General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 Hamas stands its ground as West demands change Mahmoud al-Zahar, widely regarded as the leader of Hamas in the Palestinian territories, is the group’s most senior figure in Gaza after the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004. Born in Gaza, he studied medicine at Cairo University. An admirer of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, he turned to Islamism after Israel’s rout of the Arab regimes in 1967. He grew disillusioned at what he called the ‘contamination and poverty’ of the Egyptian system. An early follower of Sheikh Yassin in Gaza during the 1970s, he was a co-founder of Hamas in 1987. He served as its first press spokesman, was expelled from Gaza in 1992 and sent into temporary exile in Lebanon. Israel regards the 60-year-old thyroid surgeon as a terrorist who runs an organisation that has sent suicide bombers to kill innocent men, women and children. It tried to assassinate him, but he escaped an F16 raid on his home that killed his eldest son and injured his wife. Dr al-Zahar offered no apologies for his past or his hardline views when he spoke to Stephen Farrell of The Times this week On giving up weapons: Why do we have to give up our weapons? If Israel comes back to occupy our land, will your country come to defend our people? Why do we have to put up our guns while every country everywhere has in addition to a political system a strong military system in order to protect their homeland, their interests and their people? “So why do you consider us a unique phenomenon that we have to keep the Israeli border, to keep the Israeli aggression against our people, to keep our people inside Israeli jails without resistance?†On negotiations with Israel: “Negotiation is not a goal in itself. It is a method; it is not an objective. If Israel has anything to offer on the issues of halting attacks, withdrawal, releasing prisoners . . . then one thousand means can be found. “Negotiation is not taboo. The political crime is when we sit with the Israelis and then come out with a wide smile to tell the Palestinian people that there is progress, when in fact, there is not. The Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiated with them for many, many years and reached lastly a deadlock. So why should we be a new copy, like Fatah, wasting the time and money of the people negotiating for nothing?†On relations with Israel: “We have to disengage from Israel economically, on security, everything. We have to open the doors to the Arab and Muslim countries. “Co-operation on the security field was a disaster for the Palestinians because it threatened the integrity of the Palestinians. When the PA co-operated against Hamas, that was a very critical moment that could have pushed some Hamas people to attack the PA. “We destroyed our economical status by the linkage of our economy with the Israeli (one) . . . For example, we pay 5.5 shekels (66p) per litre for petrol from Israel. From Egypt, one metre from our borders, it is one Egyptian pound (9p). In 2004 we paid to Israel in one year $186 million (£105 million) for electricity. If we took it from Egypt it will be $20 million. We have ten commercial agreements with the Arabic and Islamic world without taxes. Israel takes from us 17 taxes and they are destroying our industry.†On fears that the West will cut off aid: “Forty per cent of donated money is conditional. If the condition is to dismantle the resistance movement to prevent Hamas participating in the government, when the people vote for Hamas, how can we justify to the Palestinians that we are taking money from a donor country at the expense of national interest? “So we are not in need of the money, especially if it is at the expense of our national interest. But even so we ask everybody to help the Palestinian people, but without conditions. And they have the full right to come, watch and observe where the money went, where it is used. But if they are going to help Israel’s long-standing occupation this is unacceptable.†On Europe: “The European people came to me in the last month and they said within six months they are going to do their best to change the attitudes of their administration, because they do not accept Hamas is a terrorist organisation. “Sooner or later the European countries in particular are going to change their mind concerning their attitude with Hamas.†On relations with America: “With America in such a ‘dirty man’ period I think nothing can be changed. In America there is a Christian Zionism. They believe that Jesus will return for the second 1,000 years. You heard from Bush when he said, ‘It is a new Crusade’. He is arousing a deep hatred, an historical hatred in this area. “The F16 which destroyed my house is American. The Apache helicopters are American. The international decisions in the Security Council backing Israel are American. The pressure on you to help the Israelis and to consider Hamas terrorist is American.†On US foreign policy: “After the attack on Iraq they are suffering from a big hatred, a bad feeling from the Arabic and Islamic world and also the international community . . . They arrange for a very dirty policy in the Middle East. They attacked Afghanistan and put in (Hamid) Karzai, an American collaborator, and put in a corrupt Iraqi collaborator. And they dismantled the security of Egypt by arousing the protests of Christianity and Islam. They tried to interfere in Saudi Arabia. Now they destroy the integrity of Lebanon. Now they threaten the situation in Syria. What is running here is big crimes, international crimes.