norman and Mathew Olsen
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