Hamas's Move

A senior Hamas leader has raised the possibility of a de facto peace with Israel if there is a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders. I think this is a development people should take seriously. For one thing, Hamas wants to join the post-Arafat Palestinian political process. In order to do so, they need to be acceptable to the current Palestinian leaders and at least halfway conciliatory toward Israel. Furthermore, in order to achieve short-term electoral success, they need to broaden their base beyond the hard-core rejectionists. While it's quite possible Hamas leaders who say this sort of thing are lying, it is a lie with practical implications for the debate within Palestinian society.