†On electoral victory: “It is good for the history of Palestine because the corrupted system should reach an end for the benefit of the Palestinian people. For Hamas it will give a second stage towards being legitimate. We achieved the first process: the legitimacy of fighting against the enemy and achieving success. The second is constitutional.†Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 Analysts: Win rocks political landscape By Laila El-Haddad & Motasem Dalloul in Gaza Friday 27 January 2006, 23:44 Makka Time, 20:44 GMT Hamas leaders will have to take some criticial decisions soon The election sweep by the Islamic resistance group Hamas dramatically alters the Middle East's political landscape and will have major repercussions both regionally and internationally, analysts say. The Hamas victory, says Gaza analyst Talal Awkal, represents a true upheaval in the Palestinian political system, long dominated by solely by the Fatah party. "Everything is going to be changed. We are in a new period. We are rebuilding the regime, we are rebuilding the Palestinian policy, we are rebuilding the mechanisms of national relations, and our way of dealing with our people," Awkal told Aljazeera.net on Thursday. "We now have a vibrant democracy and contradictions in national relations that will bring the Palestinians to a new stage. I think these elections have strategic direct and indirect consequences on Palestinian and regional and international circumstances." Western governments have largely shunned the Hamas victory, threatening to cut aid and saying they will not accept a government with the Islamic group in power, while celebrating the democratic process that put it there. Burden of governance Fatah leaders have applauded the results of what they referred to as a "democratic wedding" while warning with bitterness that the burden of governance now rests on Hamas's shoulders, saying they will not take part in any Hamas coalition. Analysts have said that Hamas will have to take some critical decisions about their political programme in the coming days as it becomes answerable to a population desperate for real change. Hamas' win may result in loss of Western aid for Palestinians Awkal believes given the political realities, those changes are inevitable. "Hamas realises it has responsibilities inside the new regime. I think they are ready to change," he said. "I think all the Palestinians know that change of the position for Hamas and the others will push them to think in a new way because they are now responsible inside the regime for internal Palestinian problems but and are equal with others in responsibilities." Runners-up like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's Mustafa Abu Ali List and former presidential hopeful Mustafa Barghouthi's Independent Palestine, once thought to be major balancing powers, are no long relevant, says lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi. "Had there been an equal balance stand up between Hamas and Fatah, then yes, then you would say these smaller blocs would tip the balance. But very clearly Hamas is getting a distinct majority," Ashrawi said. Religious factor Ashrawi, who won one of two seats in the parliament under the Third Way List, says she doubts she will agree to join a coalition government with Hamas if offered the opportunity, saying she does not believe "religion should be the basis of good governance". "I believe in a society that is open and tolerant and respects plurality. I don't want to see a a theocracy and hope Hamas doesn' work out a theocracy," said Ashrawi. According to the veteran legislator, Hamas' victory was the result of an array of factors across the voting spectrum. "Fatah was hogging power and not responding to people's needs and rights," she said. "Hamas responded by getting the angry vote and the rejection and revenge vote and the protest vote and of course the reform vote, and not necessarily all the ideological vote. Part of Hamas' victory was made by Fatah." Ashrawi also believes it is not in the former ruling party's interest to join forces with Hamas just now. "Fatah needs to be in the opposition if they want to be distinct and put their own house in order," Ashrawi said. "If they enter with Hamas it will be opportunistic." Nevertheless, she says there are opportunities for coalition building with some of the other parties, something Hamas is likely to do. "The different groups are not monolithic, I'm sure some of them will enter into an alliance [with Hamas] and others will not." The election result is also expected to have a major impact on the Israeli political scene. According to Arnon Regular, an Israeli political analyst and Haaretz correspondent, the Hamas victory will have a direct impact on who gets voted into power in upcoming Israeli elections. Coming in the middle of what he calls "the Israeli electoral war" he expects the shockwaves from the Hamas win to have a major impact on the Israeli poll scheduled for March 28. "The right wing will become more powerful than Kadima and Kadima will not survive for long as the right wing accuses Kadima and those who supported the withdrawal for