The partnership between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas has had a disastrous effect. It is one thing to know that some freelancing Hamas operatives carried out a rogue operation and kidnapped three people without explicit orders. But it is another thing altogether to have Hamas officials praise this crime from the Palestinian parliament in Ramallah, where there is now a Fatah-Hamas government in charge. This is now a new era; no longer can such statements be treated as ordinary sound bites coming from an outcast and sidelined terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. They should be considered the mainstream views in the PA, emanating from the national consensus forged in Ramallah. This is what makes all the difference. The Israel Defense Forces has been tightening the noose on the Hebron area. The conventional wisdom is that the kidnappers did not make it past the hills of Dura and Halhul, nearby villages. This assessment could be reinforced if it turned out the torched car discovered over the weekend was used to transport them to their hideout. Israel's conduct has been proper. It must remain vigilant lest it be carried away and take steps that could backfire in the long run. Should Israel find the Hamas operatives who did this? Absolutely. Should it employ special means to extract information from those who were taken into custody in the massive roundups? Yes, if the particular circumstances merit the extraordinary "ticking-bomb" procedure. Massive deportation? That should not be in the realm of possibility. Those who are deluded into thinking that this would be a worthy endeavor should come to their senses. Such action would actually result in the world paying zero attention to the fate of the kidnapped teenagers and would generate sympathy for the would-be Hamas refugees. It would turn out to be a mistake, very much like the decision Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made in 1992 when he deported several hundred Hamas operatives to Lebanon. Let's hope Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resists the urge to carry out such folly. Israel should follow one basic rule of thumb: Employ aggressive tactics against Hamas, but only if it can control the situation. When you deport terrorists abroad, the local leaders can help them perpetuate their anti-Israel activity. Israel could, for example, force Palestinian prisoners to end their hunger strike by force-feeding them; it could also enact the bill that would make it harder to release convicted terrorists. Those two options are not dependent on non-Israeli actors and they can be pursued at will, at the government's discretion. Some would say they should not be used, and this could be true. The government must be able to act without impediments, and it must have the power to discontinue such policies if it concludes that they have run their course. The focus should be Hamas' own well-being. Not only must Israel convince Hamas that it was ill-advised to abduct the teens, it must prove to the PA that its unity deal with Hamas undermines its own interests. Netanyahu and his colleagues need to prepare a special potion that has just the right mix of caution and courage. Such a potion would allow them to make sound decisions a week or two down the road, assuming, God forbid, the crisis does not end badly by then. The public has rallied around its leaders, and transcending the public are the magnificent families and their exemplary behavior.
