Hamas wins Elections

[Suldaanka]

Palestinian PM to quit after poll

 

Hamas leader Hamas victory lesson to world

 

Former Israeli FM: Shalom: Hamas win will lead to chaos

"To my regret, Israel will soon face intolerable international pressure. They (the international community) will argue Hamas was elected through a democratic process. It's a pity, because after great efforts we managed to include them in the list of terror organizations, and now all these efforts have been wasted." former Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom

Bush: Hamas must profess peace

 

Hamas wins clear parliamentary majority in Palestinian elections

[Ibtisam]

its so funny i was just about to post about hamas and then i saw this.

 

anyway what i wanted to say was democracy or hypocrisy. America and Israel both said that the reason it was difficult to deal with Palestine was because it was not based on democracy ut rather on one party system, close to dictatorship, and if they want to move forward with peace plans there must be a democratic environment.

 

the whole week Israel and America pleaded with the Palestine people not to vote for hamas, which was clearly ignored as the won 39.9% of the vote, which fatah (Arafat party won 46%). in response to this America responded last night "our policy has not changed, we have said before and again we say that we will not deal with terrorist, this includes hamas, we will have no dealing with them.

 

what happened hamas won their votes by clear majority and democratic votes. so what’s the problem. They are what the people choice. its crazy, there is no winning, they just want to exchange one form or dictatorship for another.

[General Duke]

Great news. Hamas is more than what they [westerners] make it out to be. Now lets see how they shoulder the responsability of governing.

[General Duke]

 

 

 

[xiinfaniin]

This is great news wallaahi. What is great about this is not that they win; rather it is that they deserve to have won. The people of Palestine deserve it. Destiny has never been a matter of chances, to paraphrase someone’s wisdom; it has always been a matter of choice, a thing to strive to achieve, and not an arbitrary fate to be waited for its exact. Though prudence dictates not to celebrate too early, but rarely do we witness days with such political significance.

 

What would the west do when two-thirds of a nation’s masses vote for an organization that the west deem terrorist? Is this a prelude for the rise of Islamist politics in the Middle East? What would a democracy that becomes a legitimate vehicle for the Islamic fundamentalist mean to the western world?

 

My feeling was just like Cabdi Galayax's:

 

Anigubase waan kula qabaa, qaabka aad tahaye

Waa waxa jirkaygii qayiray, qulubka maata ahe

Markuu laylka qaarkiis tagaan, qaraw la toosaaye

Sidii ruux qof uu diley dhintoo, qaantii lagu yeeshay

Ama loo qisaasanahayoo, qool la gelinaayo

Anigoo qarqarayaan arkaa, Qoran daraaddaaye

 

Qoodhuu ka jabay geel ninkii, qolo ka xoogtaaye

Hadduu cadow ku qaybsado anoo, la iga kaa qaaday

Caanaha qabow iyo haddaan, qalaxsigii waayo

Sidaydaba qarracan baan u dhiman, qaybna waan gabine

Arlaa’iga qoyaan meel leh iyo, qolof ma weydeene

Qaxarkaad maraysiyo waxaan, qalawga kuu geeyey

Qawlaha ku raadinahayaan, kaaga qariyaaye

Qarfadaada meer waa danbuu, qiil inoo bixine

 

Qiilna waa noo baxay, i say!

 

 

Analysis, good nomads, analysis.

[General Duke]

Xiin,

 

Hamas is an effective well disciplined organisation that has astutely played the political game and thus achieved this landmark victory. Hamas’s victory is due to the failures of the Fatah movement to deal with corruption and nepotism and its failure to gain any tangible benefits to the people through its dialogue with Israel. The fact that Fatah has dominated the scene for 40 years can also be a factor to its recent unpopularity. To its credit Hamas is seen as open and transparent entity and it won on its anti corruption ticket more than an over all fundamentalist agenda.

