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Hamas and West must end impasse

The Palestinian government’s attempts to organise the pay cheque have been equally frustrating. Prime Minister Ismail Haniya says his government has managed to arrange alternative sources of funding —from the Arab and Muslim countries —that woud not only enable the PA to pay the immediate wage bill in excess of $120 million a month but also allow the Palestinian government to avoid a similar crisis in the future. However, laying hands on those funds hasn’t been possible simply because banks aren’t prepared to transfer the money to Palestinian coffers.

This is a frustrating battle of wits and nerves between the West and the Hamas government. And the victims of this tug of war are the unfortunate people in the Palestinian Territories. They are being punished for the ‘sins’ of their leaders and for electing the Hamas in the parliamentary elections in January.

This has gone far enough. The international community cannot allow the Palestinians to suffer for the policies and actions of the Hamas. It’s time for both Hamas and the West to take steps to end this dangerous political impasse. They have to bridge their gulf in the larger interests of Palestinians and peace in the Middle East.

This episode must serve as a lesson to the Hamas leadership that it is not possible to exist and operate in isolation from the rest of the world. Now that it is heading a democratically elected government, Hamas needs to adapt itself to its new role and responsibilities. It’s not a resistance organisation any more but a responsible party running an elected government. No lasting and peaceful resolution of this conflict is possible without both Hamas and Israel recognising and engaging each other as credible peace partners. In fact, now that there are hawks on both sides this may be an ideal time to resolve one of the world’s oldest conflict.

The Palestinian leadership and the Arab-Muslim nations should draw their lessons from this acute crisis. Never again the Palestinian people must be made to go hungry or live hand to mouth. It’s really unfortunate that despite the considerable financial resources of the Muslim world, Palestinians have to beg for their daily bread. While there are noble exceptions such as UAE, which has always been in the forefront in helping Palestinian people, there is no permanent mechanism in place to support the Palestinians tapping the vast resources of the Muslim world. It’s high time for building such an infrastructure.