Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
In the West Bank, the PA faces a huge dilemma in explaining to the Palestinian public its support for an economic siege that inflicts suffering on fellow Palestinians in Gaza. For its part, the Hamas government is of course trying to play on the world’s sensitivity by exaggerating the crisis, arguing that Gaza’s poor population has fallen victim to hostile and cruel neighbors. In contrast, the anti-Hamas forces — Israel, the PA, the U.S. and part of Europe — are looking for the sensitive balancing point that might keep the suffering at a level short of humanitarian crisis while bringing the population to appreciate the uselessness of supporting Hamas even as it splits Palestinian society and prolongs regional violence. This is a contest of nerves to see who blinks first. …
Ongoing economic pressure over the coming months and into winter will exacerbate the Hamas government’s dilemma and increase the pressure on the part of anti-Hamas elements. The economic "breaking point" could be softened if it emerges that the political contacts currently underway that are expected to climax in a planned international conference in November 2007, bear fruit and point to a different way. Indeed, this may be the only policy that can succeed. Access the full article>>