Let Hamas Sink Or Swim

The frenzied and vile US response to the democratically elected Hamas party in the occupied territory, in my view, is really counterproductive. I agree with Thomas Friedman on this one. It is up to them to pull this off - provided the US and Israel rethink their hostile response to the party's win. They need to back off, control the urge to undermine, and let them sink or swim on their own.

But would that be smart right now? If Israel truly wants to get rid of Hamas, or at least see it disarmed, the only people who can do that effectively are the Palestinians. They have voted Hamas in - in a fair election that President George W. Bush insisted should take place.

If Hamas is going to fail now in leading the Palestinian Authority, it is crucial that it be seen to fail on its own - because it can't transform itself from a terror group into a ruling body delivering peace, security and good government for Palestinians - not because Israel and the U.S. never gave it a chance.

'Any minute that it is evident to the Palestinian public that Hamas is being forced to fail will guarantee that any future elections will only produce another Hamas victory,' said the Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki.

And by the way, if Hamas is forced to fail, who is to say that the Palestinians will ever be able to hold another election? You could have prolonged turmoil.

For that reason, Shikaki argued, both Israel and the U.S. should remain open to the idea of Hamas's becoming part of a Palestinian national unity government under the current president, Mahmoud Abbas - a Fatah moderate who embraces peace with Israel.

'We want to provide Hamas a [Palestinian] context within which to begin to moderate its views - without being forced to do so by the West and Israel,' Shikaki said.