Back in the 1980s in Northern Ireland, it emerged that John Hume was in secret discussions with Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, at a time when the latter was supporting a vicious and brutal campaign of terror and intimidation. What Hume did was beyond the pale, and he took a lot of heat for it, including from the Irish and British governments (it was even illegal to broadcast the voice of Adams on TV or radio at that time– a sign of how radioactive he was in the political sphere). Backed against a wall, Hume claimed that he would do anything, talk to anybody, for peace. His pluckiness paid off, as the Hume-Adams dialogue paved the way for the Good Friday agreement and a peaceful settlement to a situation that was once deemed intractable.
Today, in not dis-similar circumstances, Jimmy Carter is talking heat for talking to Hamas. Carter declared that his diplomacy was bearing fruit, as Hamas stood ready to accept Israel as a neighbor and would support a peace deal under certain conditions. For doing this, Carter was roundly attacked by both American and Israeli officials, particularly for his decision to visit Damascus to talk to Khaled Meshal.
Carter deserves much credit for his bravery — he knew he would be hounded by those who would rather keep the world neatly divided between the good guys and the bad guys, secure in the knowledge that they would never cede the moral high ground to the “terrorists”. Never mind that the situation between Israel and Palestine continues to regress. Never mind that Hamas won a huge democratic electoral victory in 2006, only to have an offer for talks on an Arab League plan for peace in return for full Israeli withdrawal from captured Arab land rebuffed by Israel. Never mind that Israel, supported by the US, moved to strangle Hamas with sanctions, encouraging Fatah warlords to start a full-scale Palestinian civil war. Never mind that the warrior mindset had backfired already in Lebanon, emboldening Hezbollah.
As noted in a Financial Times editorial (hardly a bastion of woolly left-wing thinking):
“Mr Carter’s perception, shared by two thirds of Israelis, is that Israel cannot make war on half the Palestinian people and expect to make peace with the other half; if there is ever going to be a solution to this conflict, Hamas has to be part of it.
The Islamists must, of course, accept the existence of the Israeli state, but as the result of an agreed two-states solution; the demand that Hamas should first accept an Israel in a constant state of expansion is unreal and unjustified.
Mr Abbas has met all Israeli and US preconditions – and still they have undermined him. Within days of Annapolis Israel pressed ahead with more Jewish settlement on occupied land. The Palestinian president has nothing to show for his policy of non-violent engagement.
As a precondition for entering talks, nonetheless, Hamas must declare a ceasefire – which Israel must reciprocate – and an end to all attacks on civilians. The policy of isolating the Islamists is destructive and myopic. But there is no need to take Hamas at its ambiguous word. “
So yes, God bless Jimmy Carter for taking up the challenge of Christ to be a peacemaker. Remember, Christ never promised that this would be an easy task. God bless Jimmy Carter for promoting a balanced settlement that would recognize the human rights and human dignity of the Palestinian people. As the pope noted last week at the United Nations, human rights– predicated on human dignity– are universal, applying to all people, and their range should not be restricted. God bless Jimmy Carter for stepping bravely into a political minefield, knowing he would be attacked vociferously, including by his own country. God bless him.
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