Tested by Zion by Elliott Abrams

Author:Elliott Abrams [Abrams, Elliott]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2013-02-05T05:00:00+00:00

This was a remarkably tough line for the Quartet – that is, the EU, and Russia, and Kofi Annan – to adopt within days of the Hamas victory. We were delighted. In plainer English, what had the Quartet just said? It had enunciated what soon became known as the three “Quartet Principles”: Hamas must abandon violence and terror (in Quartet language, “be committed to nonviolence”), recognize Israel's right to exist, and accept all previous agreements between the Palestinians and Israel. If it did not do so, the statement politely threatened, it was “inevitable” that aid to the PA would be cut. The price of acceptance was not immediate disarmament, but it was very high: Hamas would have to abandon all acts of violence and terror and agree with Abbas that armed resistance was over. It would have to abandon its Charter, with its goal of eliminating Israel. It would have to accept the Oslo Accords and every agreement made since then, agreements in which Arafat and the PLO had accepted the right of Israel to exist permanently. At the press conference after the Quartet meeting, Rice and Solana made all this clear. Rice said, “[T]here are a set of obligations that have been taken by Palestinian leaders over more than a decade and those obligations are noted here. It is incumbent now on all to insist that any future Palestinian government will indeed live up to those obligations.” Solana then chimed in: “What I would like to say on behalf of the European Union is that once these conditions are fulfilled, the European Union will stand ready to continue to support the Palestinian economic development and democratic stability, but it has to be compliant with all these conditions which are here.” Annan answered a reporter's challenge that the Quartet was refusing to respect the election result: “I think the fact that one has indicated that these three principles or requirements has [sic] to be met doesn't mean one is walking away from Hamas. If Hamas accepts them and transforms itself from an armed movement into a political party respecting the rules of the game and representing its people, I think the international community should be able to work with them.”7

The Quartet Principles soon achieved what may have appeared to be canonical status. Visiting Jerusalem right after the election, German chancellor Merkel told the press that the Hamas victory “means that continued cooperation will only be possible under three conditions: Hamas needs to recognize the existence of Israel; Hamas has to prove that the use of violence is out of the question; and Hamas needs to respect and accept steps in the peace process reached so far.”8 But we in the administration were under no illusions about Quartet and wider international solidarity. This Quartet Statement was a victory, but it could be undermined quickly. The Russians and some in the UN bureaucracy wanted very much to talk to Hamas despite its status as a terrorist group and before it had made the slightest gesture toward fulfilling the Quartet Principles.

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