the victory of Hamas," he said. "They will accuse them with the building of what is called ''Hamasistan'." Burden of power Regular says the burden of the sudden and overwhelming responsibility for running a state and answering to their constituents' long and varied list of demands will oblige Hamas, who was surprised as anyone by the sweep, to make clear political decisions. "In the beginning of the intifada, something called Hamasisation happened with Fatah, they became like Hamas; and now Fatahisation will happen to Hamas" Arnon Regular, Israeli political analyst "Hamas was not ready for a victory. For now there is a kind of political caution and waiting," Regular said. "Hamas must look for technocratic professionals to form the government in order to succeed," he added. "In the coming days, Hamas will be obliged take important and clear political decisions: whether to go towards openness as the ruling Islamic party in Turkey, or the Talibani norm in Afghanistan," he said, adding he expect them to take the former route. Regular expects there to be a change in the stance of Hamas, even if not in the near future. "It will take a long time. It will happen with them as what happened with Fatah. In the beginning of the intifada, something called Hamasisation happened with Fatah, they became like Hamas; and now Fatahisation will happen to Hamas." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Castro Posted January 28, 2006 ^ The man can certainly say all the right things but the real question is, can he walk the walk? Between the arrogant Israelis, the ignorant Americans, the opportunistic Europeans and the spineless Arabs, the Palestinians are doomed. There's no way out. Little will change in terms of improvement in the lives of Palestinians. A self-fulfilling prophecy will ensue here. First Hamas is accused of terrorism (armed resistance really) and won't be negotiated with. Then all means of funding (US, EU or even Arab) will be squeezed to force them on to their knees. With that new level of desperation, the Palastinians will be hitting Israeli check-points, settlements and coffee shops. Then the "we told you so" headlines will be everywhere. Same old shidh, different political party. I'm afraid there's little to celebrate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 ^^^ There is always hope. The islamic movement that is Hamas has the support of the Islamic and Arab world. It has survived thus far as an opposition group with its leaders hunted down and its organisation isolated. Now it is a legitime organisation and can speak on behalf of the Palastinians. It is for Israel, the EU and US to come to terms with Hamas. No one predicted it would win, now they limit its chance of success. I say lets wait. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Castro Posted January 28, 2006 ^ What makes you think the EU and US will negotiate with Hamas when Israel refuses to do so? What will they be negotiating? Euro exchange rates? Saaxib I understand hope is a good thing, but what we have here is unrealistic expectations on Hamas based on the euphoria of the stunning and overwhelming election victory. This too will pass and we're only waiting on dissapointment. The 'calculus' of the Middle East has not changed that much, yet. May be the addition of a nuclear weapon or two in someone's arsenal will do the trick. Until then, it's really status quo. By the way, what in God's good name is "the support of the Islamic and Arab world"? I've never heard of any such thing when it comes to Palestine. Could you give me an example of this. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 Che, Hamas as you might know is more than the western “terrorist†organisation its military wing is quite small in comparison to its huge charitable network. It offers public services to millions of the poorest in territories. It runs medical clinics, feeds the poor, shelters and has set up educational establishment the likes of the renowned Islamic University of Gaza. In fact Hamas has gained much respect from its people through such activities. It has supporters in the Palestinian Diaspora and the Islamic world. The fact it achieved much when it was a hunted and isolated organisation bodes well for its future. Its political victory and legitimisation will only increase its prestige within both these important donor bodies. It is a sophisticated cohesive organisation run by competent officials. As for negotiations, I believe its in the interest of Israel to keep things quite, it has so far failed in its professed wish of destroying Hamas. It has tried its best and yet only managed to make Hamas the stronger. Hamas with the other resistance movements played a role in deconstructing the myth of Israel invincibility. So just like Fatah in the past Israel will have to come to terms with the legitimate voice of the Palestinians. The shock of the US and EU will subside and remember Hamas is a different kettle of fish to Fatah it will wait.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jabhad Posted January 28, 2006 The signs coming from Palestine are not encouraging. Days after the victory of Hamas, Gaza and West Bank is getting lawless and sliding deep into missery. I hope Hamas was prepared to govern and has a roadmap unlike the USC of Somalia. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 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 typemotivated 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. