EPS-003 - European Position Statement - Hamas Armed Resistance
A Proposed European Position Statement
Scope of this Position Statement
EPS-001 evaluated an actor: Iran.
EPS-002 evaluated a policy: Israeli
settlement expansion.
EPS-003 evaluates a strategy: Hamas armed
resistance.
That distinction matters.
This statement is not an assessment of
Palestinian self-determination. The European Declaration for Middle East
Stability recognizes Palestinian self-determination as a legitimate and
unresolved question.
The question here is narrower:
Does Hamas armed resistance move the
region toward or away from the direction identified by the Declaration Compass?
European Objective
Europe seeks a stable Middle East in
which Israelis and Palestinians can pursue security, dignity and
self-determination without permanently denying those same goods to one another.
Europe recognizes that Palestinian
national aspirations remain unresolved.
Europe also recognizes that occupation,
displacement, blockade, civilian suffering and political exclusion have created
deep and legitimate Palestinian grievances.
But Europe must distinguish between
legitimate grievances and strategies that make peace less achievable.
Hamas armed resistance is such a
strategy.
The EU has long used terrorism-related
sanctions against persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts, and
has expanded measures targeting Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad networks
and individuals connected with violent actions.
Compass Assessment
Future
Hamas
presents itself as defending Palestinian rights and resistance against
occupation.
Europe
recognizes that Palestinian rights and self-determination cannot be ignored.
However,
armed resistance contributes to long-term stability only if it opens a path
toward a viable political future. Hamas armed resistance does the opposite.
It narrows the political future of Palestinians by binding their national cause
to military escalation, civilian suffering and international isolation.
It also denies Israelis confidence that Palestinian self-determination can
coexist with Israeli security.
A
strategy that makes one people’s future appear to depend upon the fear or
disappearance of another cannot produce durable peace.
Compass
Assessment: Negative.
Hamas
armed resistance does not move the region toward a viable future for both
peoples.
Security
No
people should be expected to live permanently under occupation, blockade,
siege, dispossession or military domination. But no people can be expected to
accept attacks on civilians as a legitimate route to political change.
The
Declaration Compass asks whether a strategy contributes to security that can
ultimately be shared. Hamas armed resistance fails that test.
It produces fear among Israelis. It exposes Palestinians to devastating
military retaliation.
It strengthens Israeli hardline arguments that security can only be achieved
through force. It weakens Palestinian diplomatic credibility.
It turns Palestinian suffering into a recurring consequence of a strategy that
cannot deliver reciprocal security.
Compass
Assessment: Strongly Negative.
Hamas
armed resistance increases insecurity for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
Reconciliation
Reconciliation requires both peoples to believe that their history
and future can be acknowledged without erasing the other.
Hamas armed resistance works against that possibility. Its strategy reinforces
Israeli historical fear of elimination. It also traps Palestinian historical
grievance inside permanent mobilization rather than future-oriented political
construction.
The 1988 Hamas Covenant rejected peaceful initiatives and
international conferences as contradicting the movement’s principles, while
later Hamas documents have been more politically nuanced but still do not
amount to recognition of Israel as a legitimate future partner.
Europe should therefore distinguish between Palestinian historical
grievance, which must be acknowledged, and armed strategies that prevent
grievance from becoming reconciliation.
Compass Assessment: Strongly Negative.
Hamas armed resistance obstructs the transformation of historical
grievance into coexistence.
European Position Statement
Europe should reject Hamas armed
resistance clearly and consistently.
But Europe’s argument should not be
limited to counterterrorism. It should also be strategic.
Europe rejects Hamas armed resistance not because Palestinian grievances are illegitimate, but because this strategy has failed to create a credible path toward Palestinian self-determination, reciprocal security or reconciliation.
Hamas armed resistance does not advance
Palestinian self-determination.
It damages it. It does not create security. It destroys it. It does not move
history toward reconciliation. It locks history into recurring violence.
Europe should therefore continue to
oppose Hamas military structures, financing networks and violent political
leadership.
At the same time, Europe should avoid
treating the rejection of Hamas armed resistance as a rejection of Palestinian
rights.
That distinction is essential.
European diplomacy should support:
- Palestinian self-determination through political rather than armed means;
- protection of Palestinian civilian life;
- humanitarian access and reconstruction;
- accountable Palestinian governance;
- exclusion of armed strategies targeting civilians from legitimate politics;
- political initiatives that preserve a future for both peoples.
Europe’s message should be clear:
Palestinian dignity is legitimate.
Palestinian
self-determination is legitimate.
Armed resistance that targets civilians
and denies coexistence is not.
Compass Conclusion
The Compass assessment does not
constitute a rejection of Palestinian national aspirations.
It is an assessment of a specific
strategy.
Hamas armed resistance moves the region
away from the direction identified by the European Declaration for Middle East
Stability.
It weakens the future. It destroys security. It obstructs reconciliation.
Europe should therefore oppose Hamas
armed resistance not only because terrorism must be rejected, but because the
Declaration Compass shows that this strategy moves Israelis and Palestinians
away from the relationship required for durable peace.
A future for Palestinians cannot be built
through a strategy that makes a future for Israelis impossible.
A future for Israelis cannot be secured
by ignoring Palestinian aspirations.
The road forward
requires both truths at once.
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