Iran offers to fund Hamas government

[bemildred]

(CBC) - Iran has offered to help finance the Palestinian Authority under a government run by the militant group Hamas, Iranian state radio reported on Wednesday.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, announced the offer after a meeting with the political leader of Hamas in Tehran.

The offer came after the United States and European Union said they would halt hundreds of millions in funding to Hamas unless the group rejects violence and accepts the existence of Israel.

"The United States proved that it would not support democracy after it cut its aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won the elections," the radio report quoted Larijani as saying.

myTelus

[babylonsister]

1. Has Condi's head exploded yet? nt

[LynnTheDem]

2. "United States proved that it would not support democracy..."

Now me, I found that proved beyond any doubt when bush decided to unilaterally and illegally INVADE a sovereign nation that had not been doing one damn thing to anyone.

When bush praised the likes of Berlusconi for joining in bush's illegal war of aggression, AGAINST 92% of Berlusconi's own citizens, and bLiar, AGAINST 68% of bLiar's own citizens, and demonized France (and Canada & Germany & Mexico etc.) for NOT going AGAINST the vast majorities of their own citizens, and when bush THREATENED nations for NOT going AGAINST the vast majorities of their own citizens, that was yet more proof.

Then it was proved again to me when bush ordered US troops to overthrow the democratically elected president Aristide of Haiti by kidnapping and flying him out of his country.

And yet again when bush threatens the democratically elected presidents of Iran and Venezuela and calls democratically elected leaders "worrisome".

And gee yet again when bush threatens and tries to force the world to cold-shoulder, and demands US aid money back from, the democratically elected government of Palestine.

But hey that's just me. And most the world.

[cliss]

3. Notice? Bush hasn't been coming out

lately and talking about "democracy". (at least I haven't heard it).

The more this kind of thing goes on, the more Washington will be seen as a complete hypocrite. Worse, as an aider and abetter of the REAL rogue regimes, like Islam Karimov, Pervez Musharraf, the Saudi Royal Family, the list goes on and on and on.

But the democratically elected ones?

[Wordie]

4. Recommended!!! Another example of how wrong-headed US policies

create an easily predictable response, contrary to our best interests. How can we be so dumb?

I surely hope that these policies will be re-considered. Jimmy Carter gave the administration a good out, a good way of backing away from this stupidity, without the embarrassment of having to publicly reverse our position, namely to offer an amount of humanitarian funds to the Palestinians, equal to those we've withdrawn, through the UN.

Do we really want to drive the average Palestinian into the arms of the extremists? That's what we're doing. They aren't there now, as a recent poll by Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, demonstrates:

Poll: 66% of Palestinians say gov't must honor agreements
By Danny Rubinstein, Haaretz Correspondent

In the first poll in the territories since Hamas' victory, 66 percent of respondents said the new government should honor the Palestinian Authority's commitment to negotiations with Israel. (emphasis mine)

Among Hamas voters, only 12 percent said they chose Hamas for its political agenda, while 43 percent said they were fed up with Fatah's corruption. The rest said they were hoping for a better life or voted for religious reasons.

...A a large majority, 74 percent, said they had not expected a Hamas landslide. The poll confirms that most Palestinians, 58 percent, still believe the conflict with Israel should be resolved on the basis of the two-state principle. A binational state received support from 22 percent, while 10 percent favored a Palestinian state on the entire land.

...The JMCC poll indicates that Hamas' rise to power does not attest to a widespread radicalization of the Palestinian public. This public remains intent, generally speaking, on pursuing negotiations with Israel and finding a solution of co-existence.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/685129.html

But if Iran steps in because of this stupidity, the extremists will be able to demonize the US even further, and gain greater respect and influence over the Palestinians. Sheesh.

We need to rethink our position, and quick, before more damage is done to prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace. My fear is that the win of Hamas is being used to further justify the denial of legitimate Palestinian claims, and that the funding by Iran really was predicted by the administration, and is just another step in the political plan to discredit the Palestinians, and thereby justify the Israeli government's land-grab.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Don't disagree but that poll has problems.

You left out this part:

"The pollsters from the Jerusalem Media & Communication Center are aware that all Palestinian surveys had failed to predict Hamas' success. Their last poll was better than others, they said, since it predicted Fatah would win by just 2 percent. "The intelligence services of Israel and other countries were wrong, and their mistake was even greater than ours," staffers said."

