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Peace Process

Olmert sets Hamas 'red lines'

But no explanation what will happen if they are breached


By Ryan Jones
January 29, 2006

Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Saturday clearly set out his government's ?red lines? for dealing with the Hamas terrorist organization following the blood-soaked group's shocking rise to power within the Palestinian Authority last week.

According to an official communiqu? from his media adviser, Olmert told UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in a telephone conversation that Israel has three firm demands:

  1. Hamas and all other ?Palestinian? terror groups must disarm;

    </li><li><p>The Hamas Covenant, which
denounces peaceful negotiations and calls for the destruction of
Israel through jihad, must be annulled; and</p>
</li><li><p>All the agreements which have been
signed, and all the commitments which have been entered into, by the
Palestinian Authority must be accepted and upheld.</p>

What was unclear was how the Olmert government intends to respond should Hamas fail to meet any or all of the above criteria.

For its part, Hamas has both before and after its election victory last Wednesday declared its intention to hold fast to its ultimate goal of eradicating the ?Zionist occupation? in all of ?Palestine.?

?The Palestinian people voted for resistance [i.e. anti-Israel terrorism], and Hamas will turn this victory to the service of the Palestinian people and the protection of the resistance,? leading Hamas candidate Ismail Haniyah told The Jerusalem Post.

Hamas' overall Damascus-based leader, Khaled Mashaal, said his group's ?presence in the legislature will strengthen? its ability to wage war against Israel.

Haniyah confirmed for reporters last week that Hamas' top priority remains ?completing the liberation of the other parts of Palestine.?

[Ed. Note ? Hamas views Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria last summer as the beginning of this liberation. The Palestinian Arab public concurs that Israel's ?disengagement? was the result of and a victory for Hamas terror.]

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