[Peace-discuss] Hamas

[Morton K. Brussel]

Antidote(?) to all the fluff flying around our media.

ZNet | Israel/Palestine

Bravo Abbas! Bravo Hamas!

by Gabriel Ash; Dissident Voice; January 28, 2006
Elections results in the Occupied Territories show that Fatah has  
lost its majority in the Palestinian parliament by a stunningly large  
margin. This is a transformational event with lasting geopolitical  
importance, for Hamas and Fatah, for Palestinians and Israelis, and  
for the world.

Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah and head of the make-believe  
Palestinian “government”, was never an inspiring figure. Palestine  
today is still at a stage that requires a liberation movement. Yet  
Abbas, even more than Arafat before him, bought into the Western  
conceit that he was a head of state in the making. Rather than  
leading the struggle for liberation, Abbas focused on being a  
technocrat to satisfy the rhetorical needs of the EU and the US who  
funded him. In his speeches, he sometimes channeled the words  
dictated to him by his donors more than the aspirations of his  
constituents. His handling of his greatest challenge as a politician  
-- restoring cohesion and a sense of purpose to Fatah -- was  
mediocre. The necessary takeover of Fatah by the younger generation  
of leaders is happening, but far from smoothly, and older figures  
widely perceived as corrupt and ineffectual continue to cling to  
power. Finally, Abbas has staked his grand strategy on the  
continuation of Oslo and a negotiated peace with Israel. On that  
front he has achieved nothing; although, to be fair, it wasn’t his  
fault.

Nevertheless, Abbas is about to make history, and leave his people  
and the whole region an inspiring gift. Abbas is overseeing the first  
grand democratic defeat of an Arab leader in a popular election. If  
he steps down as he has promised to do, he will have completed an  
achievement without parallel. Let it be noticed that losing was not  
as easy as it may seem. Abbas had to overcome and ignore the  
persistent calls within his own party to postpone the elections. He  
had to contend with a grand chorus of Israeli, US and EU voices  
calling on him to undermine the democratic process by excluding  
Hamas. He had opportunities aplenty to cave in. He did not.  
Palestinians, not the least because of their poverty and years of  
stubborn resistance, have a more democratic culture than the rest of  
the Middle East. Nevertheless, it is to Abbas’ credit that he  
accepted and expressed this democratic spirit. It is a rare leader  
anywhere, and rarer still in the Middle East, who doesn’t imagine  
himself God’s gift to his nation. For defending the integrity of this  
fragile democratic exercise even as it went against him Abbas  
deserves an unqualified Bravo.

Hamas is the big winner of the elections. It too deserves a Bravo.  
(From reading the mainstream Western media, one gets the impression  
that the only interesting question is when Hamas will recognize  
Israel and renounce violence. Our “objective” journalists cannot  
possibly adopt a perspective other than that of the Israeli state. Do  
send them a nice card; their “profession” is the oldest in the world.  
I will not bore you with the same question. I hope Hamas does what  
Palestinians expect them to do and nothing else -- lead the fight for  
liberty and dignity.)

For many years now Hamas has been at the forefront of the struggle  
for Palestinian liberation. While far from being alone, Hamas  
recognized early that Oslo was a cul-de-sac and a fraud. For better  
or for worse -- and the jury is still out -- Hamas played a crucial  
role in the decision to meet the militarized Israeli repression of  
the second intifada with arms. Hamas was early to adopt the tactic of  
suicide attacks. Thanks to the usual double standard, these are  
viewed in the West as more reprehensible than the much more lethal  
weapons routinely used by Israel. Fatefully, Hamas took a hard line  
on the use of suicide attacks, refusing to accept distinctions others  
proposed, such as between civilian and military targets, or between  
targets inside the Occupied Territories and those in pre-67 Israel.  
While I believe this was Hamas’ biggest mistake and a missed  
opportunity to drive a wedge between Israel’s bellicose leadership  
and less bellicose public, Hamas’ position reflected significant  
segments of Palestinian public opinion and was neither less nor more  
immoral than Israel’s military practices.

Crucial to its current electoral success is Hamas’ recognition that  
resistance is more than guns. Since its inception, Hamas has operated  
mosques, schools, clinics and charities. It has made the survival and  
maintenance of Palestinian society a major priority, providing vital  
services in an economic environment that got bleaker by the day.  
Despite not having access to the larger sums and apparently useless  
expertise that the PA received from the US and the EU, Hamas is  
widely recognized to have done a better job than the PA as a provider  
of services. That is no small success and reflects well on the  
qualities of Hamas’ leaders and cadres. Beyond that, it demonstrates  
Hamas ability to maintain a spirit of dedication and personal integrity.

