peace talks

talks not bombs make sense By Uri Avnery, (Born in Bechum,Germany in 1923 as Helmut Ostermann Peace now activist Uri Avnery is the first Israeli politician to meet and shake hands with Yasser Arafat.That was in 1982.Today leading Peace Bloc, Gush Shalom,he pleads for talks with Hamas, the extremist Palestian group and settle for peace The article below by this pragmatic leader articulates his position very clearly.Arun Gandhi is not alone in seeking accommodation instead of kosher war of the fanatic Jews.There are Jews also advocating common sense.May he live long enough to peace between Jews and Palestinians. -Kulamarva Balakrishna) Text: Israeli peace now man Uri Anvery with Yasser Arafat in 1982 We Israelis live in a world of ghosts and monsters. We do not conduct a war against living persons and real organizations, but against devils and demons which are out to destroy us. It is a war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, between absolute good and absolute evil. That's how it looks to us, and that's how it looks to the other side, too. Let's try to bring this war down from virtual spheres to the solid ground of reality. There can be no reasonable policy, nor even rational discussion, if we do not escape from the realm of horrors and nightmares.After the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections, Gush Shalom said that we must speak with them. Here are some of the questions that were showered on me from all sides: Do you like Hamas? Not at all.That does not prevent me from speaking with Hamas people, as I have spoken with other people with whom I don't agree. It is said that Hamas was created by Israel. Is that true? Israel did not "create" Hamas, but it certainly helped it along in its initial stages. During the first 20 years of the occupation, the Israeli leadership saw the PLO as its chief enemy.That's why it favored Palestinian organizations that, it was thought, could undermine the PLO.It is ironic that the Israeli leadership is now supporting the PLO in the hope of undermining Hamas. Did the Hamas election victory show that Islam was on the rise among the Palestinian people? Not necessarily. The Palestinian people did not become more religious overnight. It is the reaction of the young Arab generation to the failure of secular nationalism to solve their national and social problems. If so, why did Hamas win? There were several reasons. The main one was the growing conviction of the Palestinians that they would never get anything from the Israelis by nonviolent means. Also, the corruption in the higher Fatah echelons had reached such dimensions, that the majority of Palestinians were disgusted. Hamas, on the other hand, was considered clean, and its leaders noncorrupt. Can one reasonably expect the Palestinians to overthrow Hamas themselves? As long as the occupation goes on, there is no chance of that. An Israeli general said this week that if the Israeli Army stopped operating in the West Bank, Hamas would replace Abbas there too. The administration of Mahmoud Abbas stands on feet of clay — American and Israeli feet. But how can one reach a settlement with an organization that declares that it will never recognize Israel and whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state? All this matter of "recognition" is nonsense, a pretext for avoiding a dialogue. We do not need "recognition" from anybody. When the United States started a dialogue with Vietnam, it did not demand to be recognized as an Anglo-Saxon, Christian and capitalist state. If A signs an agreement with B, it means that A recognizes B. All the rest is hogwash. And in the same matter: The fuss over the Hamas charter is reminiscent of the ruckus about the PLO charter, in its time. That was a quite unimportant document, which was used by our representatives for years as an excuse to refuse to talk with the PLO.Who remembers that today? What should we speak with Hamas about? First of all, about a cease-fire. When a wound is bleeding, the blood loss must be stemmed before the wound itself can be treated. Hamas has many times proposed a cease-fire, Tahidiyeh ("Quiet") in Arabic. This would mean a stop to all hostilities: Qassams and Grad rockets and mortar shells from Hamas and the other organizations, "targeted liquidations", military incursions and starvation from Israel. The negotiations should be conducted by the Egyptians, particularly since they would have to open the border between the Gaza Strip and Sinai. Gaza must get back its freedom of communication with the world by land, sea and air.If Hamas demands the extension of the cease-fire to the West Bank, too, this should also be discussed. That would necessitate a Hamas-Fatah-Israel trialogue. Won't Hamas exploit the cease-fire to arm itself? Certainly. And so will Israel. Perhaps we shall succeed, at long last, in finding a defense against short-range rockets. If the cease-fire holds, what will be the next step? An armistice, or Hudnah in Arabic. Hamas would have a problem in signing a formal agreement with Israel, because Palestine is a waqf — a religious endowment. (That arose, at the time, for political reasons. When Caliph Omar conquered Palestine, he was afraid that his generals would divide the country among themselves, as they had already done in Syria. So he declared it to be the property of Allah.) Hudnah is an alternative to peace. It is a concept deeply embedded in the Islamic tradition. A hudnah can last for dozens of years and be extended without limit. A long hudnah is in practice peace, if the relations between the two parties create a reality of peace. So a formal peace is impossible? There is a solution for this, too. Hamas has declared in the past that it does not object to Abbas conducting peace negotiations, on condition that the agreement reached is put to a plebiscite. If the Palestinian people confirm it, Hamas declared that it will accept the people's decision. Why would Hamas accept it? Like every Palestinian political force, Hamas aspires to power in the Palestinian state that will be set up along the 1967 borders. For that it needs to enjoy the confidence of the majority. There is no doubt whatsoever that the vast majority of the Palestinian people want a state of their own and peace. Hamas knows this well. It will do nothing that would push the majority of the people away. And what is the place of Abbas in all this? He should be pressured to come to an agreement with Hamas, along the lines of the earlier agreement concluded in Makkah. We believe that Israel has a clear interest in negotiating with a Palestinian government that includes the two big movements, so that the agreement reached would be accepted by almost all sections of the Palestinian people. Is time working for us? For many years, Gush Shalom was telling the Israeli public: Let's make peace with the secular leadership of Yasser Arafat, because otherwise the national conflict will turn into a religious conflict. Unfortunately, this prophecy, too, has come true. Those who did not want the PLO, got Hamas. If we don't come to terms with Hamas, we shall be faced with more extreme Islamic organizations, like the Taleban in Afghanistan.(end)