US diplomacy mimicking failed colonial approaches

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In general, if one is committed to reaching a deal, there is no logic in avoiding meeting with the key parties to a conflict. Therefore, it is natural and acceptable that US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner this week met in Cairo with Khalil Hayya, the newly elected leader of Hamas. But such meetings should not come at the expense of meetings with the legitimate representatives of the same people.

Kushner followed that meeting in Cairo with a series of meetings in Israel, including with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, who holds a symbolic role.

But what is truly troubling is when the meeting with the Hamas leader turns out to be the only meeting held with a Palestinian. Ramallah, the headquarters of the internationally recognized Palestinian leadership, is just 12 miles from the location where Kushner met with the Israeli prime minister.

By avoiding a meeting with the legitimate Palestinian leadership while meeting with Hamas, Kushner is following the same playbook used by Netanyahu and other Israeli officials over the last five decades, repeatedly applying the colonial strategy of divide and rule.

In the early years of the occupation, Israel engaged with Palestinian tribal leaders rather than Palestinian nationalists. Later, instead of talking to the Palestine Liberation Organization, it encouraged the rise of Islamists in Gaza. Israel allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to operate through charities and to carry out political work, while imprisoning PLO sympathizers and assassinating PLO leaders in Lebanon, Greece, Belgium, France and elsewhere — often without claiming responsibility and sometimes through third parties. Among the targets were PLO figures who expressed moderate views or argued for engaging with like-minded Israelis.

What is truly troubling is when the meeting with Hamas turns out to be the only meeting held with a Palestinian Daoud Kuttab

What is truly troubling is when the meeting with Hamas turns out to be the only meeting........

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