Editorial: Moment of truth for Hamas

Thursday, March 30, 2006 | 6:34 a.m.

Israel's Ariel Sharon, who remains in a coma after suffering a stroke, came to believe that the only way to achieve peace with the Palestinians after decades of violence was to take action on what are known as the disputed territories - the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Tuesday's parliamentary election in Israel demonstrates that his centrist vision is gaining support from Israeli voters.

It was just last summer that Israeli settlers, under Sharon's orders, were removed from Gaza. In the longer term, the plan includes withdrawing 70,000 Israeli settlers from the West Bank, an area west of Jordan captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War and home to 2.5 million Palestinians.

In deciding upon this course, Sharon lost the confidence of Israel's hard-line Likud Party, which he helped form and which dominated the Israeli government for 30 years. Because Likud's members held the opposite view about the settlements, Sharon formed a new party and succeeded in scheduling a new election that would include it.

Tuesday, Sharon's Kadima Party, now led by Ehud Olmert, won the most seats, 28, in Israel's 120-seat parliament, or Knesset. Its leaders announced confidence in their ability to form alliances with other moderate parties that won seats, put together a ruling coalition and fulfill Sharon's dream. Hope for this was increased by the fact that Likud won only 11 seats.

Completion of the Kadima Party's plan includes withdrawing the 70,000 settlers, redrawing Israel's border to include about 8 percent of the West Bank's land and then finishing a security wall along the new border to protect against terrorist acts that have killed hundreds of innocent Israelis.

Kadima is prepared to move ahead with the plan unilaterally if the Palestinian government refuses to negotiate. This may be a possibility because on Jan. 25, in Palestinian elections, the terrorist party Hamas won a majority of the seats - 74 out of 132 - in the Legislative Council.

In our view, the vision of the Kadima Party is the best chance yet for peace in the Middle East. Hamas has a chance now to renounce terrorism, recognize Israel's right to exist and negotiate a lasting peace. If it resorts to more terrorism in response to Israel's peace offering, Hamas will reveal itself as never having had any real hopes for its people, and as a party whose only agenda is terrorism and hate.