The Globe and Mail
Editorial - Page A16
May 30, 2006

Abbas sets the bar 

It's remarkable what a little decisiveness can accomplish, even in the midst of chaos and despair. Last Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a bold ultimatum to Hamas, the terrorist organization that runs the government: Either accept a peace proposal championed by respected Palestinian leaders currently behind bars in an Israeli prison or face a national referendum on the subject. The plan underlines previous negotiating positions calling on Israel to withdraw from all the territory occupied since the 1967 war and for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. Implicit is a recognition of Israel's right to exist alongside a Palestinian state. Mr. Abbas and other moderate Palestinians have long accepted this reality as the basis for a negotiated settlement, but Hamas does not.

It was a brilliant political stroke by Mr. Abbas, who gave Hamas 10 days to respond. Hamas officials predictably rejected the idea of a referendum, but know they are in danger of rapidly losing the battle for the hearts and minds of ordinary Palestinians if they maintain their foolish intransigence. Hamas swept to power in the legislative elections in January in large part because of public anger over the corruption, incompetence and factional rifts that marked the rule of the long-governing Fatah party of Mr. Abbas and his predecessor Yasser Arafat. Other aspects of Hamas's agenda, notably its militant version of Islam and its implacable, violent opposition to Israel, have considerably less appeal to a largely pragmatic people looking for signs of hope in an otherwise bleak social and economic landscape.

Hamas has helped make life even more difficult by refusing to accept the fundamental obligations of a civil government: to protect citizens from harm and promote their well-being. Instead, it provoked Western governments to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority, removing its main source of operating funds. It has also formed a private militia that has engaged in open hostilities with the Fatah-controlled police and security forces.

Now Mr. Abbas, who has often appeared weak and indecisive since his landslide victory at the polls early last year, is holding out a ray of hope at a time when the possibility of civil war hangs in the air and when Israel is more determined than ever to resolve its border issues. While Mr. Abbas was showing why he has long had a reputation for finding safe passages through the most treacherous of waters, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was promising Washington that he would make one last serious effort to reach a negotiated deal with Mr. Abbas before unilaterally withdrawing from most of the West Bank and securing Israel's final borders. This is not likely a coincidence. The Bush administration would dearly love to breathe new life into the peace process, which has been dormant since January, 2001. It would also be in Mr. Olmert's political interests to do so, and it would shore up Mr. Abbas's shaky position.

Mr. Olmert told U.S. lawmakers that Israel “cannot wait for the Palestinians forever.” Now Mr. Abbas is telling Hamas the same thing. With or without Hamas, he is eager to take up Mr. Olmert's commitment to get back to the bargaining table. Hamas says there can be no referendum unless it holds one, and that it has no intention of doing so. The organization won its power democratically at the ballot box. It will be surprised at what direction democracy can take when a government thwarts the will of its own people.

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