AT THE CROSSROADS: The Hamas Electoral Victory and the Hope for Peace

Supporters of Hamas gesture after polls closed in a Palestinian election in the West Bank city of Hebron January 25, 2006.

Amazing events have unfolded in the Middle East since the New Year began — some hopeful, some disheartening, but all of critical importance to the Palestinian Question.

The most recent, and most earthshaking, was the big win for Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary elections — a powerful repudiation of the corrupt Fatah Party’s grip on power. This power shift came as no surprise to those in the neighborhood, but apparently caught the White House completely off guard. It should not have!

In promoting democracy, be careful what you wish for. This is the painful lesson the White House is now fumbling with. Focusing on the electoral process as the cure-all for every Middle Eastern ailment has proved to be ineffective as a means of establishing the kind of government they wanted. Instead, they have helped into power an organization they have long labeled as “terrorist.”

This is decidedly not what Bush and his neoconservative cheerleaders had in mind.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shows his inked finger after voting.

The problem is that the United States cannot now be seen as a true champion for free elections, then cry foul and get belligerent when we don’t like the results — not if we want to avoid shredding our prestige on the international stage, where it’s already beaten and bruised.

The Hamas victory would not have stunned anyone who had really been paying serious attention to the Palestinian issues. We had to know that the feckless and corrupt Palestinian Authority, controlled by Fatah, had been losing public support in the territory for years. And we surely noticed that Hamas has been brilliant at capitalizing on that discontent, as well as preparing methodically for the parliamentary elections that just moved them into power. They worked the democratic process to their advantage

Moreover, we should have been able to face up to two unpleasant facts: 1) the Palestinians had lost all hope that Israel would be a credible partner for peace, and 2) the Palestinians and much of the world, had lost all faith that the United States would ever again be an “honest broker” between the two states.

Israeli soldiers beat Palestinians protesting the construction of barrier near West Bank village of Bitkudu.

The Bush Administration has always had a short, bored, and restless attention span when it comes to the Palestinians’ grievances and their desire for statehood. The Bush Road Map to Peace was always seen as more of a condescending and uninspired public-relations campaign than a serious effort to forge a lasting peace settlement.

Bush caved in to the Israeli lobby and their neoconservative apologists within the Administration. He also caved in to the Christian Right — his base — who support Israel with a fevered uncritical obedience because their apocalyptic version of the Bible demands it. And he promoted the Iraq War to the exclusion of all other critical issues in the Middle East. Our resources have been emptying into that quagmire ever since, and now we’re starting to see the results of this inexcusable neglect.

Hamas Leader Mahmoud al-Zahar

With nobody else to turn to, the Palestinians turned to Hamas as a final act of desperation. They voted Hamas into power, not as an endorsement of more violence and conflict, and not as endorsement of a repressive Islamic state, but as the alternative to a no-longer-acceptable situation, and the United States seemed tone-deaf to their aspirations.

The most crucial element in this failure of leadership on our part is — and always has been — our lop-sided support for Israel over the years. It represents a strategic but morally indefensible reality that has generated virulent anti-American sentiments in the region that pass from one generation to the next. It represents opportunities lost and squandered. And, if continued, guarantees that the heartbreaking stalemate will continue far into the future, with all the bloodshed and despair that involves.

Jordanian King Abdullah II (right) called on German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the European Union (EU) on 2-15-06 to continue their aid to the Palestinians to help them get rid of poverty.

The Bush Administration, having learned nothing, is busy making life miserable for the Palestinian people as they try to punish Hamas. The Palestinian Authority is on the brink of insolvency because the combined weight of American irritation and Israeli intransigence is leading to their financial starvation — and this even before Hamas has had time to form a new power-sharing government with Fatah and Abu Mazan (Mahmoud Abbas). Israel is withholding millions of dollars in tax and customs receipts that rightfully should be passed on to the P.A., while we are actively discouraging any foreign aid from reaching Hamas, even if it cripples the local economy and destabilizes the security situation.

This kind of international petulance and bullying is unworthy of us, but a predictable reaction from an Administration that wants things their way or no way.

Palestinians are confined by Israeli forces to an imprisoned lifestyle on arid lands devoid of infrastructure, where no investment or development is allowed.

The European Union is advancing a 144-million-dollar aid package to stave off financial collapse, but this is only a stopgap measure to postpone disaster for a few months. The Bush Administration and Israel — though they both deny it publicly — have it in mind to starve Hamas of the cash they need to govern and succeed. Without aid, they can’t provide public services; and without services and security, Hamas will fail before they ever have a fighting chance to provide an alternative to the status quo of corruption, cronyism, and income-petence and to transform themselves into a force for peace.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza urged every nation to cut aid to Palestine because of Hamas winning the election. She is wrong about cutting aid. That would produce more resentment, privation and violence. On January 30, 2006, she said: “There has got to be a peaceful road ahead… You cannot be on one hand dedicated to peace and on the other dedicated to violence. Those two things are irreconcilable.”

In the pursuit of this policy, the Bush Administration is telling the Palestinian people that democracy is about pleasing America, not self-determination. And our international reputation will suffer another body blow of our own making.

Israel and the Bush Administration deny this is their intention, but their record as coconspirators in the neglect and abuse of Palestinian aspirations and rights says otherwise.

Never have we been more in need of enlightened and decisive leadership in this troubled land. As the Iraq War and occupation spirals down into ever-increasing and deadly sectarian violence, we are in serious need of a success story. We need to provide a powerful reminder that we are not over there just for the oil or to manipulate the political map for the convenience of our allies in Tel Aviv.

To stand side by side with the Palestinians people could be that success story. The Israelis are acting dismissive and paranoid, and saying that with Hamas now in power, they no longer have a “partner in peace.” We have to reject such self-serving cynicism and seize the moment before history once again leaves us behind.

Hamas has a troubled history to be sure. But before we condemn them and strangle them into submission, for the entire world to see, we should respect the electoral wishes of the Palestinians and work for their success. A recent poll shows that 87 percent of the populace still wants a comprehensive and lasting peace with Israel, and a majority wants peace talks to resume immediately. This means the majority of Palestinians still have hope and can still imagine a peaceful and prosperous future.

If Hamas wants to prosper and expand its influence, it has no choice but to recognize that reality and act on it! The Bush Administration should do the same as well.

The Quartet of the United States, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union must come to a meeting of the minds soon and agree that continued aid to the Palestinian Authority is in the best interest of everyone. Because if we don’t, our enemies will.

We must bring common sense and empathy for other peoples to our foreign policy.

« Previous: PRESIDENTS’ DAY: Lessons for America and the Future | THE BEST SOLUTION: AN IRAQI UNION! – Plain Talk and a NEW IDEA Next: »