Hamas 'R' Us

[Wordie]

Hamas 'R' Us
By Bradley Burston

...Everything Israel does, it seems, only bolsters the credibility of the Islamic Resistance Movement, whose acronym is Hamas, as well as that of the group's new political party list, which goes by the name Change and Reform.

...Months ago, Israel declared with unequivocal conviction - if lawyerly, loophole-ridden language - that if Hamas candidates were on the ballot, the election would not take place.

This granted Hamas renewed and authroritative recognition for its status as a continued bonafide arch-enemy of Israel. It served as an updated certificate of Kashrut to Hamas, at a time when the movement was back-peddling at full speed from its former uncompromising stance vis a vis the political process and shunning ties with any Palestinian institution that smacked of having contact with the Zionist Entity.

...Everything Israel did, from assassinating Hamas suspects at a time when Hamas was, technically at least, observing an Egypt-brokered period of relative calm, to issuing dire warnings of what might happen if Hamas were to achieve 30, 40, or even 51 percent of the vote, served to fuel the Hamas juggernaut.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=671878&contrassID=2

[Wordie]

1. This is a related article: Undermining the peace camp

Undermining the peace camp
By Ghassan Khatib

...The public reasons behind the Israeli threat to prevent elections in Jerusalem are firstly its position that East Jerusalem was annexed to Israel and therefore it refuses to accept the legal and internationally accepted definition of East Jerusalem as being under military occupation and secondly, the fact that some of the candidates recognize neither Israel nor the peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinian
side.

The actual reason, however, is different. Israel, behind the scenes and through third parties, has been using its leverage to indirectly bargain with Hamas. Since Hamas is eager to take part in these elections, and since some elements within the PA and Fatah might seize on the Israeli position as an excuse to cancel or postpone elections, Israel has used this as a bargaining chip to make Hamas stop launching rockets from Gaza.

Nevertheless, and in spite of Israel's recent declarations that it will allow elections in Jerusalem, in practice, and until now, candidates and campaigners, whether from Jerusalem or from other parts of the Palestinian territory, haven't been allowed to campaign in East Jerusalem. Non-Jerusalemite Palestinians, not only from Gaza but also
from the West Bank, are not allowed even to enter Jerusalem to campaign. In some cases, Israel is also selective in dealing with Jerusalemite candidates in a way that goes beyond discriminating only against Hamas candidates, prejudicial as this is in the first place.

The irony here, which may or may not be understood by the political echelon in Israel, is that its attitude and behavior on the issue of elections in Jerusalem has been benefiting the Palestinian opposition and mainly Hamas.

Ghassan Khatib is the Palestinian Authority minister of planning.
Published by arrangement with Bitterlemons (www.bitterlemons.org)

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=671878&contrassID=2

[pelsar]

2. er maybe...

fatah should have been busy taking care of its citizens, making kindergartens, education, devising a "peace camp" as opposed to arresting those who work with israelis, shutting down newspapers, intimidating and shooting journalists, etc (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast/palestinian_journalists.html)

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4382.shtml
the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is deeply concerned over the future of the electoral process in light of threats of resignation by members of the Central Elections Committee (CEC) as a result of continuous interference in their work by the Cabinet and Ministry of Interior.


and some older listings....since for some odd reason the palestenian human rights websites have not been updated...that too is quite the interesting turn of event

the list is a year old..but the facts are clear and the corruption and lack of responsability is as old as olso
http://www.phrmg.org/pressrelease/2005/index.htm


http://www.reporter-archive.mcgill.ca/Rep/r2903/eid.htm 1996...and things have gotten worse......
Most Palestinians thought that liberation meant that they were going to regain their rights--but today the situation is worse for us than it was under the Israelis."



______________________________________________

as opposed to the "blame israel...they did it to us, we're responsable for nothing" mentality

[Wordie]

3. Nice try, but that doesn't really address the points made in the article.

The article you replied to, and the article in the OP, both were discussing how Israel's actions will strengthen Hamas showing in the upcoming elections. What do you think of that thesis?

[FOM]

4. I don't know if that is fair

Longtime lurker here.

The posts were also generally about the PA election, adn Hamas' standing vis a vis Fatah, which is what Pelsar commented on. You didn't add comments to the article, so it was left kind of open.

I'll bite though, cause this is interesting.

I think that some actions Israel takes do help Hamas, just as Hamas actions help the Israeli right (see the election of Netanyahu and collapse of Oslo following the Hamas campaign against Oslo). That does not necessarily make the Israeli actions wrong by itself.

From an Israeli perspective, I think Israel would not to find that not doing these actions, a side-effect of which is to help Hamas, is better than doing them. Right now that is not the case.

I am not sure that there is a huge benefit in the immediate term to Israelis from having Fatah in charge vs. Hamas. Regardless of who wins the elections, through the power they have, Hamas arguably holds more political cards than Fateh anyways. Is a Fatah victory going to result in the dismantling of terrorist orgs or elimination of terror attacks against Israelis. Not likely (IMHO).

Plus, I don't think the article is 100% correct. For example it says "Months ago, Israel declared with unequivocal conviction - if lawyerly, loophole-ridden language - that if Hamas candidates were on the ballot, the election would not take place...This granted Hamas renewed and authroritative recognition for its status as a continued bonafide arch-enemy of Israel".

I don't think the Palestinians are confused on where Hamas and Israel stand with each other. What if Israel hadn't done that, people would think that Hamas is now Israel's buddy?

Also - "You couldn't have prayed for a better campaign. Instant visibility, immediate name recognition, freedom from suspicions of collaboration, high-profile resistance to occupation. Total credibility."

I think most people will vote by list, so name recognition is not a huge issue, and again I don't think many people suspect Hamas candidates of collaborating with Israel or not resisting the occupation.