The United States? decision to invoke its right to veto a United Nations? Security Council draft resolution condemning Israel for an attack on the Gaza city of Beit Hanoun has resounded in both the Palestinian Territories and the rest of the Arab world. A group of Arab countries has decided to end a ?financial blockade? on the Palestinian Territories that began when the terrorist group Hamas assumed political power. Hamas, and its Arab supporters, are hoping to leverage sympathy from the international community into a new set of peace talks with Israel. Within the Territories, four Palestinian militant factions have declared US targets legitimate targets for violence.
Israel is unlikely to approach the negotiation table with Hamas for another round. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev has said that Israel will not talk to Hamas until the organization renounces violence and recognizes the Israeli state. ?A multilateral conference doesn?t make Hamas legitimate,? Regev said, ?What makes Hamas legitimate is accepting the international benchmarks.? Hamas has already declared that recognizing Israel is off the table.
Further, Hamas wants land in exchange for peace, and Israel will not enter into that negotiation track again. Israel gave up land in Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinians did not deliver on the peace. With neither Hamas nor Israel meeting each other?s preconditions, peace talks look further and further away.
In an effort to improve its legitimacy with the international community and ease the way for Arab countries that want to help but fear being labeled as supporting a terrorist organization, Hamas will try to form a unity government with Fatah . However, Hamas will maintain most important ministerial positions and appoint a Fatah foreign minister to be the Palestinian government?s ?face? to the outside world. This is primarily a public relations? move and will not result in a substantial change in Hamas? power structure.
The four Palestinian factions that reacted to the US veto by declaring US targets legitimate are concerning. The four groups are:
1) the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees ,
2) the Higher Military Council of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades ,
3) the Abu ar-Rish Brigades, and
4) the Fatah Strugglers-al-Tawhid Brigades.
The statement circulated by these four groups was published by a Gaza newspaper. It declared that the lives of American ?soldiers and citizens? in the region of Israel and the Palestinian Territories were not ?more precious than the lives? of the victims of Bayt Hanun. The statement alleged that US officers supervised the attack and that the US gave Israel ?the green light? to carry it out. Americans have been the targets of kidnappings in the area and have been killed in indiscriminate suicide attacks. The risk of attacks targeting Americans rises with this declaration. At least two of the groups?the al-Aqsa Martyr?s Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees–have confirmed capabilities to make good on this threat; Americans in the area are in danger of falling victim to an act of retribution for Bayt Hanun.