They have no idea how to get a valid opinion poll out of the occupied territories.

[Wordie]

10. Well, of the popular vote, Hamas won 44%; Fatah won 42%

It's important to remember that the vote was actually very close. (The number of seats won is a different matter: Hamas won 74, Fatah 45.) So it appears that as far as the popular vote is concerned, the election poll that you refer to from the Haaretz article was off by 4 percentage points. I'm not certain if the difference falls within the expected margin of error for polls of this sort (is it typically 3%?...or 5%?), but it clearly was close. It really wasn't the "landslide" that many have characterized it to be. (* See note below.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_legislative_election,_2006

This article reports on another poll that confirms the results of the one I posted earlier. It suggests (as many experts are doing) that the Hamas win is primarily a result of the much-needed social services it provides for many of the poorest Palestinians, and was not in any way an endorsement of violence.

Despite Hamas win, Palestinians want peace with Israel

Mon Jan 30, 2:15 PM ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - ...A survey conducted within days of the Islamist group's landslide win in the parliamentary election showed 84 percent of Palestinians want a negotiated peace agreement with Israel.

And 86 percent said they want the moderate
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas to remain in his post when the radical movement forms a new government.

Perhaps more importantly in the wake of growing international pressure, nearly three-quarters want Hamas to drop its call for the destruction of Israel, said the survey by the Ramallah-based Near East Consulting institute.

However, rather than backing Hamas's tactics towards Israel, nearly three out of four (73 percent) respondents said they believed the radical party should "change its position on the elimination of the state of Israel".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060130/wl_mideast_afp/mideastpalestinian

* I also should add that apparently a major reason that Fatah did so poorly, compared to expectations, was that in many districts, there was more than one Fatah candidate, but only one from Hamas. This effectively split the Fatah vote, allowing the Hamas' candidate a win. I don't really completely understand how their system works, but perhaps something akin to Palestinian primary elections would be a good idea.

So, although it appears that the pollsters didn't anticipate the effect that the split vote of Fatah would have on the results (or, at least, their polls didn't account for it), that doesn't mean that the results of the later poll should be considered suspect.

[hang a left]

5. Looks like Iran doesn't think the US is going to mess with them.

They are in their face at every turn. Next thing you know they will weigh in on the port deal.

[MadMaddie]

13. I hate to say it but I think that Iran...

is trying to provoke the * Cabal...because as we all know "Bring it on *"is a cowboy and he doesn't turn down any opportunity to show he has a pair...

I think that the more they do...they more you will hear from Condi, Rummi and *....and eventually a strike against Iran.

[Zynx]

6. I told somebody this would happen if other countries threatened

to cut off Palestinian aid. They said it wouldn't happen and that Hamas would buckle. Now we see who was right, unfortunately.

[Warren Stupidity]

9. So we played that card. Now what?

The financial leverage just played out to have zero value. What's plan B?

[Zynx]

14. We beg? n/t

[Capn Sunshine]

8. Well we saw THAT parade coming down the hiway

Like Israel and the US think if you don't give them the funds they have reserved for the Palestinian Government, it will just wither up and die?

Like there's no one in the middle east that will fill the void?
Have they even looked at Hamas' own game plan? Hebzollah?
These guys got popular by filling in the gaps in infrastructure in their home neighborhoods. They don't just blow shit up.

[george_hurley]

11. **** SIGN MY PETITION: NO WAR W/ IRAN *****

Ok on the first posting of this I recieved far more signings from Freepers than anyone on DU. I hope this second time proves to be a bit less depressing.

For the past year, the growing tensions mounting between the US, Israel, and Iran are reaching a point where military action against Iran is w/in months of becoming reality. The repercussions are terrifying as such military action could involve countries such as China and Russia as they share massive energy/economic interests w/ Iran. The most likely scenario we would face would be the collapse of the US economy as the combination of a massive rise in oil prices and a run on the US dollar would surely be the weapon many countries would use to fight back against a preemptive US or Israeli strike.

For a collection of articles and resources on this subject you can visit this link: http://reseaudesign.com/research/iran/iran_summery.html

I'm starting up a petition which I will be sending out to as many members of Congress as possible. I'm asking for help to get this signed by as many people, possible in the next month. Send it to as many people you can.

http://www.petitiononline.com/n0war1rn/

Thanks for your time

[Wordie]

12. Kick...and this needs one more recommendation.