Time for Hamas to consider peace

And I feel deeply sad about what happened to them after we Turks were forced to leave the Holy Land during World War I. That’s why, although every civilian death is tragic to me, the death of hundreds of innocents in Gaza is emotionally catastrophic. And I strongly denounce the Israeli government for inflicting such a ruthless violence. I don’t buy, for a minute, their argument that Hamas is using its own people as "human shields."

The idea of a human shield works only if the person who shoots at you has a concern for innocent human life. Yet Israel apparently has no such concerns, as it continues to bomb densely populated areas without seeing any shields down there.

Revenge or restraint?
In fact, the death unleashed on the civilian population in Gaza seems to be an integral part of Israel’s operation. "They voted for Hamas, so now they face the consequence," an Israeli soldier was saying on Al Jazeera English the other night. It is the same strategy that Israel used against Hezbollah two years ago in Lebanon. In his New York Times column, Thomas Friedman frankly tells us what the Israeli logic was: "to exact enough pain on the civilians -- the families and employers of the militants -- to restrain Hezbollah in the future." He defines this as a "not pretty, but logical" strategy. I would definitely prefer much stronger words than "not pretty."

But Israel is what it is. Its strategy of a hundred eyes for an eye is merciless, but it is a fact. I will continue to denounce it, and hope from the United States, and especially from the new Obama administration, to impose some restraint on the Jewish state. Yet I am not holding my breath.

Yet, there is still hope. There is a political power, which is even more influential than Obama, who can force a change in Israel’s policies. And that force is no one other than Hamas.

Soon, hopefully, there will be a cease-fire in Gaza and Hamas will have more time to think about the future. I am sure they will be filled with hatred against Israel -- and how can they not be, with hundreds of dead children in their arms? But if they decide to "take revenge," hence choose to attack Israel, and wow to fight against it until it is destroyed, they will only be inviting more destruction on their people. "Our modest, home-made rockets are our cry of protest to the world," says Hamas Leader Khalid Mishal, in his piece in The Guardian. I understand the sentiment, but that sort of "protest," which kills civilians on the Israeli side, too, only brings more destruction and poverty to Gaza.

That’s why Hamas desperately needs a policy change. It is time to leave maximalist claims to "liberate" whole Palestine -- which sounds to the Israelis as a second Holocaust -- and engage in the diplomatic process in order to reach a two-state solution. There are two reasons that make this more possible then it ever used to be:

1) In a week, there will be a new administration in Washington, which, unlike the eight-year-long previous one, expressed its willingness to talk to Hamas and its main supporter, Iran. Mishal, in the piece I mentioned, indeed noted that this gave Hamas a hope. They should not miss this opportunity.

2) The project of a Greater Israel, which included the continuous hijacking of West Bank and Gaza through settlements, is effectively dead. The reason is not Israel’s sense of justice, but its inability to provide enough Jewish population that would outnumber the Arabs in the Holy Land.

That "demography problem" led Ariel Sharon to "disengage" from Gaza in 2005. Israel, to be sure, will continue to fortify itself around Jerusalem, but with enough U.S. pressure, a peace deal which will create a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and goes back to the 1967 borders with some trade-offs is possible.

Peace and justice
Hamas might not find such a solution just. I would like to remind them the case of the late Aliya Izzetbegovic, the wise leader of Bosnian Muslims, who accepted a peace treaty with the Bosnian Serbs -- the leaders of those cruel, ruthless, genocidal Chetniks -- in 1995. That settlement in Dayton did not give Bosnia all the things it ideally deserved, but it was the only way to secure the future of Bosnian children. "I had to chose peace," Izzetbetgovic would later say, "over justice."

Today, we Muslims remember Izzetbetgovic not as a "traitor" who gave up on Bosnia’s rights, but as a brave and wise leader who gave a valiant but also reasonable struggle for his people.

If Hamas leaders carry the Palestinians to a similar peace, they will similarly be honored. If they rather choose to fight until the end, the children of Palestine, unfortunately, will the pay the price.

So, Mr. Mishal and his friends in Gaza, please, please, reconsider your policy and rhetoric. Yes, Israel is ruthless and brutal, but you can still save your people from its wrath by deciding not to provoke it further.