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APN Advocacy Ad - July, 2005

full text of ad The question of how to stop Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist groups has been one of the biggest challenges faced by Israel during the course of the Intifada. While Israeli defense and intelligence services have achieved impressive results in terms of preempting attacks and responding to assaults, overwhelming military force alone has not succeeded in eliminating these organizations. If this tactic had worked, Israel would not ...

full text of ad

The question of how to stop Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist groups has been one of the biggest challenges faced by Israel during the course of the Intifada. While Israeli defense and intelligence services have achieved impressive results in terms of preempting attacks and responding to assaults, overwhelming military force alone has not succeeded in eliminating these organizations.

If this tactic had worked, Israel would not be accusing Palestinian resident Mahmoud Abbas of not doing enough to tackle terrorism because the problem would no longer exist.

But Abbas is not just sitting on his hands-he is pursuing an alternative path against terrorism that isn't as flashy as a shoot-out or as likely to make the nightly news. He's attempting to co-opt militant groups into joining the legitimate political arena through their participation in democratic elections. In fact, Hamas has already won several local elections and will likely do well in upcoming parliamentary races. His hope is that as such organizations begin to fill municipal and national legislative offices, they will be forced to assume greater responsibility for governance and eventually moderate their historic hostility towards Israel.

It remains to be seen if Abbas' approach will work. His method requires a considerable amount of time and patience from Israel in order to be given a fair chance. And even if he is granted both, there is still a very good possibility that not all the militants or groups will disarm. Indeed, while some Hamas elected officials have been willing to meet with Israeli
Civil Administration officials to discuss municipal matters, periodic rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli communities have served as reminders that Hamas and other terror groups still have potent arsenals and don't hesitate to use them if they think it's in their interests

So Abbas also needs the capacity to put security pressure on terrorist organizations and the will to respond with force to immediate threats. Israel can help him in this regard, too. The Palestinian Authority (PA) lacks the guns and other hardware to seriously go after armed members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Israel should let the PA take delivery of armored vehicles recently offered by Russia, allow it to acquire more rifles and communications equipment, and expedite the background checks of Palestinians chosen to receive better security training in Egypt.

Finally, Abbas needs to carry out far reaching political reforms in order to better deliver heath care, education, and economic aid to his people-and, in the process, to undercut the popular support that Hamas earns for providing these kinds of social services today.

A combination of political co-option, muscle-flexing, and reform may succeed in defeating terrorism where brute force alone has failed.