 

Yet Hamas has been good in opposition, how will it fare in the hot seat? Will it be able to address its domestic concerns without talking to Israel? Consider that the Israleis control all the economy and borders of the territories. What about the donor countries who view Hamas as a terrorist organisation, Will they even be allowed to govern? And what impact will this result have on the coming Israeli elections? Will the Israelis turn to the intimidating Netanyahu over labours Peretz and Kadima’s Olmert?

 

Mr Bush’s dream of democracy in the Arab world is coming to fruition; remember Hamas is itself an offshoot of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, this party did remarkably well in the parliamentary elections recently held in Egypt taking many seats in areas it was allowed to compete in. There are prominent similar opposition organisations in Syria, Jordan and other parts of the Middle East indeed this might well inspire the masses of these nations to replicate the successes of Hamas..

 

It seems with the demise of Arab socialist and nationalistic entities such as the Baa’th, the masses are turning to the certainties of faith as a vehicle for addressing their everyday concerns.

[Yeniceri]

What's so great about a Hamas victory at the polls? Will Hamas remove Israeli military roadblocks? Will Hamas free the Palestinian people from the State of Israel's oppressive measures?

 

The answer to both questions is no. In reality, Palestinians' vote isn't towards any drastic changes in their lifestyle. Rather, they voted to rid themselves of the corruption and nepotism prevalent in the Fatah leadership.

 

So, a Hamas victory doesn't change much - it just brings tougher negociators to the table (that is, "if" Israel is willing to negociate with an org it deems as "terrorist").

 

But peaceful elections in Palestine is most certainly good news for the people thereof.

[Sayyid]

^^^Atleast it is a good start in the right direction!

 

All the news I listened today and I watched the BBC's six' clock the news was that the jews were really "shocked" about Xammaas winning a landmark victory in the palestinian elections.

 

No need to be pessimistic because we can see from the reactions of Bush, when he gave his reactions to the latest Xammaas victory in the elections. Also Tony Blair and the EU were quite "shocked" and worried about the election victory of Xammaas.

 

Do you know why Xammaas is "feared" that much by the jews and the christians is because of their "ideology", they will not sell or negotiate anything less what the palestinian people deserve.

 

Fatah was a sell-out the jews always got what they negotiated for and what did the palestinians got in return? Nothing much.

 

They don't fear Xammas but Islaam as an ideology and the devine and laws ordained from the seven heavens from Allaah the exalted.

 

However Xammaas won't be led to govern and eventually the palestinians will be turned against each other and a bloody civil war will be started due to fatax being this time the jewish agent who will make everything to be from Xammaas becoming the ruling force in palestine.

 

Only with islam can we escape the disgrace and humiliation we're finding us in right now and without it we will further humiliated and disgraced.

 

Wabillahi Towfiiq,

[Taleexi]

The elections went smoothly in Palestine and as some international observers noted there was no any significant mismanagement to mention regarding the process in which local elections were executed.

 

With all that above, Bush administration had already taken a position about this success story, and guess what they said, the elections were democratic and transparent but wrong people won in a landslide and must be isolated. This rings a bell to me, as supposed to what happened in Algeria in the early nineties therefore my question to my fellow nomads is; is democracy for everybody or solely for privileged groups.

[STOIC]

Xiin, Hamas has been the focal point of Palestinian threat to the state of Israel. For the Palestinians today it represents an alternative to corrupt and inept Fatah party. Given the political role Hamas will play now this will be a step forward to a new era. Will Hamas offer an indigenous alternative to the abysmal failure of the previous party? Will Hamas be more specific for what they are for- improvement of Palestinian education and living standard-than what they are against (Israel)? Lets see how this new era will unfold in the near future.

[AYOUB]

The Palestinians' democratic choice must be respected

 

The excuses given for refusing to deal with Hamas will not wash. This is a chance for Europe to have an independent role

 

 

Jonathan Steele

Friday January 27, 2006

The Guardian

 

 

Hamas's triumph in Wednesday's Palestinian elections is the best news from the Middle East for a long time. The poll was a more impressive display of democracy than any other in the region, outstripping last year's votes in Lebanon and Iraq both in turnout and the range of views that candidates represented.

