Last November, the NYT ran another opinion piece by Yousef which explicitly drew a parallel between Hamas' objectives and the course followed by the IRA and Sinn Fein in N. Ireland. It's available in the NY Times archive: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/opinion/01yousef.html
In publishing Yousef's latest effort(s) at a time when the propaganda machines in Washington, Tel Aviv, and Ramallah are at full volume, these two pillars of the media establishment are evidently trying to encourage the Bush and Olmert governments to reach an "Irish" accomodation with the political wing of Hamas, rather than threatening it with destruction and placing impossible demands on it - in particular, that Hamas formally recognize Israel. (It was never demanded of Sinn Fein, for example, that it abandon its goal of a united Ireland prior to the intiation of peace talks there.)
There's much concern about an impending Israeli attack on Gaza - the Israelis themselves encouraged the speculation in a leak to the London Times on the weekend - but, as with much else, the outcome will depend on "events, dear boy, on events", as the British PM Harold MacMillan liked to say. It's certain that if Hamas doesn't control missile firings from Gaza or the unrest spreads to the West Bank, the Israelis will send in troops and the fighting will be very bloody. On the other hand, if the situation remains relatively calm in both areas, it's more likely the US, Israel, and the EU would continue propping up Fatah and squeezing Gaza in the hope that Hamas is pressured by its own constituents to seek relief by making the necessary concessions.
That's only way I can see the restoration of a unity government - this time with the Hamas leadership in a subordinate role - which would engage in talks to see whether a two-state solution is still possible in that part of the world.
Engage With Hamas We Earned Our Support By Ahmed Yousef Washington Post Wednesday, June 20, 2007; A19
GAZA CITY, Palestine -- The Palestinian National Authority apparently joins the list of elected governments targeted or toppled over the past century by interventionism: nations that had the courage to take American rhetoric at face value and elect whomever they would. No doubt some in Washington persist in the fiction that the United States is following a "road map" to democracy for Palestinians, just as others believe the Iraq war has been a sincere exercise in nation-building. Neoconservative strategists have miscalculated, however, and Hamas is stronger than ever.
For the first time in months, Gaza is secure. This may be a momentary peace as Israel prepares an attempt to retake parts of Gaza. Yet neither blunt force nor U.S. subterfuge will extinguish Palestinian aspirations for self-governance, free from outside interference.
Hamas's actions to secure Gaza from the horrific recent violence of the Palestinian contras have been out of self-defense. The assassinations of Hamas officials and supporters, attempts on the life of the elected prime minister, and kidnappings and bombings by some in President Mahmoud Abbas's paramilitary groups had to stop. The PA has a clear legal right, indeed an obligation, to prevent this violence, by force if necessary, and to protect the Palestinian people.
It is not Hamas that has "outlawed" the government. (When has an elected party with a voting majority ever resorted to banning the government to get its way?) The success of the Reform and Change Party is neither a chimera nor a momentary lapse in reason on the part of the electorate. Rather, it is the result of four decades of hard work in Palestinian society. It reflects the trust of the people. Those who collaborate with the occupiers to void the electoral process will not succeed. Abbas's "state of emergency" and his U.S. and Israeli arms will not prevail in Gaza or quench the thirst for political freedom in the West Bank.
Some critics raise the red flag of "al-Qaeda" and say that Hamas and parliament are a stalking horse for Salafi jihadists. I defy them to demonstrate one instance in which Hamas's military structure has struck against any force outside the theater of the occupation. The struggle has always been against the Israeli agenda of ethnic cleansing and conquest. Hamas is a movement of Palestinian liberation and nationalism -- Islamist, yes, but in the sea of contending faiths that is the homeland, where is the sin in loving one's creed?
Likewise, those who demean resistance to the occupation as little more than a proxy for Iran, Syria or Hezbollah are ignorant of history. The long-suffering Palestinians have gratefully accepted assistance from neighbors both near and far, Arab and Western, Muslim or otherwise. Slighting the generosity of those who sympathize with the Palestinians is hypocritical given America's billions of annual aid dollars for Israel, money that has only purchased tragedy.
Palestinians want, on their terms, the same thing Western societies want: self-determination, modernity, access to markets and their own economic power, and freedom for civil society to evolve. Those who warn of "failed states" and "Hamastan" as a breeding ground for terrorism forget where blame for failure belongs -- at the feet of the American administration, which has chosen to isolate, rather than deal with, the elected government.
