(We Don't Need This) Facist Groove Thing

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 30 January 2006 15:05:09

So Hamas have predictably won the election in Palestine. Why everyone, including Hamas, were so surprised I don't know.

Though they are famous for being a primarily Islamic terrorist organisation they have evolved to become more than that since the creation of the Palestinian Homeland. Where Fatah, the political wing of the PLO, have been seen to be corrupt and to have let down the Palestinian people, the reverese is true of Hamas.

Yes, they do organise suicide bombings and armed attacks on Israel. Yes, they do want the destruction of the Israeli state. They do not deny either of these things.

What they have going for them is the way they have been able to organise social and educational projects among the ordinary Palestinian people. They have helped to ease the pressures forced on the Palestinian people by Hamas and Uslamic Jihad's continued campaign against Israel. What people are not to aware of is that Hamas have instigated a voluntary cessation of attacks over the last 12 months.

The Palestinian people have seen the way that Fatah have been corrupt and self concerned during their term in power. Nothing they have done has brought peace and prosperity to these proud people. The lack of progress for peace has been caused by many of Hamas' past actions, so they must take some of the blame.

Yet, because they have control of the mosques, Hamas have managed to get their message over to the Palestinian population. They have shown through their faith that they are above the corruption of Fatah. They have shown that they can deliver their own social programmes directly to the people, something Fatah have largely failed at.

Now we have a paradox to deal with.

Hamas are a terrorist organisation intent on the destruction of the Israeli state. Not the Jewish people as a whole but their current political state.

In addition, Hamas are now a demcratically elected entity in their own right. The people have chosen Hamas to rule over them and to represent them to the international world outside.

How are the western world going to deal with them? Are we going to stop aid, without which the Palestinian people will suffer even more? In doing so we'd just restart, and intensify, the cycle of violence.