Why Must Israel Take The Lead?

Pity. Israel Matzav sounded so on the money when he wrote:

In everything that has happened in the US dealings with the PA since 1993, it has been Israel taking the lead. The US has dealt with the PA because Israel wanted it to. If Rabin and Slimy Shimon had not brought the PA back from Tunis in 1993, the US would have left them to rot there. The reason the US has dealt with the PA for the last 12.5 years is that Israel's position on dealing with the PA has been ambiguous. Every time Arafat would say something that was inconsistent with 'recognizing Israel's 'right to exist,' the Israelis would choose to ignore it and the Americans would play along.

With Hamas, there is no such ambiguity. Israelis across the spectrum (well, nearly across the spectrum - see below) will not deal with a group of terrorists that makes statements to the media like "recognizing Israel is not on our agenda." If Israel doesn't deal with them, the US won't press Israel to deal with them - and won't deal with them itself - because W would look like a huge hypocrite and because Congress will rise up against him. Congress has already spoken regarding Hamas.[emphasis added]

How could something apparently so straightforward be so unclear? Arutz Sheva reports:

Israel's government held its weekly Cabinet meeting today, the first since the surprise Hamas victory in the Palestinian Authority elections. However, no decision was taken to cancel this week's scheduled transfer of tax funds to the Palestinian Authority.

Minister Tzachi HaNegbi said, "Israel will not conduct any negotiations with a PA government led by Hamas or in which Hamas is a member." Regarding the transfer of the tax funds to the PA, however, he said it's too early to decide: "We must wait and see how the Palestinian Authority stabilizes."

In leaving the door open, there seems to be some confusion within the Israeli government in distinguishing between Hamas, the PA, and Abbas:

Acting PM Olmert said that he and Foreign Minister Tzippy Livny had talked to a long list of world leaders, and "they all supported us and the positions that we expressed, namely that unless Hamas clearly abandons terrorism, annuls its charter, and fully recognizes Israel and the PA's prior commitments, Israel will not have any contacts with the Palestinian Authority."

Minister Livny said that Israel must "switch diskettes and must begin relating immediately to the Hamas victory... We have to make sure that the world does not recognize Hamas and does not talk with it in some guise or another."
One of these "guises" is something that Israel will have trouble protesting: transferring funds not directly to a Hamas government, but to Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who remains PA Chairman. [emphasis added]

This has all the makings of a political shell game designed to ease the path towards allowing funds--and who knows what else--to Hamas.

True, Arutz Sheva admits that it is unclear whether the US and Europe--despite the strong rhetoric--can hold out for long against sending aid on humanitarian grounds:

However, it is not clear whether the strong stance currently expressed by the EU and US will last for long. In order not to cause a political crisis in the Middle East and possibly a humanitarian financial crisis in the PA areas, it could very well be that the West will find ways to help the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

But why must Israel make it easy for the super-powers to back out of statements, made just days ago, that appeared for the moment at least to apply some kind of pressure on Hamas?

Technorati Tags: Israel and Hamas.