The Bush administration never intended to honor the outcome of fair and transparent elections in the occupied territories. The embargo, designed to punish the electorate for its choice, was the first step toward crushing new democratic institutions. The second has been to find collaborators for the American agenda and to supply them with advisers, funds and weapons for their campaign of destabilization. The final step will be to truncate Gaza from any proposed Palestinian state and make it a de facto prison for all "undesirable" aspects of Palestinian nationalism. This will culminate in provocations designed to trigger a military response from Israel, which will "justify" a war on Gazans. This would be tragic for all concerned, and the international community, especially the Arab League, must not allow such an outcome.
What can be salvaged from the wreckage of the multiparty system? Those who have dissolved the government and joined with the occupiers are embraced by the Bush and Olmert administrations, which have released Palestinian tax revenue and taken other steps to shore up the Abbas government's legitimacy and proclaim it the future of a Palestine shorn of troublesome Gaza.
Yet it remains that Hamas has a world in common with Fatah and other parties, and they all share the same goals -- the end of occupation; the release of political prisoners; the right of return for all Palestinians; and freedom to be a nation equal among nations, secure in its own borders and at peace. For more than 60 years, Palestinians have resisted walls and checkpoints intended to divide them. Now they must resist the poisonous inducements to fight one another and resume a unified front against the occupation.
We urge the Bush administration not to repeat the mistakes that have become hallmarks of its actions in the Middle East. Allow the Palestinian people to chart their own course, free from the influence of those who seek little more than to perpetuate the status quo. The alternative is unacceptable.
Ahmed Yousef is a senior political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, who is contesting his dismissal as prime minister by Mahmoud Abbas.
* * *
What Hamas Wants By AHMED YOUSEF New York Times June 20, 2007
Gaza City
THE events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya but never received the handover of real power from Fatah, the losing party. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has now tried to replace the winning Hamas government with one of his own, returning Fatah to power while many of our elected members of Parliament languish in Israeli jails. That is the real coup.
>From the day Hamas won the general elections in 2006 it offered Fatah the
chance of joining forces and forming a unity government. It tried to engage
the international community to explain its platform for peace. It has
consistently offered a 10-year cease-fire with the Israelis to try to create
an atmosphere of calm in which we resolve our differences. Hamas even
adhered to a unilateral cease-fire for 18 months in an effort to normalize
the situation on the ground. None of these points appear to have been
recognized in the press coverage of the last few days.
Nor has it been evident to many people in the West that the civil unrest in Gaza and the West Bank has been precipitated by the American and Israeli policy of arming elements of the Fatah opposition who want to attack Hamas and force us from office. For 18 months we have tried to find ways to coexist with Fatah, entering into a unity government, even conceding key positions in the cabinet to their and international demands, negotiating up until the last moment to try to provide security for all of our people on the streets of Gaza.
Sadly, it became apparent that not all officials from Fatah were negotiating in good faith. There were attempts on Mr. Haniya's life last week, and eventually we were forced into trying to take control of a very dangerous situation in order to provide political stability and establish law and order.
The streets of Gaza are now calm for the first time in a very long time. We have begun disarming some of the drug dealers and the armed gangs and we hope to restore a sense of security and safety to the citizens of Gaza. We want to get children back to school, get basic services functioning again, and provide long-term economic gains for our people.
Our stated aim when we won the election was to effect reform, end corruption and bring economic prosperity to our people. Our sole focus is Palestinian rights and good governance. We now hope to create a climate of peace and tranquillity within our community that will pave the way for an end to internal strife and bring about the release of the British journalist Alan Johnston, whose kidnapping in March by non-Hamas members is a stain on the reputation of the Palestinian people.
We reject attempts to divide Palestine into two parts and to pass Hamas off as an extreme and dangerous force. We continue to believe that there is still a chance to establish a long-term truce. But this will not happen unless the international community fully engages with Hamas.
Any further attempts to marginalize us, starve our people into submission or attack us militarily will prove that the United States and Israeli governments are not genuinely interested in seeing an end to the violence. Dispassionate observers over the next few weeks will be able to make up their own minds as to each side's true intentions.
Ahmed Yousef is the political adviser to Ismail Haniya, who became the Palestinian prime minister last year.