Tense times in the Middle East

A tense lull in the violence that has wracked Gaza was holding this week, after Israel agreed to curtail its assault if Palestinians refrained from launching new missile attacks. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denied that any “cease-fire” had been reached with Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules Gaza. But there were reports that Egypt had arranged a “tacit understanding” between the two sides to curb the attacks that were putting the entire Middle East peace process at risk. After a string of rockets from Gaza rained down on Israel earlier this month, Israel unleashed an assault that left more than 120 Palestinians dead.

A brutal attack on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last week added to the tension. A lone Palestinian gunman opened fire on students as they studied or prayed, killing eight. Hamas denied responsibility for the assault after first claiming it, but a spokesman defended the attack as a “normal response to the occupation.”

“How is Israel supposed to make peace” with these people? asked Michael Goodwin in the New York Daily News. After the seminary attack, there literally was dancing in the streets in Gaza. For peace to have a chance, Israel needs negotiating partners who at least pay lip service to civilized behavior. That can only happen when Palestinians stop tolerating, let alone celebrating, a “culture of death.”

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Yet Israel can no longer pretend that Hamas is not a force to be reckoned with, said Yoel Marcus in Tel Aviv’s Ha’aretz. If Hamas is willing to be part of a delegation working for a two-state solution, then Israel must treat that as an opportunity, not a threat. Direct talks would show that Israel is ready for a true dialogue, which would pressure Hamas to control its extremist elements. As Henry Kissinger once said, “You don’t make peace with your friends but with your enemies.”

Sadly, peace in the Middle East seems as distant as ever, said David Ignatius in The Washington Post. While “the sinister hand of Hamas” lurks behind the stalemate, so does the botched policy of the Bush administration, which blithely supported the Palestinian elections that swept Hamas into power in Gaza and gave it a claim to legitimacy. As the Bush administration dithered, “hard-liners on both sides have gained ground.”