After many long months of negotiations between Fatah and Hamas, the parties finally agreed Dec. 10 to hold elections — first for the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), and then, three months later, for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Current President Mahmoud Abbas demanded that Israel once again allow Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to vote — a controversial issue that was resolved in all sorts of creative ways in the past. Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh has already approached the relevant parties in Israel to request their approval for this.

With all due respect to internal Palestinian agreements, Israel has no right to be satisfied with them alone. It must insist that no Palestinian individual or group that expects to achieve its goals through undemocratic means is allowed to participate in these elections, as stated in the interim agreement of September 1995. The fact that Hamas already participated in previous Palestinian elections cannot be used to justify repeating that terrible mistake.

Back in 2005, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a dramatic decision to withdraw unilaterally from the Gaza Strip. US President George W. Bush then came to the conclusion that only democracy could save the Arab world, and somehow convinced Sharon to allow Hamas to participate in the election for the PLC. Bush believed that if Hamas, which had boycotted the previous election, did decide to participate, it would grant legitimacy to the process and to the Oslo Accord, which gave birth to it. Furthermore, it was thought that if Hamas would win about 25% of the vote, it could become a constructive force in the emerging Palestinian democracy.

For some reason, there was no revolt against the decision made by the leader of the Likud and prime minister, even among parties on the right. I could not understand why Sharon agreed to this without arguing against Bush’s demand. I therefore went to see him about it with the explicit clause in the agreement in hand. The 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement (Annex 2, Article 3.2: Nominations) states, "The nomination of any candidates, parties or coalitions will be refused, and such nomination or registration will be canceled, if such candidates, parties or coalitions: (1) commit or advocate racism, or (2) pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful or non-democratic means."