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The Palestinians appear to be in an “uncivil war” even as President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert are working toward serious dialog on peace. In my experience you can make book on it that when there are any signs of progress toward a peaceful resolution of the issue through a two state solution, Hamas, probably acting on instructions from their leaders in Damascus, will raise the temperature of violence to entice the Israelis into violent response and thus end this dangerous talk of peace.

Egyptian President Mubarak on May 17, when asked about the possibility of Hamas signing a peace agreement with Israel answered: “With Hamas? No way.” He then went on to elaborate: “Hamas will never sign a peace agreement with Israel if it stays in power.” And therein lies the secret. It is time for Hamas to go. Egypt, Israel, Jordan or the United States would be justified to take steps to bring an end to its illegitimate posture as the government of the Palestinian Territories.

Hamas came to power through a so-called democratic election and too many assumed that this established legitimacy. But the reality is that you cannot have a democratic election in a state that is not a democracy. You cannot have a democratic election when the state does not control the levers of power. You cannot have a democratic election when one of the parties denies the very foundation of the state – in this case the Oslo accords. And you cannot have a democratic election when the electorate in under the control of competing armed militias.

Isn’t it about time that we learned that an election is the last step in a country’s move toward democracy and that it does not confer legitimacy outside of that context?

On January 12, 2005, in an interview reported in the Washington Times reported President Bush said: “If you want a glimpse of how I think about foreign policy read Natan Sharanski’s book “The Case for Democracy.” Anybody read it? Read it. It’s a great book. And I think it will help – it will help explain a lot of the decisions that you’ll see being made – you’ve seen made and will continue to see made.”

I take the President at his word, but he seems to have missed several points that Natan Sharanski made. In the book the President cited, Natan says on page 74: “Simply put, free elections are elections in a free society. That is why elections are never the beginning of the democratic process. Only when the basic institutions that protect a free society are firmly in place – such as a free press, the rule of law, independent courts, political parties – can free elections be held.”

President Mubarak knows Hamas well. Their philosophy is an Egyptian import out of the Muslim Brotherhood. It was also the precursor of Al Qaeda. And as much as we would like to think well of people and expect that participation in a democratic process will change them, we have every reason to believe that it won’t based on the statements of die-hard Hamas supporters. So long as Hamas holds power in Palestine, there will not be peace.

Hamas still rejects a two-state solution. Hamas still rejects the Oslo process. Hamas continues to call for the return of over four million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations. If added to more than3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza the Palestinians would outnumber and would outvote the Jewish population of 6.5 million in any unitary state. That is the Hamas game plan – to use the Hamas “democracy” to destroy Israel.

The Bush administration is finally taking an active role in the search for peace. It has presented a timetable for confidence building measures. It has been training forces loyal to President Abbas in Egypt. It has been working with Israel to ease the restrictions on the Palestinian economy. Now is the time to press even harder and to work with the Palestinians, the Egyptians and Jordanians on an exit strategy for Hamas.