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Friday March 23, 2007

Is P.A.’s unity regime duping the West?

With their unity government now established, Palestinian leaders hope the world will drop its boycott and come calling, preferably with checkbook in hand.

We hope it doesn’t.

While internecine warfare between Fatah and Hamas does not augment Israel’s security, neither does a Palestinian unity government that fails to heed world demands for civilized behavior.

Meeting those demands –– recognition of Israel, renouncing of violence and honoring prior agreements –– seems beyond Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who says all forms of resistance against the “Zionist entity” remain legitimate, and that prior agreements with Israel will be “respected” only to the degree they benefit his side.

That doesn’t sound like a partner with which Israel can do business. And yet, at the earliest possible opportunity, representatives of the French and Norwegian governments fell all over each other to issue congratulatory proclamations or rush to Haniyeh’s side for a photo-op.

The boycott launched last year after Hamas swept into power arose for a reason: The United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia (the Quartet) agreed Hamas is a terrorist organization bent on Israel’s eradication, and could not be trusted.

For a while, it seemed the world community meant business and the boycott might have been working.

Yet this week we also learn from a New York Times report that U.S., U.N. and EU aid to Palestinians actually rose last year, topping $1.2 billion despite the boycott. Granted, the money went to individuals and independent agencies rather than directly to the Palestinian Authority, but it sure didn’t increase any pressure on Hamas.

In fact, even the appearance of a boycott now appears to be crumbling. The United States has already met with the Palestinian Finance Minister. Other meetings are sure to follow. Even Israel maintains its strong ties with the authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, in addition to many back channels.

Why mount a boycott only to cave without achieving the desired outcome? That only strengthens Hamas’s grip on power and its appeal to average Palestinians, who see Haniyeh as hanging tough against what turned out to be a toothless international community.

Israel will continue to maneuver the diplomatic waters as best it can. But it distresses us that key players on the world stage have dropped their guard only to embrace an untrustworthy Hamas-led government. Dare we say it: In this case, the terrorists win.

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