Preacherman
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From the Telegraph, London (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...27.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/06/27/ixnewstop.html), this journalist has an interesting perspective on what's forcing Hamas to the negotiating table:
Hamas leaders caught off guard by Bush's divine mission
By Alan Philps in Jerusalem
(Filed: 27/06/2003)
Something radical has changed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The change is not the views of the Israeli top brass, who still believe in using an iron fist. It is not in the minds of the Palestinian extremists who send young men to blow themselves up inside Israel; they still believe in eternal struggle.
How then to explain the fact that Hamas, the Islamic extremist movement, is preparing to sign a three-month truce, obliging it to stop attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians?
In return for accepting what Palestinians widely see as a "surrender document", Hamas will get almost nothing from the Israelis, not even a promise that the lives of its leadership will be secure.
The change is not on the ground, but 5,900 miles away, in the mind of President George W Bush. He told the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, earlier this month that bringing peace to the Middle East was a "divine mission" for him.
The Palestinians were astonished at these words - the last they expected to hear from a US president.
Mr Bush's divine mission is gathering strength, and all the Arab leaders are scrambling to avoid being trampled by the diplomatic and military juggernaut. The most scared of all are the Syrians, whose capital, Damascus, has been the home of the exiled leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
With American troops in Iraq on its eastern frontier, Syria is coming under intolerable pressure to heed American wishes and send radical Palestinian leaders away. The fact Washington has offered no explanation - let alone an apology - for a raid on June 19 in which five border guards were wounded and taken away is the clearest indication that the US is no respecter of Syrian sovereignty.
The exiled leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Khaled Mashal and Ramadan Shallah, have been moved from their Damascus offices to a Palestinian refugee camp. Their next stop would most likely be Beirut - within range of the Israeli air force and Mossad hit squads. Even the compliant Lebanese might want to move them on but where to? No Arab country dares provide a haven.
That is why, according to Palestinian officials, the exiled leadership has all but signed the ceasefire proposal. The local leadership in Gaza is resisting this decision, which they see as a surrender of fundamental principles. If God has decreed there should be no Jewish state in the Middle East, they argue, who has the right to declare a truce?
"The exiled leadership sees the regional picture, which is not at all favourable," said a diplomat. "The local leadership sees things differently. From their perspective, their popularity is growing at an unprecedented rate. Why give up the struggle while the Israeli army is not even being forced to withdraw to positions it held in September 2000, or to release Palestinian prisoners?"
So much American prestige is at stake that Hamas will most likely knuckle down and accept the three-month truce ahead of a visit to the region this weekend by Condoleezza Rice, Mr Bush's National Security Adviser.
This, however, is just the first of many steps. The Israelis dismiss any truce as a sham, and are demanding that Mr Abbas's Palestinian Authority set about disarming Hamas.
This is unlikely to happen. Mr Abbas says he wants to unify Palestinian ranks, not cause civil war by acting as Israel's policeman - a role he is too weak to carry out. The second stage - the dismantling of Hamas - will mark the point when Mr Bush's divine mission collides with the dark realities on the ground.
Hamas leaders caught off guard by Bush's divine mission
By Alan Philps in Jerusalem
(Filed: 27/06/2003)
Something radical has changed in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The change is not the views of the Israeli top brass, who still believe in using an iron fist. It is not in the minds of the Palestinian extremists who send young men to blow themselves up inside Israel; they still believe in eternal struggle.
How then to explain the fact that Hamas, the Islamic extremist movement, is preparing to sign a three-month truce, obliging it to stop attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians?
In return for accepting what Palestinians widely see as a "surrender document", Hamas will get almost nothing from the Israelis, not even a promise that the lives of its leadership will be secure.
The change is not on the ground, but 5,900 miles away, in the mind of President George W Bush. He told the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, earlier this month that bringing peace to the Middle East was a "divine mission" for him.
The Palestinians were astonished at these words - the last they expected to hear from a US president.
Mr Bush's divine mission is gathering strength, and all the Arab leaders are scrambling to avoid being trampled by the diplomatic and military juggernaut. The most scared of all are the Syrians, whose capital, Damascus, has been the home of the exiled leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
With American troops in Iraq on its eastern frontier, Syria is coming under intolerable pressure to heed American wishes and send radical Palestinian leaders away. The fact Washington has offered no explanation - let alone an apology - for a raid on June 19 in which five border guards were wounded and taken away is the clearest indication that the US is no respecter of Syrian sovereignty.
The exiled leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Khaled Mashal and Ramadan Shallah, have been moved from their Damascus offices to a Palestinian refugee camp. Their next stop would most likely be Beirut - within range of the Israeli air force and Mossad hit squads. Even the compliant Lebanese might want to move them on but where to? No Arab country dares provide a haven.
That is why, according to Palestinian officials, the exiled leadership has all but signed the ceasefire proposal. The local leadership in Gaza is resisting this decision, which they see as a surrender of fundamental principles. If God has decreed there should be no Jewish state in the Middle East, they argue, who has the right to declare a truce?
"The exiled leadership sees the regional picture, which is not at all favourable," said a diplomat. "The local leadership sees things differently. From their perspective, their popularity is growing at an unprecedented rate. Why give up the struggle while the Israeli army is not even being forced to withdraw to positions it held in September 2000, or to release Palestinian prisoners?"
So much American prestige is at stake that Hamas will most likely knuckle down and accept the three-month truce ahead of a visit to the region this weekend by Condoleezza Rice, Mr Bush's National Security Adviser.
This, however, is just the first of many steps. The Israelis dismiss any truce as a sham, and are demanding that Mr Abbas's Palestinian Authority set about disarming Hamas.
This is unlikely to happen. Mr Abbas says he wants to unify Palestinian ranks, not cause civil war by acting as Israel's policeman - a role he is too weak to carry out. The second stage - the dismantling of Hamas - will mark the point when Mr Bush's divine mission collides with the dark realities on the ground.
