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This morning I was surprised to hear that Hamas are looking like winners in the Palestinian elections. Last night Fatah, the governing party, looked like slight favourites which was expected.
It will be very interesting times in the region in the close future. Hamas are not reckognizing Israel as a nation - on the contrary, they have in the past been working hard to wipe Israel off the ground. But this is a totally different scenario than anyone would have expected; Hamas being democratically elected and seizing power without using violence. This puts a lot of pressure on all parts, and not least on Hamas.
A majority of the Palestinian people are in favour of a peaceful co-existence with Israel and surveys show that the Palestinians have never been so negotiation-friendly as now. A very convincing majority of Hamas' voters are also in foavour of a continious secular Palestinian state instead of a islamist state following the Quran to the letter. In other words, Hamas have not received the mandate to be violent or pursue a hate campaign against Israel and the Israelis. Neither have they received the mandate to institute an islamist state. The Hamas victory is more a sign of the dissatisfaction with the Fatah government, viewed as corrupt and incompetent, than it is a sign of sympathy for terror.
Hamas have been known in the past for their sensitivity for the public opinion and to, in a way, blow in the same direction as the West Bank and Gaza winds. And when they now have been handed the ability to govern in a democratic political way, I think it would be surprising if they didn't take this chance to actually make a difference in a positive way.
The Israelis have said that they refuse to have anything to do with a terror organization in the shape like the one Hamas have been known for in the past. USA and Bush, who forced Sharon to allow Hamas to run in the elections, have also said that they refuse to talk to Hamas if they don't reckognize Israel right to exist. There will soon be elections in Israel too and if Hamas don't play their cards right there will probably blow new winds for the hardliners and the right wing. Which will probably mean a couple of more steps backwards in this marathon tradegy.
Let's see what happens next......
It will be very interesting times in the region in the close future. Hamas are not reckognizing Israel as a nation - on the contrary, they have in the past been working hard to wipe Israel off the ground. But this is a totally different scenario than anyone would have expected; Hamas being democratically elected and seizing power without using violence. This puts a lot of pressure on all parts, and not least on Hamas.
A majority of the Palestinian people are in favour of a peaceful co-existence with Israel and surveys show that the Palestinians have never been so negotiation-friendly as now. A very convincing majority of Hamas' voters are also in foavour of a continious secular Palestinian state instead of a islamist state following the Quran to the letter. In other words, Hamas have not received the mandate to be violent or pursue a hate campaign against Israel and the Israelis. Neither have they received the mandate to institute an islamist state. The Hamas victory is more a sign of the dissatisfaction with the Fatah government, viewed as corrupt and incompetent, than it is a sign of sympathy for terror.
Hamas have been known in the past for their sensitivity for the public opinion and to, in a way, blow in the same direction as the West Bank and Gaza winds. And when they now have been handed the ability to govern in a democratic political way, I think it would be surprising if they didn't take this chance to actually make a difference in a positive way.
The Israelis have said that they refuse to have anything to do with a terror organization in the shape like the one Hamas have been known for in the past. USA and Bush, who forced Sharon to allow Hamas to run in the elections, have also said that they refuse to talk to Hamas if they don't reckognize Israel right to exist. There will soon be elections in Israel too and if Hamas don't play their cards right there will probably blow new winds for the hardliners and the right wing. Which will probably mean a couple of more steps backwards in this marathon tradegy.
Let's see what happens next......
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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".
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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.
The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".
--------
They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.