Whereas in Iraq parties that opposed the occupation had to downplay or even obscure their views, Palestinian supporters of armed resistance to Israel's expansionist strategies were able to run openly. It is true that Hamas candidates did not make relations with Israel the centrepiece of their campaign. They focused on reform in the Palestinian Authority. But few voters were unaware of Hamas's uncompromising hostility to occupation and its record in fighting it.

 

Wednesday's election was remarkable also in owing nothing to Washington's (selective) efforts to promote democracy in the Arab world. Instead, it was further proof that civil society in Palestine is more vibrant than anywhere else in the region and that Palestinian politics has its own dynamics, dictated not by outside pressure but the social and economic demands of ordinary people in appalling conditions. Providing a forum to freely express hopes and fears, debate policy and seek agreed solutions is, after all, what democracy is about.

 

In Israel and Washington reaction to Hamas's victory has been predictably negative. European governments should take a more sensitive view. The first watchword is caution. Applaud the process but don't take issue with the result. While the dust settles and Hamas works out its own priorities for government, Europeans should calmly analyse why Hamas got so much support.

 

Among several Hamas leaders I met in Gaza last summer, Mahmoud Zahar, one of its last surviving founders, exuded the clearest sense of inner steel. Trained as a medical doctor in Cairo, and now a short middle-aged figure with combed-over grey hair, he left several impressions. This is no mosque-driven revolutionary or wealthy jihadi of the Osama bin Laden type, motivated by ideology or a desire for adventure. Like other Gazans, he has felt the occupation on his skin. His wife was paralysed and his eldest son killed by an Israeli F-16 attack on his house in 2003. Zahar was in the garden and lucky to survive. In spite of that, he took the lead last year in persuading colleagues that Hamas should declare a truce or period of "calm" with Israel. For 11 months no Hamas member has gone on a suicide bombing mission. That is no mean achievement, which foreign diplomats rarely credit.

 

Zahar's reasons were not just tactical - a desire to deny Sharon a pretext for abandoning his retreat from Gaza. His strategy is to de-escalate the confrontation with Israel for a long period so that Palestinian society can build a new sense of unity, revive its inner moral strength and clean up its institutions. He feels western governments give aid and use the issue of negotiations with Israel only as a device for conditionality and pressure, not in the interests of justice.

 

So he wants Palestinians to have a broad-based coalition government that will look to the Arab and Islamic worlds for economic partners and diplomatic support. It's a kind of "parallel unilateralism", matching the mood in Israel where the peace camp clearly has lost all real purchase. "Israeli attitudes show they don't intend to make any agreement. They're going to take many unilateral steps," Zahar told me. "In this bad unbalanced situation and with the interference of the west in the affairs of every Arab country, especially Syria and Lebanon, we can live without any agreement and have a 'calm' for a long time. We're in favour of a long-term truce without recognition of Israel, provided Sharon is also looking for a truce. Everything will change in 10 or 20 years."

 

Zahar also left me with no sense of embarrassment about the imminence of power. He pointed out that Mahmoud Abbas would remain president for three more years, as though implying he could be a convenient front for inevitably unproductive talks with Washington and Israel while Hamas acted as a watchdog on the main issues. "There will be no contradiction between the Palestine legislative council and the president," he said. "We will be the safeguard, and the safety valve, against any betrayal."

 

Along with caution in reacting to the Hamas victory, Europe's second priority should be to maintain continuity. Any cut-off in EU aid would only be a gift to Israel's hardliners. The EU is the largest international donor to the Palestinian Authority, and Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, blundered last month when he told a Gaza press conference that "it would be very difficult for the help and the money that goes to the Palestinian Authority to continue to flow" if Hamas were in government.

