Hamas: Recognizing Israel 'is up to the people'

Hamas's draft government program has left the question of recognizing Israel to the Palestinian people–leaving the door open for a possible referendum. Hamas published a draft of its government program on its website on Mar. 11. The fifth article in the program says: "The question of recognizing Israel is not the jurisdiction of one faction, nor the government, but a decision for the Palestinian people." Handing the issue over to a popular referendum would neatly disengage Hamas from being labeled as a hard-line movement that refuses to recognize Israel on ideological grounds. The US and EU have repeatedly said they will cut financial aid to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas forms a government that does not recognize Israel. But any referendum would leave the US and the EU with little choice but to resume funding the Palestinians, regardless of the outcome of a vote, because the US and Europe have always pledged not to punish the Palestinian people. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said on Mar. 12 that the movement believes that the issue of recognizing Israel is one between states and governments, not political parties. "The recognition of a state should come from a government of a state not from a political party, group or organization," he said. "Hamas in particular is not entitled, and it is not its mission, to determine whether Israel is a recognized state or not." Likud, the right-wing party trailing in the run-up to an Israeli election on Mar. 28, has rejected any Palestinian state led by Hamas, which won elections in January. Speaking to the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, which published an outline of the Likud campaign platform on Mar. 12, Benjamin Netanyahu, the party leader and former prime minister, asked: "Should I be talking about concessions when the Hamas government is in power? "At the moment there is nothing to be done and we need to fight Hamas. As long as Hamas is in control, we will not return any territory to them, we will not transfer any money to them and we will not allow Palestinian workers to work in Israel. Our platform will be revised according to circumstances." In the same vein, the Likud platform argues that the internationally drafted "roadmap" peace plan, in which a Palestinian state would live alongside Israel in peace, is a dead letter. "The continued outline of the roadmap is impossible in light of the absence of a legitimate partner," it said.