NO-PEACE DIVIDENDS :

Hamas sets conditions to stop attacks against Israeli civilians; PA arrests senior finance ministry official (Al-Bawaba, 22-07-2002)

The founder of Hamas said Monday it would consider halting suicide attacks on Israelis if Israel withdrew from West Bank cities and took other measures.

"Basically what I would say to the occupation army is to leave ... the Palestinian cities in all the West Bank that were occupied ...," Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told reporters in the Gaza Strip.

"And stop your aggression, demolishing homes. Release prisoners and stop assassinations. Once the occupation and all those measures against our people stop, we are ready to totally study stopping martyrdom operations, in a positive way." [...]

Commenting on these remarks, Sheikh Hamad Bitawi, a Hamas leader in Nablus, said he could, in theory, support the call made by Yassin to stop killing civilians. However, "as long as Israel kills thousands of Palestinian women and children, we have to use the principle of reciprocity," Bitawi said.

Look, I don't trust these guys any farther than I can throw them, but statements like this are genuinely startling. It is truly remarkable to see the changes in atmospherics that are resulting from our bowing out of the peace process. If Israel can just suck it up and declare a settlement on its terms, this may be a moment when things can change radically and for the better in Palestine. By bowing out, Israel woiuld turn up the heat on Hamas and the PLO to offer their visions of how the new state will govern itself and what they'll do for their own people.
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 22, 2002 3:05 PM