Hamas Treads the Political Path

playing by rules means -- Hamas MUST renounce violence against Israel -- and Israel MUST renounce violence against Hamas -- no suicide bombings -- no targeted killings....

Netizen -- I agree with you -- this is the only silver lining in this Ghanghor Ghataa of the Palestinian politics -- the taming of the shrew -- the breaking down of the wild stallion -- the chaining of the bloody wild Elephant in murderous ``MUST`` -- has begun.....

may be from now on the Hassassins will play by the rules -- no silly suicide bombings

but everything depends ALSO -- if the big time LOSERS -- will play by the RULES of the GAME -- not move the goalposts....

nasah:

the world has been shocked that how come a terrorist group bent on destroying israel could win elections. but for a person closely following the scene should not be that surprised.

hamas coming to power is in fact better than the impotent-abbas becoming president of PA.

arafat with his doublespeak was of no use and was dumped. abbas has no credibility and could not have done anything constructuve.

hamas is a very strong force in palestine and has followed the cease-fire.

coming to power and representing its people has strings attached too. hamas cannot go on suicide bombing as it will be answerable to other nations. the major donors like u.s. and e.u. have already asked hamas for renouncing terror. hamas will have to tone down its rhetoric if it palns to do some business.

its a simple proposition, renounce terror and accept israel`s right to exist and we will do business with you. if hamas is not ready to accept those conditions than whats the point in wasting time?

i see hamas accepting cease-fire for a long time. atleast till next elections.

and israel will continue unilateral withdrawal from land and fencing itself from palestinians.

``Behind the curtain of Fatah and Hammas, the issue of Arabs and non-Arabs, that is Muslims and non-Muslims will be brought to boiling pitch to generate a civil war in Palestine``(rashid)

not a chance -- before that happens -- Muslims vs Muslims will be brought to boiling pitch to generate a civil war in Palestine -- in this regard street battles between Fatah and Hamas have already started --

for Palestinians -- Muslim and Christians get along very well and work shoulder to shoulder against the occupiers.

In fact the shrewed Hamas had a Christian candidate on their ballots who won hands down...!

like the Israelis and the USA -- the sore loser Fatah should now play by the rules of democracy -- that is ACCEPT Hamas as the NEW Palestinian Authority -- they had their chance for decades and they blew it.....

or....may be now the Fatah needs to go in suicide bombing business -- to get re-elected to the Palestinian National Assembly......!

#20 Hasan,

Well put......let us see what happens.

#19 rashid_s

Could you elaborate?

well GT -- the ball is in the Israeli court now...

....by electing the Hamas the Palestinians are saying to the US and Israelis that -- all these years -- all of you undermined the authority of a secular Palestinian entity at every nook every corner every street at every meeting -- undermined Arafat humiliated him and finally killed him....

.......made every effort to pit Islamist Hamas against the secular Palestinians -- always humiliating the later in front of the people of Palestine -- you didn`t want Arafat to represent people of Palestine --

now you have the `terrorist` government of Islamists extremists in place representing the Palestinians -- now you TALK to THEM -- as one `terrorising` government of Zionist extremists representing the Israelis -- to another terrorising group of Islamist extremists representing the Palestinans...

...like one terror group to another terror group -- in brotherly realation -- you deserve each other -- and hopefully will get along well NOW -- something the Israelis could not do with Arafat....in the past....

playing by the rules of democracy -- NOT THEOCRACY -- THE ISRAELIS CANNOT CHANGE THE GOAL POST BY SAYING -- ``we wont talk to Hamas`` -- bring us back Arafat from the grave......

the old game is over for the brain-dead Israelis -- they will reap what they have been sowing all these years.....

the worst underminer enemies of the Secular progressive Muslimhood in this entire world currently -- are only TWO:

one brain-dead Israeli -- lying unconscious in bed...

the other -- a brain-dead American BULL -- walking disoriented in the Muslim china shop.......

