Machiavelli

=Dear Mr. Machiavelli,=

The situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians is a difficult one to say the least. I am writing this letter to you so you can help President Obama in his efforts to end the discord between these two groups of people. The Palestinians want complete control over Israel, the Gaza strip and the West Bank while the Israelis want Israel to remain a Jewish state and to expand settlements in the West Bank. The Palestinians will not hear of becoming a two state nation and both the Palestinians and the Israelis have rejected different negotiations for peace. From what I gather, the Palestinians have been particularly aggressive and stubborn in their efforts to retake Israel. Recently, “In Gaza, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad held a rally… in opposition to any compromise with Israel.” An Islamic Jihad leader by the name of Khaled al-Batsh said that “negotiations can only be stopped by a barrage of bullets and loud blasts,” making it clear that Hamas and Jihad would rather die than compromise with the Israelis. While Hamas and Jihad represent the violence of the Gaza strip, the more moderate Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is residing in the West Bank and working towards a peace treaty with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. However, even the most reasonable negotiations go unaccepted on both sides. In 2008 when Israel offered to withdraw from ninety-three percent of the West Bank, Mr. Abbas refused the offer. Mr. Netanyahu also refused to discontinue construction in the West Bank. If both the Israelis and Palestinians are preventing the peace between their people, which group deserves the power?  There is much to blame for the dissension among Israel and Palestine, but the violent tendencies of Hamas plays a huge role. “The biggest obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians is the emergence of Hamas as the…government of the Gaza Strip.” As I mentioned before, Hamas refuses to negotiate anything less than having full control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Israel as a whole. The violence and stubbornness of Hamas is preventing Israel and Palestine from reaching any kind of common ground. After reading through your book “The Prince” I know exactly what you should tell President Obama to do about this complicated conflict in the Middle East. You once wrote that “There is no sure way of holding other than by destroying, and whoever becomes master of a City accustomed to live in freedom and does not destroy it, may reckon on being destroyed by it.” The Israelis need to wipe out the threat of Hamas. Once they have successfully done away with the extremist threats, the Israelis may hope to negotiate more effectively with the moderate Palestinian government. “Peace talks can begin with Hamas on the sidelines, but they cannot finish if Hamas refuses to play ball.” If Hamas does not support the negotiations of peace (which they do not) then the peace talks are unable to be finalized and Hamas uses violence to make sure that the negotiations are not carried out. Without the constant threat of terror from Hamas extremists, Israel will be better suited to talk peace with Mr. Abbas and President Obama. They will no longer have to rethink negotiations because of unreasonable and violent Hamas tendencies. “Thirteen militant groups in Gaza vowed Thursday to step up attacks on Israeli targets to foil peace negotiations… Hamas has claimed responsibility for two drive-by shootings in the West Bank this week, which killed four Israeli settlers near Hebron and wounded two others near Ramallah.” Hamas terrorist groups use violence to stunt progression of peace between their people (the Palestinians) and the Israelis. The night before peace talks in Washington D.C. were supposed to take place, Hamas terrorists shot and killed four Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Israel should use this blatant rebellion against peace to work in their favor. In chapter three of your book you speak of mixed princedoms and how to successfully rule over different sects of people. You said that a prince can use the rebellions of his people as an excuse for punishing them. “For the Prince, using the rebellion as a pretext will not scruple to secure himself by punishing the guilty, bringing the suspected to trial, and otherwise strengthening his position where it was weak.” Israel would do well to treat the latest Hamas attack as an invitation to war. Israel has the money and the military to take on Hamas, and the sooner they stomp out the extremist threats the sooner they can begin to work more effectively with Mr. Abbas and the more moderate Palestinians towards a pact of peace.

The Israelis have reservations about seizing control over the Gaza strip because it could cost them the support of some valuable ally’s (America). “Hamas, despite its aggressive and repressive agenda, is successfully portraying itself as a victim of Israeli cruelty and violence.” Israel fears if they were to strike at the heart of Hamas in the Gaza strip, they would be deemed cruel and unsupportable because Hamas has portrayed themselves as the victims. In chapter seventeen of your book, you say that, “A prince should therefore disregard the reproach of being thought cruel where it enables him to keep his subjects united and obedient…it is far better to be feared than loved.” The Israelis should swiftly and strongly wipe out the threat of Hamas terrorism. Whether their actions are considered cruel or not- the Palestinian people and the Israeli people will be safer without the constant threat of terror and violence.

A former Israeli prime minister by the name of Yitzhak Rabin once told his fellow Israelis “to fight terror as if there were no negotiations and conduct the negotiations as if there was no terror.” In order to succeed in making Israel and Palestine a two-state country, The Israelis to need to fight the Hamas terrorists as if there were no talks of peace. They need to adopt a “take no prisoners” frame of mind and completely destroy the Hamas regime. Once Hamas is no longer around to terrorize Palestinians and Israelis alike, Mr. Abbas and Mr. Netanyahu can truly “conduct the negotiations as if there was no terror”.