Israel should mull Hamas armstice: former security chief
AFP
Date: 02-25-06
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Conditions are not ripe for a definitive peace deal with a Hamas-led Palestinian regime, so Israel should consider an armistice, the former head of the Mossad security service has said.
Ephraim Halevy said that "in any negotiation for a definitive accord it is impossible to renounce that Hamas recognise our rights, just as Hamas cannot renounce what it demands we recognise."
Hence, he told public radio, "long-term interim agreements are more appropriate now. What is needed in this situation is an armistice."
Halevy also warned that Israel should consider Hamas to be an "intelligent enemy" that should not be underestimated.
"The members of Hamas are intelligent, very considered, very wise people who understand very well the game of diplomacy," he said. Hamas is "a very dangerous enemy that one should not scorn or underestimate."
That view contrasts sharply with the official Israeli line, which is simply to refer to Hamas as a "terrorist organisation."
Hamas won a landslide victory in Palestinian general elections last month and has been tasked by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas with forming the next government.
The radical group's charter does not recognise Israel's right to exist and seeks to create an Islamic state comprising not only the Palestinian territories but also what is now Israel.
In turn, the Jewish state, along with the international community, demand that Hamas not only recognise it, but also disarm and accept agreements the two sides have already reached.
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