Obama Administration prepared to talk to Hamas

The United States has assumed, on and off, the role of a peace broker between Israelis and Palestinians for the last fifteen years.  From the Oslo Peace Accords through Camp David to Annapolis, the U.S. has attempted to bring the Israeli government to terms with the Palestinian Authority leaders.  It would be difficult to characterize the progress toward a lasting peace as anything more than meager.

Now, when most reasonable folks attack a problem unsuccessfully for fifteen years they finally get around to concluding that approach isn't working and consider a new one.  Via the Guardian, sources from the Obama transition team announced today the President-elect will open contacts, initially through intelligence services, with Hamas.

There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on in his administration, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive.

A tested course would be to start contacts through Hamas and the US intelligence services - similar to the secret process through which the US engaged with the PLO in the 1970s. Israel did not become aware of the contacts until much later.

Another potential contender for a foreign policy role in the Obama administration suggested the president-elect would not be bound by the Bush doctrine of isolating Hamas. "This is going to be an administration that is committed to negotiating with critical parties on critical issues," they said. (Link)

With the likelihood of a ceasefire agreement in the next several days increasing, Hamas will not have been defeated.  Which is generally considered the same as having won.  Hamas stock will rise considerably with Palestinians who are painfully aware of the Palestinian Authority/Fatah's lack of tangible successnegotiating with the Israelis.

The U.S. strategy of Ignoring Hamas and hoping they go away is not a viable foreign policy.  Thankfully, it seems that's about to change.