You said you would consider it an accomplishment if you could convince someone from Hamas to join your group. What would this require and what would it mean?

Raed Hadar 16

You said you would consider it an accomplishment if you could convince someone from Hamas to join your group. What would this require and what would it mean?

In Israel there are factions who believe in peace and the need to establish a Palestinian state, but there are also groups, which we consider extremist, who call for driving Palestinians off their land. Moderate Israelis already have established ideas about the nature of the solution to the conflict, so we actually need to talk to the more extremist ones. They are the people whose support we need. We don't need to re-convince those who already agree with us. It is the same on the Palestinian side. Until now Hamas doesn't recognize the existence of the State of Israel, although I am convinced after they are integrated into the government they will change their position. Being outside the government is different and a lot less demanding than being the official governor, and I think there already is progress with the position of Hamas regarding the existence of two states living side by side. In Israeli eyes, and also in the eyes of many Palestinians, Hamas's position seems somewhat extreme, and their resistance to the two-state solution only serves to strengthen this perception. I am interested in winning over people from Hamas, the same as I am interested in winning over extremists from Palestinian society as a whole.