Comments on: UPDATED: Hamas Wins– The Slow Civil War Takes A Twist

By: Neil Russillo

Neil Russillo — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 18:48:15 +0000

Oh and one more thing, cut off their money, Iran and Saudia Arabia will step up what they give them now and only give them even more influence, think about that next time you go fill up your tank, somewhere down the line that $50 you put in your SUV will be going to support Hamas

By: Neil Russillo

Neil Russillo — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 18:42:57 +0000

“Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it” Israel has been saying for years they coudln’t negotiate with Fatah, they needed someone else…wish fullfilled. Put up a wall, Arabs in Israel will in a few years surpass Jews due to their overwhelming birth rate, wish fullfiled. Will they fix potholes in the street, they not only take care of the potholes they set up and pay for schools, clinics, feed the poor and care for the elderly and are considered by everyone including the Israeli’s as uncorrupt, one of the main reasons they won at the polls, wish fullfiled. Give them a chance at real Democracy and they will choose their own leaders, they did, Hamas, wish fullfiled.

By: Gary Bezowsky

Gary Bezowsky — Fri, 27 Jan 2006 04:09:13 +0000

I’m not sure why Isreal has to negotiate about anything with Hamas or Fatah. They are building a wall for a defensable seperation of the two populations. I’m sure they will be content to let the civil war begin and strike back at the public face of the Hamas government if they reignite the terror war. Let the aide be cut-off, it’s only a subsidy that allows Fatah or Hamas to cling to power through corruption and allows disfunctional societies to maintain the status quo.

By: Pat Ryan

Pat Ryan — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 20:16:14 +0000

Bearing in mind that all parties in this conflict have been “terrorists” at some point in the past 60 years, and that Hamas was initially fostered by the Israielis and the US as a counter to the “commies” in th PLO, no one has clean skirts. Add to that the fact that the PLO/Fatah crowd has been hopelessly corrupt for the past several dacades and that Hamas has been running a lot of the clinics, schools and social services, we’d be stupid not to try to encourage them away from violence and toward political dialogue.

By: dadmanly

dadmanly — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 20:10:22 +0000

There is one advantage to this outcome that I haven’t seen expressed. At least Israel has the opportunity to be face-to-face at the negotiating table with their real enemies. Before, any peace deal with the PLO was so much posturing, and ignored the reality of low intensity conflict going on outside. A deal meant nothing, becuase the hardliners (such as Hamas) would never be on board. That may still be the case. But, at least this time, if Hamas actually makes some concessions or agrees to some arrangement, they have the military muscle to quiet dissent. And, this time the Palestinian people committed to them as the path for the answer. Violent they may be, but Arafat they are not. If you think about it, wouldn’t someone have said the same about the old warriors Begin and Sadat? Never those two, never in a million years. And then there was a lasting if uneasy peace between Egypt and Israel.

By: dadmanly

dadmanly — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 20:04:02 +0000

I haven’t seen any remark yet on what I think is a real advantage to this turn of events for Palestinians, and Israelis for that matter. Not that this outweighs all the risks, potential violence, Israeli retribution, etc. Any “peace deal” with Palestinians was doomed to fail until the majority of Palestinians were “at the table.” Okay, so now they are. They have voted as a majority for Hamas, although no doubt as much as a vote against Fatah, along with a recognition that Hamas has mobilized a significant public works component alongside their acts of terrorism. I don’t imagine at all that Hamas overnight will become trustworthy. But if they decide to make some kind of peace, this time, they have the military muscle to quiet dissent (if they want), and Israel is face-to-face with their real enemy at the negotiating table. That’s what it took for Begin and Sadat to create peace between Egypt and Israel. Again, not that it will be the same, but there’s at least the right players at the table….

By: George

George — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 19:19:47 +0000

Quite right on the put up or shut up moment for Hamas. However, your assertion regarding Hamas not being interested in the “potholes” of day to day governing is way off-base. If you read the articles, or spend time in the region, coming out as to why most people voted for Hamas it is specifically because of their ability to provide the day-in/day-out basic services of government which Fatah was too corrupt/uninterested to provide. Editor: I’m very aware of Hamas’ social action work. I used the “potholes” as a metaphor for the day to day responsibility of government. Your comment is right to note that Hamas has taken some aspects of government more seriously than Fatah.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:53:23 +0000

That question was asked of Pres. Bush this morning at the press conference. He stalled a bit but did say that the US would not deal with a government who’s goal was the elimination of the Israeli state. I suspect that they’d better make nice in a hurry or their aid will be cut.

By: Steve Schippert

Steve Schippert — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:48:01 +0000

Marc… If you don’t ind my chiming in on the discussion… Short answer is no. But the degree to which they ‘talk’ with them in order to guage them is less clear. As Secretary Rice said today, “…you cannot have one foot in politics and the other in terror. Our position on Hamas has therefore not changed.” Expect the EU to follow the American lead (to some degree) regarding the funding of the PA. To some degree, surely Iran will step up to the plate for the Hamas-controlled PA. That puts the already (domestically) nervous mullahcracy in the tenuous position of propping up two outside regimes (Syria/PA). They likely cannot completely replace US an EU contributions with sacrificing something domestically, which they are a bit nervous to do. The question really seems to be (to this observer), will Hamas’ inability to address domestic issues with increasingly anemic resources spell their rejection by the majority of Palestinians before or after attacks on Israel can no longer be resisted by Hamas thereby drawing a crushing offensive from the IDF (the scale of which the Palestinians have yet to have witnessed) or before infighting between Hamas and the various Fatah factions evolves into an all-out civil war. Remember that the leader of Hamas was just in Damascus meeting with Ahmadinejad, Assad, Hezbollah, the PFLP-GC and other disparate terrorist groups in order to form the new terrorist version of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’, unified to destroy Israel and the US while preserving the Assad regime, lest its fall inspire Iranians to rise up against their own oppressive regime. Attending this strategic planning meeting is not an action of a ‘kinder, gentler’ Hamas with political aspirations. It is the action of a terrorist organization being what it is. It is only a matter of time. Hamas has a new, but short, lease on political life.

By: marc

marc — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 18:00:04 +0000

The US gives the Palestinians millions every year. Now that Hamas, a designated terrorist group by the US, is the government of the Palestinians, will the US continue to fund them?