Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bulsajo]

So an Islamic terrorist organization is elected to represent the Palestinians, tossing out the (former secular terrorist group) PLO's Fatah.

Coupled with Sharon's new party (and Sharon himself) a non-starter, what's next for Palestine and Israel?

[Kuros]

Does this mean the peace process is done? I'm shocked!

I was watching CNN International (I know, I'm not proud), and their 'Arab perspective' from the Arab League was saying that while Hamas' stated position was that they do not negotiate with Israel, even though they control the government, the government of Palestine is a seperate agency from Hamas in general, so we shouldn't be so quick to judge.



Back to suicide bombings by Pal radicals and retaliatory strikes by the IDF.

[canuckistan]

You know I've always said the best way to shut up an irresponsible whinger at work is to sell them the part of the company they're responsible for.
Just shove all the responsibility into their hands.

Amazing how quickly that can snap them out of their delusions.

I'm hoping that may apply in this case.

[igotthisguitar]

Interestingly, commentators & analysts on CNN et al were forecasting HAMAS to win maybe a third ( approx. 33% ) of the parliamentary seats.

Hmmmmmm ... now portrayed as a "surprise" landslide victory.

How wrong they were!

Hamas Election Victory Shocks World
By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Islamic militant Hamas' landslide victory in Palestinian elections unnerved the world Thursday, darkening prospects for Mideast peace and ending four decades of rule by the corruption-riddled Fatah Party.

The parliamentary victory stunned even Hamas leaders, who mounted a well-organized campaign but have no experience in government. They offered to share power with President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah chief, who said he may go around the new government to talk peace with Israel.

Underscoring the tensions between the secular Fatah and fundamentalist Hamas, some 3,000 supporters of the militant group marched through Ramallah and raised their party's green flag over the Palestinian parliament. Fatah supporters tried to lower the banner.

The two sides fought for about 30 minutes, throwing stones and breaking windows in the building.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060127/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinian_election

[nautilus]

Hmm...was it verifiably a free and fair election i wonder...?

My guess is a lot of intimidation and violence went into pressuring certain sections of the electorate..

Kuros- if the government of Palestine is a separate agency from hamas...that will allow them to keep up their terror campaign without accountability, and their cause is aided by continueing strife, chaos and poverty in that territory.

[Summer Wine]

It will be interesting to observe. Hamas may have to change and this may turn out to be the silver lining on a dark cloud. I feel that if Hamas doesn't change and continues its rhetoric than Israel may be given more understanding by the rest of the world.

The negative is that other Arab countries may be less willing to hold democratic elections if they feel that Islamists may win in a fair election.
I do feel that regardless of how it turns out, its going to be a shock for Hamas.

Either they change and become more moderate and have to change thier rhetoric or they stay hardline, get stomped on by the Israeli's and watch the rest of the world go "so what did you expect".

Anyway, I will watch this development a lot closer now.

[Big_Bird]

I'm sure the Israeli government will be rubbing its hands with glee. What a coup!

Don't forget that the Israelis nurtured, funded and encouraged Hamas when the PLO was becoming dangerously moderate. It was Israeli policy to ensure the creation of Hamas, and other violent groups, to then be able to claim "it's impossible to talk peace with the Palestinians." [A quick google search threw up this informative site I've provided - for those innocents among you who have trouble swallowing it, do your own research. You'll find it's well known among Middle-East observers, including many Israeli commentators, that this was Israeli policy].

Moderates are a serious threat to Israel's ambitions of a "Greater Israel." It's harder to get away with brutalising a people and dispossessing them of coveted land and precious water resources when too many of them appear as rational articulate human beings. You are then more likely to be inconvenienced by international outcry as well as significant domestic opposition (i.e. ordinary Israelis who start to see what's really going on). Far better to be dealing with savage terrorists. Moshe Dayan himself remarked so in his diary - the worse thing that could happen to Israel would be the decline of terrorism.

Remember Israel's "revenge assassinations" of the Palestinians supposedly involved in the Black September terrorist raid on the Munich Olympics. (Forgetting the unfortunate Morrocan waiter in Norway) it's widely acknowlegded that 2 of the victims, Mahmoud Hamshin and Wael Zwaiter, had nothing to do with the Munich affair. Rather, they were far more dangerous in that they were intelligent rational articulate men who sought to fight the occupation of their homeland through diplomacy. They were gifted at bringing public attention to the Palestinian plight, and were both too well connected to European polititians. Their efforts could possibly have brought international pressure to force Israel into obeying international law; something far more dangerous to expansionist ambitions then murderous terrorists. There's also much controversy over whether Ali Salameh (assassinated by Mossad in 1979) was really involved with the Munich affair. Interesting that he too was a gifted diplomat.

Also of note that, as many international observers remarked, moderate Hamas leaders were more likely to be assassinated by the IDF than radically militant ones. Talk of renouncing Hamas's pledge to destroy Israel in fact put Hamas members at more risk than loudly proclaiming it!

Remember too, in the early stage of the current intifada, there was a lull in Palestinian terrorist activity. Sharon deliberately launched an attack on the Palestinians against the advice of some of his advisers. They warned him that this would provoke the Palestinians to begin killing behind the green line. But this is exactly what Sharon wanted, and he went ahead with his strike. As predicted, Hamas started killing civillians in Israel proper. This way, with Israeli civilians being slaughtered, Sharon could muster up enough anger amonst his electorate, that he would have a free hand to use the heavy handed brutality for which he has become notorious over the last 50+ years (when he first became, as commander of unit 101, an internationally 'renowned' war criminal for his horrific attacks on helpless women, children and elderly men).


Hamas were particularly useful during the so called "peace talks." Whenever the corrupt and power-loving Arafat baulked at departing too far from UN resolutions - departures that would further sell his people down the river - the Israelis only had to say "Well, we'll deal with Hamas then" and Yasser would come running back to the table like a good poodle.

Now they are going to make themselves very useful again. As we have been constantly told, they are a serious 'obstacle to peace' and therefore a wonderful opportunity to consolidate Israel's illegal settlements on the most fertile and tasty bits of West Bank territory and further tighten Israel's control of the Palestinians other most valuable of assets - water. Hurray!

[Big_Bird]

[bucheon bum]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Big_Bird]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[nautilus]

Bigbird

[bucheon bum]

[TheUrbanMyth]