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jabhad Posted January 28, 2006 By the way, what in God's good name is "the support of the Islamic and Arab world"? I've never heard of any such thing when it comes to Palestine. Could you give me an example of this. If it was not the financial, moral, and political support of the Islamic world however small it might be, Palestinian tribes would have met the same fate of that of the native tribes in North America. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 The signs coming from Palestine are not encouraging. Days after the victory of Hamas, Gaza and West Bank is getting lawless and sliding deep into missery. I hope Hamas was prepared to govern and has a roadmap unlike the USC of Somalia. I think wehave to take the news from CNN/FOX/BBC with a pinch of salt. The Fatah demonstartions are against their leaders Abass & the "Old guard". There is also some leaders within Fatah who want to bargain with Hamas, the likes of Mohamed Dhalan and Ismaeil Rajoub want to negotiate using their control of the security apparatus as a bargaining chip. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jabhad Posted January 28, 2006 DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The Islamic militant group Hamas was ready to merge armed factions including its military wing to form an army to defend the Palestinian people, a senior Hamas leader said on Saturday. ADVERTISEMENT "We are willing to form an army like every country ... an army to defend our people against aggression," Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal told a news conference in Damascus after the group swept Palestinian parliamentary elections. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Castro Posted January 28, 2006 Here's what Israel (and it's lap dogs) want Hamas to do publicly: 1) Recognize the right of Israel to exist. 2) Change its charter to remove the entry that calls for Israel's destruction. 3) Lay down their arms (i.e. disband the military wing). 4) Renounce "terrorism" and sing the US and EU tunes to get some dollars and euros. Basically, what Israel wants is a soft, corrupt and toothless "negotiating partner" in Palestinians. Another Fatah, if you will. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 ^^^ Indeed good comrad. However Fatah was a secular party run by many businessmen, other interest groups and kept together by the charasmatic Arafat. Hamas is a tougher foe, its idelogical driven. It has lost most of its top leaders recently remember Shiekh Yasin and Dr Rantisi. This will make it not bend to pressure as easily as Fatah. Its supporters will not allow it to concede that easily. Yet I belive HAMAS will not attack or provoke its stronger foe. It will try to gain every inch with dignity. Today its leader rejected outright the American proposal for it to disarm. In fact Khalid Mashal has said it [Hamas] wants to unite all the factions in order to create a Palastinian Army... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
General Duke Posted January 28, 2006 Hamas rejects donor 'blackmail' A senior Hamas leader has rejected demands that the Islamic militant group must renounce violence to prevent aid cuts for the Palestinian Authority. Ismail Haniya, who headed Hamas' election list, said they would not give in to "blackmail" by foreign donors. President George W Bush warned US aid, worth $400m (£225m), could be cut following Hamas' surprise poll win. "If they don't, we won't deal with them," he told US TV channel CBS News. "Aid packages won't go forward." Washington is reviewing all money given to Palestinians through the UN or non-governmental groups. But Mr Haniya told the Reuters news agency: "This aid cannot be a sword over the heads of the Palestinian people and will not be material to blackmail our people, to blackmail Hamas and the resistance. It is rejected." The victory of Hamas is a challenge, the people of Palestine have spoken and no-one should suppress their choice ................................ The supreme leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, said on Saturday he had been in contact with Mr Abbas and wanted "a partnership formula" for the new administration. He said Hamas had succeeded in its resistance and would now succeed in "politics, reforms and change". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johnny B Posted January 28, 2006 ^^ Atheer , what is the alternative? i don´t see a military edge for the Plastinians in general and Hamas in particular. Reality is , had Fatah continued with it´s militry struggle and stuck to it´s charter that called for Israel's destruction, the Oslo agreement that brought all that the plastinians have today including these elections that led to Hamas victory,would never come about. Fact remains, Hamas can´t deliver a hateful aim(the destruction of Israel), that the Muslim world and the Arab world combined coulden´t deliver. My advice to Hamas would be, dumb that unrealistic charter, concentrate on the Plastinian social plight,forget about that pretentious Arab and Islamic sentiment, stay on the peace process track,a Plastinian state is in reach today, don´t mess it for the Plastinian people, they have suffered enough under that illusion in your charter. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
