"What to do about Hamas?" Three Options Posted by Shadi Hamid

Thomas Friedman writes that “America’s goal has to be a settlement in Gaza that eliminates the threat of Hamas rockets and opens Gaza economically to the world, under credible international supervision.” Easier said than done. A difficult question for the US, Israel, and the international community is “what to do about Hamas”? As far as I can tell, there are three possible options. If there are others I’m missing, tell me:

1.    Eradicate Hamas
2.    "Domesticate" Hamas (i.e. Hamas lays down arms and becomes a "normal" political party)
3.    Weaken Hamas

The problem is that each of these options is either unattractive or very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve, or both.

Option #3, to my mind, is the most practicable option, but it’s one that still leaves difficult questions unanswered. If we want, as Friedman says, to open Gaza up economically to the world, is this goal possible as long as a “weakened Hamas” controls Gaza? If yes, then how? If no, then we come back to the original question: “what to do about Hamas?”

Comments

[Josh J.]

Option #2 may be the most desirable, and possibly the most practicable. The means to accomplish option #1 could only result in the opposite effect, with the radicalization of more young Palestinians and the loss of even more hearts and minds across the Arab world. Option #3 is probably less likely than it sounds: it didn't work well against Hezbollah two years ago, not that Hamas could actually gain in Gaza as much as Hezbollah gained in Lebanon. The problems with Gaza will only be solved when a stable political entity exists to deal with them, and an Israeli occupation won't suffice. A "domesticated" Hamas may be the only option.

[jgogek]

The arrogance and presumption of both Israelis and Palestinians is sickening. They seem to think that they can do anything and the rest of the world will just have to put up with it. There’s coming a tipping point in which the people of the United States and the people of Moderate Arab and Muslim states will say, it’s not worth it any longer — and wash their hands of them. Only then, when the enabling stops, will there be an opportunity for peace.

Read more at http://blog.jimgogek.com

[J Thomas]

The first step toward domesticating Hamas into a regular political party is to stop assassinating them. It's hard for a party to give up weapons while it's being picked off a few at a time by a foreign power.

Open borders would help, but of course they'd start importing weapons. What nation wouldn't? There are a few nations that do without any military force at all -- costa rica comes to mind -- but none that are getting bombed regularly.

So israel would have to watch gaza get weapons and not do anything about it in the short run. Then when negotiations reached a sticking point and it was time to invade again, they'd take more casualties than they would otherwise. The opposition would shriek about how it's all because they let palestinians get weapons and swear "Never Again".

It seems implausible to me. Why try for a peaceful settlement when it's easier and safer to just kill people?

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Open borders would help, but of course they'd start importing weapons. What nation wouldn't? There are a few nations that do without any military force at all -- costa rica comes to mind -- but none that are getting bombed regularly.

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It seems implausible to me

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Open borders would help, but of course they'd start importing weapons. What nation wouldn't? There are a few nations that do without any military force at all -- costa rica comes to mind -- but none that are getting bombed regularly.

[ferngesteuerter hubschrauber]

It may seem that the war between Israel and Hamas will be never ending. But many felt the exact same way about the US Military and the guerrilla fighters in Iraq. The US has won there so there’s hope for Israel too.Israel won big victories in the past over opponents that seemed superior at the time. Hamas’ capability is being degraded everyday. We hope for the proverbial ‘tipping point’ soon.Hitler said he hated Jews because they introduced conscience to the world. It’s that human quality that despots despise.It’s a shame that VDH has to endure so much vitriol. The people who comment on these threads lately have been, for the most part very civil. That’s a good sign. Many of the name callers and contrarians of the past haven’t come back. They were tedious.

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