[Peace-discuss] Can Mitchell Succeed? Let Him Talk to Hamas

[Robert Naiman]

Mitchell needs more support, in part because at the moment it's far
from obvious whether Washington will let Mitchell be Mitchell. He's
been praised for his work in the Northern Ireland peace process, but
for all the difficulties Mitchell faced in Northern Ireland, there was
one thing he could count on: no-one prevented him from talking to one
of the key parties in the conflict. Mitchell talked to Gerry Adams and
Martin McGuinness, leaders of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the
Irish Republican Army, considered at the time [with obvious
justification] by the British, the U.S. and the Protestant leadership
in Northern Ireland to be a terrorist group. Today, Sinn Fein is part
of the Northern Ireland government. But at the moment, Mitchell's not
allowed to talk to Ismail Haniyeh or other members of the political
leadership of Hamas, even though they won the 2006 Palestinian
legislative elections and constitute the de facto government of Gaza.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/can-mitchell-succeed-let_b_165936.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/2/11/152026/893

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/39738

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Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org