JINSA Report #550 Consequences of the Palestinian Vote

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February 17, 2006

JINSA Report #550

Consequences of the Palestinian Vote

Khalid Abu Toameh, a Palestinian journalist, recently described American
policy toward the Palestinian elections: "If you don't vote for the same
thieves who have been stealing your money for ten years, we are going to
punish you." Fair point. And because we can't deny the legitimacy of the
election or the result, American and EU diplomacy since Hamas won a
legislative majority has taken on an element of the parent-child
relationship - a demand that Hamas behave and a threat to cut off its
allowance.

Readers with children know that "demanding" is doomed, right? If you do
it, you had better be prepared to exercise leverage if the demand isn't
met. Ditto governments demanding that others do something without the
necessary leverage for enforcement. Here's an idea. What if we just
allow the natural consequences to flow?

President Bush in his landmark June 24, 2002 speech told the Palestinian
people to "elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror" in
order for the U.S. to "support the creation of a Palestinian state." The
Road Map calls for Palestinian leadership to issue an "unequivocal
statement reiterating Israel's right to exist in peace and security and
calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end armed
activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere."

Neither the speech nor the Road Map indicate what would happen if the
conditions are not met, but it seems reasonable that the U.S. and the
Quartet would cease to support the establishment of an independent
Palestine. That means:

· No Roadmap
· No more Quartet if Vladimir Putin follows through on his invitation
for Hamas to visit Moscow - a natural consequence that accrues both to
the Palestinians and the Russians.
· No treating Palestinian representatives as if they are diplomats of a
sovereign state
· No support for committees of the UN dedicated to Palestinian
independence - of which there are at least five, including "The Special
Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of
the Palestinian People & Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories."

This is NOT punishment of the Palestinian people, just the natural
consequences of making American and EU policy internally and externally
consistent.

The underlying assumption here about Palestinian "democracy" is that
this will not be the last legislative election they have. [If it is, we
have other problems.] If, in some future election, the people choose
"leadership not compromised by terror" we can reinstate our support for
Palestinian independence. If they don"t, OK.

One of the lessons of democracy is that ideas, words and votes have
consequences. The Palestinians have made their choice but nothing
requires the rest of us to ignore the political ramifications of what
they've chosen.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3315

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