Wednesday, December 28, 2011

If Israel can reach out to Hamas, why can't America reach out to Iran?

Writing in Forward  today Nicolas Pelham makes a refreshing case for optimism about relations between Israel and it's most intransigent foe, the Gaza based Hamas.

After many years of imbecilic claims that "we do not talk to our enemies" it seems that factions in the Netanyahu government are doing just that. And it's long overdue.

That an intelligent and informed public can countenance such a foolish claim has always been beyond comprehension. "We do not talk to our enemies."

How stupid is that? If one is interested in achieving peace, are the "enemies" not the ones with whom it is absolutely essential to talk?
How does talking only to friends further the cause of peace?

Yet such idiocy has been the prevailing narrative in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for far too long. For how many years was nothing done because there was no "partner for peace", no one to talk to? And God forbid that one talk to the enemy.

Maybe there is a example in this for the US. Instead of working overtime to antagonize the Iranians at every turn, we could talk to them instead. Not just to remind them of all the options on the table, but a real dialogue between equals.

Of course the usual crowd of nay-sayers will immediately cry from the rooftops that we can't talk to Ahmajinedad because he is the enemy. He has promised to erase Israel off the map, etc. etc.

The only way Ahmajinedad will ever erase Israel from the map is with an eraser and possibly a bottle of white-out. Every serious person knows this. Let's stop appeasing the war-mongers and start making an effort at peace.

Peace begins with talking to the enemy.

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