No discourse with Hamas
Reader comment on item: Business as Usual in the Palestinian Authority

Submitted by Octavio Johanson (Italy), May 17, 2005 at 11:58

Daniel Pipes sounds a bit pessimistic about Abbas, but then, he knows the subject better than myself. I was one of those optimists who trusted the new Palestinian leadership to be different, better qualified than Arafat to reach peace with Israel.

If things are like Daniel Pipes has explained, if we are going back to "Business as Usual in the Palestinian Authority", then I got it all wrong.

In particular, if Hamas wins the Palestinian council elections, all my dreams for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians will vanish.

Hamas and its killers are not a valid counter-part for negotiations. Nor is it morally acceptable for the Israeli administration to negotiate with Hamas and its killers.

I am from Europe, but I don't share European views about appeasement of Militant Islam.

I know there are a lot of good people living in the Middle East, but you cannot appease Hamas who kills innocent civilians.

If the new Palestinian leadership is not committed to peace, if they don't reject violence, then the Israeli government cannot negotiate with them under any circumstances.

Europeans who see Israel as racist should ask themselves how the murder of civillians can be justified. It cannot.

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