The Israeli bombing of an apartment block in Gaza has again brought the Middle East Conflict to the TV screens. And again children's bodies are the main attraction.
And again the Israeli government justify their actions by the “War on Terror”, while explaining away the deaths of children as errors of military intelligence.
And again, as in the case of the Jenin massacre, the UN is going to discuss the issues, and again the American government will make sure that nothing happens beyond discussions.
And, as throughout the conflict, Hamas promises to retaliate.
But, if they do it, they will play into the hands of the “cunning” politician Ariel Sharon. Sharon knows that once the images of the killed Israeli children replace the images of the killed Palestinian children on the TV screens, he will be able to justify further military actions against the Palestinians as “War on Terror” before the gullible “public opinion”. And George Bush will say: “The Israelis have right to defend themselves”.
So instead of killing a few more Israelis, it will be better for Hamas to take the initiative of resolving the conflict into their own hands and to serve on the Israeli government a written official statement, setting out the conditions for peace. This statement should be given maximum publicity.
The statement will list the conditions that the Israelis should comply with, so that Hamas and the other Palestinian organisations could conclude peace with the Israelis, giving to the Israelis realistic time limits to comply with the conditions. The conditions should be based on justice, not compromises. Compromises might bring a short‐lived ceasefire, justice will bring permanent peace. The Israelis should be given choice of either accepting these conditions, or giving full reasons why they should not comply with such conditions.
The Israelis should be given reasonable time limit to respond to that statement in writing.
If the Israelis, fail to answer that statement in writing within the time limit, or reject the conditions without giving satisfactory reasons, then it will become clear that they do not want peace, and any action against them will be justified.
As a model of the statement, Hamas could use the From the Bush Speech to the End of Violence … document published on this site.
It will be still more effective, if such document is supported by the Palestinian Authority and all the other Palestinian organisations.