Hezbollah must take a leaf from Hamas

Unity: The coming together of the Hamas group and the Fatah movement to form a national unity government in the Palestinian territories, could be considered a most positive development from the viewpoint of resuming and advancing the Middle East peace process.

Thus far, the troubled relationship between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah movement, and the Hamas group, which heads and dominates the Palestinian Cabinet, was seen as being exploited by the Israelis for "stalling on Middle East peace pledges".

A government of national unity which would pave the way for a working relationship of sorts between the two groups and lay the basis for coherent governance between the two arms of the political executive in the Palestinian territories, is likely to prove a catalyst in the promotion of Palestinian political interests.

With the coming together of the two groups, the stage is set for closer collaboration and deliberation between Fatah and Hamas on a Middle East peace plan, which process was earlier spearheaded by the Palestinian President, for the Palestinian side. With the responsibility of forging ahead towards s settlement now devolving also on the Hamas - led administration, there are likely to be less obstacles to a consensual response among the Palestinians to the gut issues in the Middle East peace process.

Until now, Abbas was engaging with the West in working out a "roadmap to peace" in the Middle East and the prospective collaboration between Fatah and Hamas could be considered as improving the chances of a political settlement being worked out in the Middle East.

Certainly, the chances of fine-honing a less hardline or militant response to Middle East peace issues are now greater with the possibility of Hamas being compelled to consider a relatively moderate Middle East settlement plan.

It does not necessarily follow from this assessment that we are on the threshold of a trouble-free path to a negotiated settlement.

Far from it. Hamas are unlikely to settle for nothing less than a separate Palestinian state, encompassing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. However, the fact that the Hamas administration is closing ranks with President Mahmoud Abbas could be taken as indicative of a softening of the Hamas stance on Middle-East peace.

Israel, on the other hand, would need to climb down from any high posturing on the Middle-East conflict, now that the Palestinians are gearing for a unified response on the issue. 'Land for peace", remains the ideal recipe for a settlement in the Middle East.

This implies that Israel should envisage a two-state solution, wherein it would peacefully coexist with a separate Palestinian state. Until Israel conceives of a settlement on these terms, it is unlikely that the Middle East conflict would prove capable of containment. On the other hand, Hezbollah may need to take a leaf from Hamas. Inasmuch as Israeli military aggression would not help in paving the way for hopes of a settlement, violence against the Israeli state would not help in defusing the conflict either.

The Lebanese crisis has just proved it. In this tragedy, there were no winners.

However, civilians on both sides of the divide suffered incalculably. Therefore, Hezbollah may need to enter the political process, as did Hamas, if hopes are to be generated of a comprehensive Middle-East settlement. In the absence of political moderation and compromise in the Middle East, the world would need to brace for endemic violence which would bring great distress to all parties in the conflict.