[Ramallah] Backed by the United States, Egypt is said to have mediated a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, ending rocket firing in return for an Israeli cessation of ground and air raids on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Israel denies any deal has been reached.
Analysts consider this unprecedented trend as a first sign of the Bush administration’s modification in its approach toward Hamas, from total isolation to encouraging allies such as Egypt to engage the group if it means saving peace efforts in the region.
Fearing that the recent round of violence could torpedo talks, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a recent trip to the region, supported Egypt’s mission to broker a truce and save what she called “the Annapolis solution.”
“I talked with the Egyptians and we fully expect them to carry out the efforts that they said they would carry out to try to bring calm to the region and improve the situation in Gaza," Rice said upon arrival in the region.
Rice’s remarks were not only an indication that Cairo’s role as mediator was acceptable so that talks could get back on track, but it also revealed a new trend in U.S. policy towards Hamas, according to Ahmad Abu Allyia, a columnist in the West Bank.
“I think the U.S. is more convinced now that Hamas is a key player here and there will be no future for peace by excluding it,” Abu Allyia added.
Rice declined to provide specifics of the talks, but the green light for Egypt followed strong pressure from European and Arab allies, including Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas, who was left with no choice but to hold off contacts with Israel to try to do something urgently to stem the violence.
Instead of making Hamas feel more vulnerable, local and regional experts say that the new U.S. strategy, which it developed after the Annapolis conference, is designed to bring them into the process, said Mohammad Cherkaoui, a political expert based in Washington.
"In the end, if you send the message that the game now is to contain Hamas rather than to destroy it… this would attract positive reaction from Hamas and pave the way for peace to eventually arrive.”
Basically, the U.S. cannot now afford to ignore the possibility that Hamas could act as a spoiler in talks that the Bush administration hopes will lead to a Palestinian statehood deal by the end of the year.
The latest escalation affirms that Hamas has the ability to affect negotiations and hinder both the Palestinian and Israeli sides in their efforts toward peace and coexistence.
More than 120 Palestinians were killed in an offensive that Israel said was aimed at stopping Hamas rocket attacks. Hamas says it fires rockets in self-defense, and that it would stop if Israel halted all military activity in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and ended a Gaza blockade.
Before last year’s Annapolis meeting, which relaunched the peace process, a group of ex-diplomats and other former senior U.S. government officials wrote to U.S. President George W. Bush urging him to find a way to include Hamas. But Bush and others in the administration dismissed the suggestion outright.
While it gave the go ahead for Egypt to deal with Hamas, Washington does not want to lend legitimacy to an organization it brands a terrorist group. Therefore, it prefers to do it through some of the Arab-aligned regimes that are considered close to Hamas, such as Egypt, Yemen and Qatar.
Egyptian, however, seeks to preserve security and stability on its borders with Gaza and avoid the scenario when fighters breached the wall on its borders with Gaza allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into its territory.
Therefore, it is a top national interest for Egypt to also push for the resumption of talks between Fatah and Hamas as the only way to end the Gaza sanctions and improve the humanitarian situation for 1. 5 million people, most of whom live in extreme poverty.
But local politicians and observers have ruled out the possibility that the U.S. will talk to Hamas. Instead, said Cherkaoui, “the administration is hoping that once a deal is cut between the P.A. and Israel, the population in Gaza will see the merits of joining the peace train.
"Then Hamas will be left with no other choice other than to decide whether it will be part of the new trend or not.”