16 by GT and Others

I am afraid we might be about to witness the repeat of ``Lebanon`` syndrome, where apart from other sly moves, the issues were crystallised into ONE Arab (read Muslims) and Christian conflict, with Jews,US and others behind the curtains.
Behind the curtain of Fatah and Hammas, the issue of Arabs and non-Arabs, that is Muslims and non-Muslims will be brought to boiling pitch to generate a civil war in Palestine. The Palestinians not knowing any other will continue with the terrible life for the benefit of the Puppeteers. All the parties of Lebanon are also the characters in Palestine too. Conspiracy theory? Watch this space!- Rashid

#17

Hasan,

Perhaps I am being naive, but how is voting for Hamas going to stop such attrocities?....Have people voted for Hamas because they think Hamas ``will take revenge`` or ``will stand up to the evil called Israel``?....I think not.

may be there is a silver lining in the Hamas cloudiness -- may be the Palestinians voters came to the conclusion that the only way to tame the wild Hamassassins is to get them off the streets -- give them some chairs in the national assembly to experience the civilizing limits of limitless jawboning in the persuit of politicial futility...

.....that is if the Israelis play by the rules of democracy not by the rules of the suicide bombings..

......for example yesterday the child killer Israeli army killed a 9 year old Palestinian girl carrying a grocery bag -- because the child would not stop after the army warning shots....

and people still wonder how Hamas won the election....!

Palestinians are gutsy people and they have been struggling for more than half a century. It may very well be that by expressing their political preference for Hamas they have signalled their desire for further struggles to achieve dignity and freedom......but is that really so?.....or is it a fantasy of armchair Palestinian supporters cocooned in their comfortable lives elsewhere?.....(Other) people struggling, and dying, for a CAUSE is always laudabe and romantic for the cocooned idealist.

My Palestinian friends tell me that people voted for Hamas because they perceive (rightly or wrongly) the Hamas as a set of honest guys and that Hamas would better their economic plight (check google of Hamas`s social contributions as opposed to the rampant corruption of the PLO). Another factor, lesser in importance by a degree of magnitude, was the correct perception that Abbas has no base or constituency inside the PLO to lend him any credibility in negotiations. He belongs to a village in Israel, the whole population of which now live in Lebanon. In short, people did not believe that the PLO could get peace or improve economic conditions. So they voted for the alternative. It had less to do with `struggling for a great cause`.

Indians can probably empathise with this. In the last decade, the rise of the BJP in India had as much to do with a disgust for Congress, Janata Dal etc. as it had to do with Hindutva. Before the elections which swept the BJP to power, honest bureaucrats, local political leaders, retired army officers joined the BJP in significant numbers giving very little thought to Hindutva. In 1977, people hardly cared about what the Janata Party would do once in power. They simply wanted to get rid of Indira Gandhi. Similarly, in Iran all sections of the population - communists, liberal democrats and fundamentalists - coalesced around a relatively unknown cleric to oppose the Shah. Each of these groups believed different things about the cleric. They cared little about what he would do after the Shah was removed and cared more about getting rid of the Shah. We now know what happened to two of the above mentioned groups.

Desperate people take chances.....I hope the Palestinian people did the right thing.

#14 there is no need for any ngotiations for the time being..sharon showed the way by taking unilateral actions. palestinians are in a nation-building mood apparently, not negotiating mood. palestinians need to see fruits of PLA-self governance.

I take back what I said in #1. I do not think there will be any peace negotiations, at least in the short run. Hamas, at most, will declare ceasefire and Israel will unilaterally withdraw from areas it wants to. The reason for Israeli withdrawals do not have as much to do with peace as it has to do with demographics. If they hold on to the areas and Palestinians simply recognize Israel and demand the right to vote, zionism will be out of the window in 5 to 10 years. This being said, it is would be interesting to know why the Israelis did not release Marwan Barghouti before the elections (they let him campaign from jail a week or two before the election). Barghouti is the only PLO leader with some credibility and the centrists and leftists in Israel do not have a problem talking to him. Was this an Israeli ploy? Did they let Hamas win, so that the pressure on Israel to negotiate is decreased? Or is this simply a conspiracy theory?

Finally: First, I think the chances of Hamas declaring an Islamic republic is low. Second, supporters of Hamas should check how the govt. of Israel eased its birth (not that it matters much, but just to keep things in perspective).

#12 by nasah on January 26, 2006 3:23pm PT



seems like true satire


It may be satire for YOU but most of the muslim world is celebrating Hamas` victory..they see it as a black eye for the US..Just read the paki op-eds..

