Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh today declared that Hamas is “prepared to accept a state in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967″. He continued:
“We are pushing towards the dream of having our independent state with Jerusalem as its capital…
“If there is a real project that aims to resolve the Palestinian cause on establishing a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, under full Palestinian sovereignty, we will support it”.
This follows similar remarks by Khaled Meshaal, who stated that Hamas ‘will not obstruct’ a two-state settlement. Senior Hamas official Salah Bardawil described Meshaal’s comments as part of “Hamas’s new policy”, explaining:
“We aspire to establish a Palestinian state from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. But practically, considering the situation, Hamas wants to realize its rights, to establish a Palestinian state. The entire world talks about the principle of two states for two peoples, but we see only one state, the State of Israel, which still has no clear borders and does what it wants even in the area under control of the PA. Give us a state and we’ll talk about recognition.”
Asked if the Palestinian state with Hamas would recognize the State of Israel, he said yes, “If our demand is met and a Palestinian state is established, we will recognize Israel, because we will have a state and they will have a state. At the moment, the situation is that one state controls another state.”
He also said: “The matter of recognition is a personal matter, you recognize us and we’ll recognize you. There are no magic solutions. One way is to continue the violence and the war, another is mutual recognition and the establishment of the Palestinian state. The state of Palestine will end the fighting with Israel.”
These statements from Hamas are pretty unequivocal in their support for a two-state settlement, and yet they are receiving far less media play than Netanyahu’s rejectionist rant, despite being much more significant. True, neither Hamas nor Netanyahu is saying anything particularly new: Hamas has made a raft of similar statements supportive of a two-state settlement in recent years, and Netanyahu was peddling his “limited Palestinian state” nonsense as far back as 1996. He even had an op-ed published (h/t Mondoweiss) in the Washington Post six years ago in support of ‘a limited Palestinian state’ on terms identical to those he outlined on Sunday. But whereas Israel’s rejectionism has always been and will continue to be supported by the US, Hamas’s alleged intransigence has been used as a pretext to isolate and overthrow an elected government, subject an occupied people to “possibly the most rigorous form of international sanctions … in modern times” and rain down bombs and missiles upon a defenceless civilian population for years on end.
Hamas’s recent statements were issued in close proximity to Netanyahu’s speech. A simple comparison demonstrates what has long been clear: Hamas is far closer to accepting a two-state settlement than either Israel or the US.
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian | 5 Comments
Tags: Binyamin Netanyahu, Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Mesha'al
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An obvious point, you may say, but it would be nice if the media noticed.
How about all those polled who support the one-state solution?
Check this out
What does Hamas’ statement mean for the bi-national movement now?
“What does Hamas’ statement mean for the bi-national movement now?”
Nothing much really. They are following the same path as the PLO, and we all know where that led.
On the other hand, the fact that 23% of Palestinians support one state is astonishingly high considering: a) 18 years of “peace process” propaganda; and b) the fact that there is no Palestinian political party calling for this as part of this platform (not an explicitly bi-national state anyway).
It’s all about “one person, one vote” from here on out IMHO.
I don’t think the bi-national movement ever relied on Hamas to be its champion, and a good thing too. So like Asa I think Hamas’s statement means little in that context. The fact is, if Israel is pressured to offer the Palestinians a two-state settlement along the lines of the international consensus, most Palestinians would accept it, Hamas included. The occupation would end, Palestinians would have their state and the non-violent struggle for a truly just settlement could then begin.
The old stages theory
To that I can only say: inshallah.