Palestinian Affairs

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Former U.S. NSC Chief: Say ‘No’ To Hamas Participation in Elections

by TheTower.org Staff |

The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday that a former senior American government official said that Hamas must not be allowed to participate in the upcoming Palestinian elections.

Former National Security Adviser Samuel “Sandy” Berger addressed his remarks to this week’s annual Herzliya Conference sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Center.

Hamas should not be allowed to run in the upcoming Palestinian elections as long it remains an armed terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction, said Samuel Berger, a former US National Security Advisor from 1997 to 2001 .

“We should make it clear to [Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas now. And persuade the European Union and Arabs states to do likewise that we will oppose an election in the Palestinian territories that includes Hamas,” said Berger who served under former President Bill Clinton.

Last week Fatah and the terrorist organization Hamas announced the formation of a “technocratic” government composed of individuals without overt political affiliations. The unity agreement called for elections to be held within six months.

Berger added, “We should make it clear to Abbas that we will oppose Hamas’ integration into the PLO unless and until it signs up to the Quartet’s principles.”

In 2006, Israel  gave in to international pressure and allowed Hamas to participate in the Palestinian legislative elections. Hamas won those elections, establishing itself politically. The following year, it parlayed that political power into a coup, forcing Fatah out of Gaza and establishing the coastal strip as its political and military base. Once Hamas secured Gaza through violence, it built a terror infrastructure and forced Israel to go to war in 2008 and again in 2012 to defend hundreds of thousands of its citizens who were under siege from the terrorist organization’s rocket fire. Hamas has been able to rebuild its infrastructure in Gaza, and again threatens southern Israel with an arsenal consisting of an estimated 10,000 rockets.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon last week told visiting military officials that “the Palestinian Authority (PA) would have to disarm Hamas to signal that it is genuinely pursuing a viable and united Palestinian state.”

[Photo: Herzliya Conference / YouTube ]

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