How to handle Hamas

As those of you who have been following the international news today and yesterday already know, the ceasefire in Gaza has ended, and war has once again erupted between Hamas and Israel. Regardless of your views on the Arab-Israeli conflict, it is obvious that Hamas is a serious impediment to peace: it is very difficult to negotiate with an organization that is both the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian National Authority and a terrorist group. Unless you are in favor of the State of Israel being completely obliterated, you probably admit that Hamas needs to be destroyed, or at least fixed up a bit.

But which one: complete destruction of the group, or reorganization? In my opinion, reorganization is probably the better option. Hamas does perform some important political duties: most importantly, it is a legitimate government over the Gaza Strip. If it were destroyed (which is highly impractical), another, more corrupt government would arise in its place. However, if Hamas were “cleaned up” to separate the legitimate parts from the terrorist cells, Israel would have a much better time negotiating with the right people, which might lead to more permanent peace treaties.

But how to go about it? This is one of the most difficult political questions of our century, and my answer is far from complete. In general, though, I believe that intervention from the international community is needed, including a full-scale UN investigation of Hamas. The purpose of this is to remove anyone involved in Hamas who has possible connections to terrorist cells. (In all probability this is going to be a large portion of the organization.) Any funding from other countries or groups (which they are supposedly receiving today) will be found and isolated. After this purging, the UN must continue to watch Hamas closely. If they are under such intense scrutiny, it is more likely that Hamas will agree to a peace treaty, at least temporarily. Of course, all this is easier said than done. The task will probably take years are require a huge amount of investigating. However, if Hamas can be made into a group that is truly legitimate, the Gaza Strip will be on the road to peace.