Giving Hamas A Deadline

Expect Israel to unilaterally declare the future borders of a Palestinian state because there's absolutely no reason to believe that Hamas will suddenly discover that it needs to negotiate with a country that it doesn't believe has a right to exist. Indeed, Hamas believes that Israel is illegitimate and that belief is so deeply ingrained in Hamas that it is part of its charter.

Israel will give the Palestinians until the end of the year to prove they are willing to negotiate a final peace deal, and will unilaterally set its final borders by 2008 if they don't, Israel's justice minister said Wednesday.

The statement by Justice Minister Haim Ramon, a close associate of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's, was the first by an Israeli official to set a deadline for the Hamas-led Palestinian government to disarm and recognize the Jewish state.

The problem with this strategy is that Hamas could say that they're going to negotiate, but have absolutely no intention of carrying out their end of the bargain.

Hamas needs to be informed in no uncertain terms that if it refuses to deal with Israel, Palestinians will lose additional territory each time that a suicide bomber strikes Israel, terrorists fire rockets or missiles into Israel, or build smuggling tunnels into Israel for purposes of launching terrorist attacks. Hamas and the other terrorist groups have been playing a low-intensity tripartite war against Israel. Israel's response has been to withdraw from Gaza in its entirety - essentially ethnically cleansing Gaza of its Jewish population. The same will likely happen on the other side of the borders drawn up by Israel - and that's out of concern for the safety and wellbeing of those Israelis on the Palestinian side of the border.

Hamas and other terrorist groups have absolutely no intention of agreeing to anything that would even be perceived as acceptance of the state of Israel. To them, this is an all or nothing situation.

As Ed Morrissey notes:

The Israelis have tired of the occupation game, waiting for the Palestinians to produce viable negotiators for peace. Hamas will only commit to a "long-term truce' if Israel returns to the borders that Arab nations found so attractive for attacks twice in twenty years. The Palestinians won't even negotiate for a formal end to hostilities or recognition of Israel. They want to keep their primary goal alive, which is the destruction of the "Zionist entity" and the acquisition of all the land to the Mediterranean.

The Israelis will not establish the long and nearly indefensible border positions that almost saw them pushed into the Mediterranean, nor should they. Israel occupies the West Bank because of the offensive war that Arab nations staged through that territory; they risked that territory and lost it. The Israelis have every right to reset its borders accordingly to ensure that they have a more defensible frontier, and if the Palestinians refuse to negotiate the terms, then Israel should set them, pull back behind them, and end the occupation and the debate.

Of course, many in the West think that they have to once again bail out the Palestinians from a situation of their own making. The Palestinians chose Hamas, knowing that this was a possible outcome - and yet they voted for Hamas in an overwhelming fashion. Now, with the financial support flagging, some countries, including the US are once again providing humanitarian aid so that the Palestinians never hit rock bottom. It's unfortunate because it is increasingly apparent that the Palestinians will never realize that they have to recognize and accept Israel if they're never to face the full consequences of their actions.

As it is, Israel can never take the necessary action against the terrorists because international pressure prohibits them from going after the terrorists with the kind of overwhelming force that wouldn't only serve as a deterrent to future attacks, but would eliminate terrorist operations and infrastructure once and for all. Instead, Israel has to recognize and deal with terrorist groups that are fully intent on destroying Israel - and treat them as negotiating partners.

UPDATE:
Jay Tea at Wizbang makes similar observations, and notes that the West is already finding ways of providing aid to Palestinians, which frees up yet more money for Hamas to devote to their war with Israel.