Thursday June 16, 2005

I've Been Thinking:

What were they thinking?
The European Union has just informed the Bush White House and the US State Department that the venerable EU is sanctioning discussions with Hamas.

There are a couple of caveats.
The discussions are to be limited and low level.
The EU discussants must be under the level of ambassador, they are the people usually involved in working meetings, not backdoor diplomacy.
The Hamas members they dialogue with can be from any Hamas level.

So much for turning up the pressure and isolating terrorists.
This is a major change for an organization that declared Hamas to be a terror group as recently as 2002.

If the EU thinks that talking to Hamas will better the Palestinian political situation, they've got it wrong. It will strengthen the terrorists against established PA politicians. By rewarding these terrorists, by acknowledging them, Abbas will be further weakened in the eyes of his public and Hamas will be bolstered.

The result will be increased local violence.
The European Union will be responsible.