Friday, September 3, 2010
[The following, by Eamonn McDonagh, is crossposted from Z Word.]
I regret having to return soon to the wretched Northern Ireland analogy but the persistence with which people appeal to it is really amazing. They seem to be unable to accept Hamas on its own terms and driven by a desire to wish it into being something that it is not.
In this column in the Huffington Post Daniel Levy says,
While the Northern Ireland analogy of an eventual IRA/Sinn Fein acceptance of ceasefire and democratic rules of the game is true, they were certainly never asked to recognize the legitimacy of Northern Ireland's union with the British mainland as a precondition for entering talks.
This is true but it misses the point, or rather a number of points:
1.
In order to enter talks IRA - Sinn Féin had to accept the Mitchell Principles. This meant affirming their commitment to the following principles,
* To democratic and exclusively peaceful means of resolving political issues;
* To the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations;
* To agree that such disarmament must be verifiable to the satisfaction of an independent commission;
* To renounce for themselves, and to oppose any effort by others, to use force, or threaten to use force, to influence the course or the outcome of all-party negotiations;
* To agree to abide by the terms of any agreement reached in all-party negotiations and to resort to democratic and exclusively peaceful methods in trying to alter any aspect of that outcome with which they may disagree; and,
* To urge that "punishment" killings and beatings stop and to take effective steps to prevent such actions.
Given the existence of a very large Protestant majority in Northern Ireland accepting those principles meant a de facto acceptance of the legitimacy of British rule in Northern Ireland.
2.
In any case there's a rather significant difference between accepting or rejecting the legitimacy of British rule over part of its national territory and accepting or rejecting the legitimacy of the existence of the entire state of Israel. Especially if you are Israeli.
3.
If Daniel Levy thinks Hamas is ready to sign up to the Mitchell Principles then he should tell them to go right ahead and do so. I'd then be very happy to advocate its inclusion in talks.