 

Yesterday's EU statements were more measured. If Europe, weak though its power may currently be, wants to have an independent role in the Middle East, clearly different from the manipulative US approach, it is vital to go on funding the PA regardless of the Hamas presence in government. Nor should the EU fall back on the cynical hope that Hamas will be as corrupt as Fatah, and so lose support. You cannot use European taxpayers' money to strengthen Palestinian institutions while privately wanting reforms to fail. Hamas should be encouraged in aiming to be more honest than its predecessors.

 

Above all, Europe should not get hung up on the wrong issues, like armed resistance and the "war on terror". Murdering a Palestinian politician by a long-range attack that is bound also to kill innocent civilians is morally and legally no better than a suicide bomb on a bus. Hamas's refusal to give formal recognition of Israel's right to exist should also not be seen by Europe as an urgent problem. History and international politics do not march in tidy simultaneous steps. For decades Israel refused even to recognise the existence of the Palestinian people, just as Turkey did not recognise the Kurds. Until 15 years ago Palestinians had to be smuggled to international summits as part of Jordan's delegation. It is less than that since the Israeli government accepted the goal of a Palestinian state.

 

Hamas may eventually disarm itself and recognise Israel. That will be the end of the process of establishing a just modus vivendi for Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East. It cannot be the first step. Today's priority is to accept that Palestinians have spoken freely. They deserve respect and support.

 

 

j.steele@guardian.co.uk

 

"The main aim of the intifada [uprising] is the liberation of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, and nothing more. We haven't the force to liberate all our land," Mr Rantissi told the BBC in 2002.

 

"It is forbidden in our religion to give up a part of our land, so we can't recognise Israel at all. But we can accept a truce with them, and we can live side by side and refer all the issues to the coming generations."

- Who are Hamas? by BBC

 

 

 

 

Iran... hopes that the powerful presence of Hamas at the scene brings about great achievements for the Palestinian nation.

HAMID REZA ASEFI, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman

 

In quotes: Reaction to Palestinian poll

 

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[Faarax-Brawn]

So now Fatah is refusing to co-operate with the winners? Fatah Refuses to join Hamas

 

Who here thinks this is a repeat of Algeria's FIS 90s victory???

 

Democratic eh?

[Cara.]

Originally posted by Yeniceri:

But peaceful elections in Palestine is most certainly good news for the people thereof.

Hear hear. Let's hope it becomes a habit.

[NASSIR]

The underlying assumption is that Hamas espouses an ideaology that is incompatible with the current politics of the west. Hamas is like Taliban to most of the Western Nations. It was two years ago when they deposed this group from power and hunted its leaders down across borders. Therefore, The future of envisioning Hamas in a legitimate authority comes into direct conflict with the "war on terrorism", which we are made to believe as a war against extremism and Islamism---doublet.

 

 

This is a very sensitive issue to put on a dialogue, hence , i will rest my two cents' worth here.

[Socod_badne]

I'm not sure what to make of Hamas's election other then we turned a new page in this Isreali-Palastina ongoing, tragic saga. Inauspiciously, it appears the game has been kicked-off on the wrong-footing. There were reported violent skirmishes and squables between defeated Fatah party and triumphant Hamas party members today. Which doesn't bode well the chances for the ineluctable conciliatory gestures and political 'schmoozing' required by all sides.

 

Hamas's major asset over other palastinian factions is their credibility in the eyes of the common palastinian. Over the years since it's formation, they've excelled in providing topnotch social services to the populace of the occupied terrorities. One that rivaled and often put to shame that offered by the ruling Fatah party. Remaining all the while untared by corruption and incompetences-- the achilles heel of most other palastinian factions, in particular the Fatah.

 

But whether they can make the transition from gorilla-type organisation under the tutelage of different powers, to ruling party entrusted to not only to provide social services but also make peace, is uncertain. Obviously making peace requires making compramises, will Hamas relinquish it's infeasible dream of driving the Isrealis into the sea? Now that they're occupy the halls of power, will they still use suicide bombings as instrument of resistances? So many questions, so few answers. I guess we just have to wait and see.