The EU, US & UN are getting all excited over The Arab League’s suggestion of an Israeli-Arab peace deal, but everyone is ignoring the actual players on the ground, like Hamas, which refuses to make any peace deal under any terms.

By Ryan Jones

While the American administration gets all excited over the Arab League making passing mention of its previous regional peace proposal, Western power-brokers are completely ignoring the fact that Palestinian powerhouse Hamas rejects the idea of peace with Israel under any circumstances.

After Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassem Al Thani commented last week that the Arab League would be willing to accept minor territorial compromise as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry got to work pressing Israel to accept the proposal.

As Israel feared, all it took was a gentle nudge and the slightest hint of successfully overseeing a peace deal to get Washington drooling, even if the hopes couldn’t possibly match reality.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to warn his American friends that while his government remains ready to make territorial compromise, the root of the conflict isn’t about borders, but about Israel’s very existence.

Hamas was so kind as to make Netanyahu’s point for him.

Hamas recruits

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal stated that his group’s goal remains the “liberation of the Palestinian territories,” which Hamas views as encompassing the entirety of the State of Israel.

Mashaal said the Arab League proposal would harm the true Palestinian end goal by helping to integrate Israel into the region.

Unfortunately, Western leaders didn’t seem to be listening. Many in Israel continue to argue that it doesn’t matter if a reasonable agreement can be reached with the Arab League and Palestinian Authority if groups like Hamas continue to run the show on the ground. Until all of the Palestinian Arabs actually want peace with Israel, it simply isn’t going to happen.

View original Israel Today publication at: http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/23831/Default.aspx?hp=article_title