``Funny how muslims electing a terrorist group can always be justified by someone somewhere..`` (Arjun)

Arjun miaN -- indeed it is `always` funny to a point of being hilarious -- how Muslims in Palestine or Hindus in Gujarat or Christians in USA ``electing and reelecting a terrorist group can always be justified by someone somewhere.``

seems like true satire is not ur cup of tea......YOU might as well gloatingly -- have writtten the sentence Naqshbundee ji wrote:

``This again shows that in any fair and free election, most Muslim countries would end up with Islamic governments!``

.......and that will be no goddam satire.......

Hamas won!! The pundits are shocked! Those who talk of democracy are struggling to maintain a straight face in the light of this great victory since they are only for democracy if it produces governments they like who do their bidding. This has FSA in Algeria 1990s again written all over it...

Already the Zionists have `refused` to negotiate with a government (totally democratically elected!) which contains Hamas!!!! Hypocrites!!

This again shows that in any fair and free election, most Muslim countries would end up with Islamic governments!

#7 by nasah on January 26, 2006 5:52am PT


thanks to Sharon the Bulldozer and also a Butcher in spare time


huh? What if, after 9/11, Americans elected David Duke president....would that be a) plain wrong to elect a racist b) those immigrant muslims made them do it with their actions...

Funny how muslims electing a terrorist group can always be justified by someone somewhere..

The Secretary of State of a nation whose foreign policy is a mix of intimidation, bribery and military violence asks Hamas to renounce violence. Irony of ironies...
Hamas` victory may mark the end of secularism in palestine.

india will most likely have an even-keel aproach..palestine as a nation is a minute economic player and hence will get a minor mind-share from india with some lip-service. it will continue forwarding economic and security relationship with israel. on iran its more likely to be a security council thingy, india has no say there.

thanks to Sharon the Bulldozer and also a Butcher in spare time -- and thanks to the corrupt PA -- Hamas has won Palestinian election hands down...

....Hamas Islamist extremists have won nearly 80 seats in a 132 seat assembly -- good for Likud`s Israel -- good for corrupt Arafat`s corrupt children -- and good for the Don of Devastation and Destruction -- Dubya the Dimwit -- the Don Quixote of Democrazy by Daisy Cutters.....

now one hopes everybody plays by the rules of democracy......including the Hamas suicide bombers........

they all got what they asked for -- and fully deserved what they got........amen

#5
whatever u think of pak but sir do shed some light on what india plan to do regardding palastine if hamas wins and also how will india vote on iran issue in un? once india was great supporter of palastine wasnt it? this just a question do not take as bashing....

``Have not read the article. Don`t have to.

Now the hindoo factoid junkies will show up with their cut & paste postings, which are more fun to read. As usual, these useless brainless Indian RSS creatures will be here with full force.``

I am amused with all this Indian bashing that all posts tend to degenirate into. I wish my pakistani friends would focus more on building themselves and their country and less on destroying India and Indians. Yes, we do have our faults and sometimes appreciate you highlighting them.

i see (albeit, a stretched) an analogy to congress and BJP. fatah is like the nationalist congress, which won election after election based on its credentials in winning a statehood (in the form of PLA) and is ineffective and corrupt in governance like the congress. BJP wins on a mixture of religion based grassroot emotional support and a promise of low corruption governance a-la-modi. good to see hamas win, a shakeup is benefitial. israelis are perhaps happy...a fractured parliament headed by the hamas may actually mean fewer bombings since hamas may be too busy breaking knees of fatah opposition.

Have not read the article. Don`t have to.

Now the hindoo factoid junkies will show up with their cut & paste postings, which are more fun to read. As usual, these useless brainless Indian RSS creatures will be here with full force.

Indians are creatures hard for humans to understand.

this is what happens with spreading Democracy with Daisy Cutters and Bulldozers -- in the lands of Allah.....

.....the jackfruit of the Democrazy will always be picked by the Ayotullahs PugrRees instead of the Abbasi hats.......

Sujata, thanks for bringing this topic up. It will be good to see what the various interactors have to say about it. My two bit is as follows: If Hamas wins, there will be spoils to share. The size of these spoils will depend on who they make `peace` with. My pediction is that pure greed (not necessarily a bad thing) will imply that ``peace`` will be made with Israel. And wonder of wonders it will be Hamas that will bring peace.

On a different note, my own opinion is that the PLO has done much more for the Palestinians. Hamas was and is simply more populist and bombastic. Its present political dominance has more to do with the current rudderless PLO leadership than with any positive endowment of its own. Let us see how events unfold from now on?