Half of Israelis favor talks with
Hamas: poll
Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:32 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Half of Israelis would favor peace talks with
the Palestinian Islamic militant group, Hamas, despite its calls to
destroy the Jewish state, a poll published on Wednesday
showed.
Israel regards Hamas -- behind scores of suicide bombings -- as a
terrorist group and says it must be disarmed as well as giving up
its vow to eliminate Israel. Israel objects to Hamas participation
in a January Palestinian parliamentary election.
Fifty percent of Israelis polled in mid-December by the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem would support talks with Hamas if this was
necessary to reach a peace deal, while 47 percent would be opposed,
said Yaacov Shamir, who conducted the survey.
Shamir said Israelis had not grown more accepting of Hamas, but
understand the group's popularity among Palestinians is
growing.
Hamas has made a strong showing in Palestinian municipal ballots in
recent months. Opinion polls put its strength at around 30 percent
ahead of the January 25 parliamentary election.
"This shows an Israeli awareness of what is going on in the
Palestinian public, that Hamas is serious about its intention to
play a role in Palestinian politics," Shamir said. "We cannot
really prevent this, and the public understands that."
He compared Israel's objections to dialogue with Hamas to the
Jewish state's decades-long ban on talks with the Palestinian
Liberation Organization before a 1993 peace deal.
"The process will be shorter this time", Shamir said.
Hamas is officially opposed to talks with Israel, but some leaders
have recently suggested they might not be ruled out.
******
I'm sure signing a "peace treaty" "is"
gonna "solve" the Middle East problem.