We hear endlessly that the U.S. should be “more engaged in the Middle East peace process.” Maybe with Fatah and Hamas shooting each other left and right, we might hear less of it. Or will some Democratic rival hit Hillary on these comments?
Democratic Senatorial Candidate Hillary Clinton told the Post Wednesday that when it came to the means of strengthening Fatah in its struggle with Hamas, she was “going to leave those decisions to the Israeli government.” She was speaking after making remarks at an Orthodox Union luncheon in Washington warning of the danger a Hamas victory would pose for Israel and the region.
“We’ve got a situation here where it’s almost ironic that people are rooting for Fatah. This is something that I don’t think any of us ever would have foreseen,” Clinton told the OU audience.
“The civil war in Gaza, which has the potential of spreading to the West Bank, has the potential of bringing Hamas to power with a much stronger position than it currently has. I think that is deeply disturbing.”
She continued, “If Hamas emerges victorious in this civil war, we’ll have a whole new set of issues that we’ll have to figure out how to deal with. That is not good, obviously, for Israel, but it’s also not good for Egypt. It’s not good for Jordan.” Clinton did not outline any specific action plan, other than ruling out any contacts with Hamas.
“There should not be any effort to, certainly recognize, or even deal with Hamas until it renounces violence and recognizes Israel’s right to exist,” the New York senator said.