Leaders of Israel, responsible for the occupation of lands, destruction of people's lives and violations of the Geneva Conventions, are welcomed and even celebrated as international dignitaries. Neither Israeli-perpetrated violence nor its dispossession of indigenous people from their own land is cause for questioning Israel’s leadership. But for South Africa to receive a leading member of Hamas, a violent resistance movement, is a cause for shock if not condemnation.

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What we are witnessing is a tragic power struggle between two Palestinian movements wrestling for control over two occupied territories of Palestine. It is a surreal situation as neither Fatah nor Hamas has real control or authority in either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.

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The Israeli Lobby has tremendous influence on American foreign policy. However, that does not mean that Israel runs America, nor that the lobby is behind all American foreign policy.

To begin with, the fact that the Lobby enjoys such power is indicative of the convergence of imperial interests between the ruling American elites and Israel.

Both of these view pan-Arab nationalism as an impediment to their expansionism and their interests. Both Israel and American administrations, to different extents, are driven by colonial foreign policies. The U.S. makes no secret about its drive to control the oil-rich region; Israel views a weak, if not a disintegrated, Arab World as a prerequisite for pursuing expansionist, racist and colonialist policies unchallenged.

If you monitor closely the White House foreign policy hearings on Middle East issues, you would find that the vast majority of “experts” are drawn from major pro-Israeli institutions. These “experts” had been in the forefront of advocates of the invasion of Iraq and currently an attack on Iran.

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If progress is to be made in the Middle East, the U.S. and Israel must first acknowledge that Hamas is not the problem. The Israeli occupation and impunity are the problem.

Israeli aggression and violations of Palestinian human rights started long before Hamas was even born. Israel has always dealt with the Palestinians as a population that has to be controlled, subdued – even crushed. We may disagree with Hamas’s ideology, but it has gained legitimacy through its resistance to an occupying force, and through fair elections.
Elected representatives of Hamas are as legitimate as President Mahmoud Abbas. But the world, led by the U.S., has chosen to deal selectively with the elected representatives of the Palestinian people and has resorted to its usual acts of collective punishment, bombing and killings. Israel claims that rockets propelled from Gaza are a justification for disproportionately unleashing its advanced military arsenal.

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Before getting into a serious discussion about engaging Hamas, several points of principle have to be clarified.

First, Hamas should be recognized and dealt with as a legitimate and elected representative of the Palestinians people.

Second, the US and other Western governments have no right to boycott or impose a blockade on the Islamic Resistance Movement or any Palestinian group.

Third, neither American nor Israeli officials have the right to determine Palestinian representatives in general or at the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, in particular.

And fourth, Israel should be subject to the same conditions that the world demands from Hamas and Palestinians as preconditions to engaging in the so-called peace process.

As the situation stands now, we are witnessing a "process" that has turned into a farce and serves only as a façade to cover continued Israeli colonization of Palestinian lands.

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