So here's its position on Palestinian statehood at the United Nations:
Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister, said Sunday that his movement would not stand in the way of President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah party. “We support establishing a Palestinian state on any part of Palestinian land without giving up an inch of Palestine or recognizing Israel,” he told the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council here.
On Saturday, the branch of Hamas based in the Syrian capital, Damascus, issued a statement objecting to the United Nations move, expected later this week, because it was “unilateral,” meaning that Hamas had not been included in the decision.
The application, it said, was an extension of Fatah’s “path of compromise and insisting on dialogue while distancing itself from resistance and holding strong cards. We affirm our deep conviction that resistance is the main path that must be pursued together with political and public struggle.”
That took three paragraphs to explain. And I still don't really know if it's "Yes, But..." or "No, But..." All that matters, for the purposes of the impending U.N. debate, is that Fatah wants the United Nations to recognize Palestinian statehood and Hamas isn't cool with that. Imagine how that sounds in Arabic.
How unfortunate that the United States is in the same position. It seems like the U.S. position is "No, But..." Yet to different audiences, its position on the substantive thing itself -- Palestinian statehood -- will be "Yes, But..." And all that will matter for the point of the debate, which seems increasingly likely to be a linchpin moment for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is that the United States is saying No. Like a certain group of thugs who run Gaza. And like the Netanyahu government, which doesn't want a Palestinian state at all, whatever it says in English to an international audience.
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