Once, as expected, Hamas won the Palestinian elections, from all across the US media brows were furrowed and hands were wrung. Everyone was “troubled”, “concerned,” and so on. This was totally new ground, unprecedented, a new and dangerous situation, they cried. As usual, when one is dealing with the US media, total ignorance of the actual situation ruled the day. With just a little bit of research, a whole new set of facts could have been discovered.
One place to begin that research is with a report from January of this year by the International Crisis Group entitled Enter Hamas: The Challenges of Political Integration
Let us first consider the ruling frame on Hamas: that it is an out-of-control, terrorist organization that cannot be negotiated with. The report makes these points:
· Hamas had not committed a single suicide bombing until after the terrorist attack by Baruch Goldstein at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron in February 25, 1994 in which 29 were killed and many more wounded.
· Hamas has observed the ceasefire instituted in October 2005, and has been more faithful in keeping it than other Palestinian factions and maybe even more faithful than the Israelis.
In other words, Hamas campaign of terrorism was set off by a single act of Israeli terror. And, they are under control, and can make and change their policies.
As for the disaster that is thought to ensue now that they have come to power, everyone acts as if the parliamentary elections was the first time Hamas has won an election and that now an entirely new situation confronts the world. But in fact, Hamas captured 14 of 35 councils in the first round of elections and continued to do well in subsequent local elections. In other words, Hamas has been in power locally and does have a track record at using that power.
How have they used that power?
According to the report, apparently not at all badly. They have worked with Palestinians of other religious groups and have worked with local-level Israeli officials - technical experts meeting technical experts. This is effectively de facto recognition of Israel. And local Israeli officials have seemed to work quietly with Hamas officials. Further Hamas seems to be less corrupt and better at delivering local services than Fatah. The Hamas mayor of Bethlehem was the first to ask the World Bank for an audit. Hamas has not attempted to impose Sharia law and Hamas officials maintain they do not interfere in the private lives of their citizens. Of course, it was always possible that all this was a deception, an attempt to look moderate until power could be consolidated - or so those suspicious of Hamas claim.
What about the Hamas charter and their refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist? First, it must be said that Hamas’ charter is more than just slightly antagonistic to Israel. It contains the worst sort of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and is simply not acceptable. It is not unreasonable to expect Hamas to rescind or supersede that document. However, what is always lost in the discussion is that Israel has never recognized the Palestinian’s right to exist. It is still part of official Israel lore that Palestine was empty when Israel came into existence, and even when Israel “withdraws” as they did from Gaza, they still retain sovereign control over the air space, the harbors and retain the right to intervene internally whenever they want.
Naturally, US and Israeli response to the Hamas victory has done nothing to help. While the US had provided direct aid to some Hamas-run municipalities, it has now shut that off. Instead of trying to draw Hamas into power, implicating it in the results of government and forcing it to focus on delivering on promises, the US and Israel have launched a boycott that has only fed into the hands of those in Hamas and elsewhere who argue that Israel has no intention of seeking peace.
Palestinian institutions need more links with western agencies, not fewer.
And while Hamas should offer a constructive plan for eventual peace, it is always fascinating that the world only expects the victims to be peaceful. Has Israel accepted the right of Palestinians to exist? Has Israel renounced violence against Palestine? No in both cases. Israel continues its policy of expropriating land, of assassinating Palestinian leaders in ways that inevitably kill innocents.
All terrorism is wrong, and Yasser Arafat did the Palestinians no favors by leading them in the direction of terrorism rather than guerilla warfare. But Palestine is the nation threatened with extinction right now, not Israel.
What really frightens the Israel government and its friends in Washington, I suspect, is that the Palestinians might now have acquired an effective government rather than the ongoing train wreck that was Arafat. It remains to be seen if Hamas is skillful enough to jettison their extreme views and put more moral pressure on Israel to recognize Palestine.