Hamas
Hamas Wins Palestinian Elections
The stunning victory by Hamas in the Palestinian election has raised many questions. Jewish Voice for Peace offers some answers to help our members and supporters make sense of these momentous developments. Prepared by Jewish Voice for Peace |
Palestine's leaders have become their own worst enemies
Daily Star Editorial date: 2007-01-11
BEIRUT - Ever since Hamas came to power in democratic elections last January, the spectre of internecine violence has haunted the Palestinian territories. Attempts over the past year to negotiate an agreement that would allow Hamas and Fatah to share power were interrupted by armed clashes, but many still held out hope that the two factions would eventually recognize the futility of their ways and arrive at some form of compromise.
However, this past week has seen a rapid degeneration from bad to worse: a series of gun battles, abductions and raids-occurrences which have become alarmingly common in the territories-culminated with officials from Hamas and Fatah issuing public threats to kill one another's leaders. The chasm between the two factions has never been wider, and the leaders of both parties are to blame for dragging their population to the brink of civil war.
Israel and Hamas' Truce Offer
 One of the most common themes heard in discussions of U.S. policy in the Middle East these days is that Washington should be speaking to the key players in the region -- like Syria, Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah -- instead of boycotting them. Yet when it comes to Israel speaking with Hamas in Palestine, the same rational suggestions are not heard. Israel remains a state that enjoys unique standards of behavior in the world, both in terms of what it should and should not do. |
US must act to stop Mideast escalation
 While Europe expresses concern and the UN sends a delegation to mediate, the US, the only country that can provide needed restraint, has so far appeared to abdicate its leadership role.
The Bush administration showing some signs of being chastened by its international isolation, needs to shake off the last vestiges of its neoconservative thinking, "creative chaos" which it once believed would usher in democracy has instead brought only anarchy. And the fanciful notion that overwhelming violence would defeat all enemies and be a transformative force has, instead, only yielded more violence and anger in its wake. Clearly a new direction is required. by James Zogby |
Perpetuating the cycle of violence
 Speaking about the situation in Gaza, D. Ahmad Abu Tawahina of the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme characterises the Palestinian psychological environment as "terrifying" and "traumatising". Israel's policies are "creating a health and environmental disaster".
Israel is waging "psychological warfare" against Gazans. "Life becomes unpredictable. No one can avoid involvement. No one can hide. Trauma is caused by these uncontrollable, unavoidable and uncontainable factors. People cannot develop coping strategies. They have a feeling of helplessness which induces depression. Israel is driving the whole community into a pathological state, paralysing Palestinians." |
Palestine - making a bad situation worse
GAZA - With Hamas in control of the Palestinian Authority government, and Western donors halting all direct aid to it, an already precarious humanitarian situation in the West Bank and Gaza could turn worse.
by Mohammed El Samhouri
Solution for Hamas - focusing on local issues
The results of the elections and the furor that accompanied it seem to have resulted in the pro-Hamas candidates to forget that they had technically run on a non-Hamas list. Instead of distancing themselves in word and deed from Hamas, the jubilant winners of the elections fell in the trap and began talking as Hamas victors, not as the victors on the list of reform and change, which they had actually run and won on.
by Daoud Kuttab