Public rejection of corruption is no doubt a major explanation for  
the rise of Hamas. But so is religion. Palestinian society has turned  
increasingly to religion in response to the hardships of daily life  
under Israeli occupation. At the same time, it is hard not to credit  
the religious bond and commitment for Hamas’ strength and ability to  
resist the lure of corruption. It is fashionable in the West,  
especially at the center and left of the political discourse, to  
compare “our fundamentalists with theirs.” While there is truth in  
that comparison, it misses quite a lot. “Our fundamentalists,” from  
George Bush to Pat Robertson, are fundamentally corrupt. Their  
religion is a racket. On the Muslim side the opposite seems often to  
be the case. Far from being a shakedown, religion over there is an  
antidote to corruption. Karl Marx famously dismissed religion as  
“Opium for the masses.” In the Middle East it is more like  
amphetamines. It keeps people going past the end of exhaustion and  
despair.

While Palestinian society turned more religious, Hamas turned more  
ecumenical. Palestinian parliamentarian Hanan Ashrawi expressed fear  
that “militants will now impose their fundamentalist social agenda  
and lead the Palestinians into international isolation.” That is a  
distinct and worrying possibility, but it is not set in stone. In  
these elections the candidates for Hamas’ new political party “Reform  
and Change” included women, Christians, and moderates. Hamas is now a  
larger political tent of Palestinian nationalism with a strong  
religious orientation; it encompasses radicals, moderates and  
conservatives with a variety of perspectives. Tensions between  
democratic and religious authority will continue to exist, and narrow  
fundamentalist tendencies are clearly present. But there is also hope  
that the current openness will hold and that Hamas will continue to  
develop toward increased democracy and inclusiveness.

With regards to the national struggle, which understandably casts a  
large shadow, Hamas has staked two major differences from Fatah.  
These differences underscore the threat that the victory of Hamas  
poses to the West’s colonial strategies.

Hamas maintains it will continue to defend armed struggle as a  
legitimate option. For now, Hamas is abstaining from violence,  
although the cease-fire agreed in Cairo had officially expired. It is  
quite possible that Hamas will continue to favor peaceful means. But  
it refuses to cave in to pressure and maintains the right to evaluate  
its strategies from a Palestinian rather than Western perspective.  
American, Israeli and European officials claim they will not talk to  
Hamas as long as it doesn’t renounce violence. As long as these  
hypocrites don’t renounce violence themselves, they have zero moral  
authority. Hamas deserves credit for refusing to take moral guidance  
from self-righteous bullies.

Hamas is also refusing to recognize Israel and negotiate on the basis  
of Oslo and the roadmap. Instead Hamas candidates have outlined a  
strategy of independence, strengthening Palestinian society and  
resistance and advancing national goals without relying on Israeli  
and international approval. Hamas calls this option “ignoring Israel.”

In the current international context, such a strategy is dangerous  
but not without sense. While Israel demands to be recognized, it is  
clearly unwilling to recognize minimal Palestinian demands. Both the  
White House and the Democrats -- “progressive” such as Barack Obama  
and regressive like Clinton and Lieberman -- are parroting Israel  
like a second grade pupil reading from My Pet Goat. The EU seems  
mostly interested in helping the US play a “good cop, bad cop”  
routine. There will be a price to pay, but Hamas seems to think the  
West has currently little to offer Palestinians beyond money to  
lubricate the wheels of corruption. There is precious little evidence  
to prove them wrong.

As Hamas handles the pressure of assuming power, either in a  
coalition with Fatah or alone, it is possible that these two  
principles will be watered down significantly. The price for  
consistency may be too high, especially in lost foreign assistance.  
Palestinians today survive on foreign charity (or, one could rephrase  
that as saying that the Israeli occupation is financed by the EU and  
the US). Unless Hamas can hook up new donors to replace the EU and  
US, it may be willing to compromise rather than face a popular  
backlash. I hope that Hamas finds creative ways to subvert this new  
phase of Western colonialism. But realistically, the challenge is  
enormous.

As a secular leftist, I would have been more comfortable had  
Palestinian society coalesced around a leftist resistance movement.  
I’m sure many readers share that preference. But Palestine is not in  
Latin America, and our comfort level is not the most pressing issue.  
Hamas is today an important face of the Palestinian struggle for  
liberty, equality and justice. It is the face chosen by the majority  
of the Palestinian public in the Occupied Territories in clear  
defiance of Western colonialism. With its new power and old habits,  
Hamas will have plenty of opportunities to go wrong. However, as long  
as it maintains its commitment to democracy and strives to advance  
the rights of all Palestinians to full human dignity, Hamas can be a  
force for good.

Gabriel Ash is an activist and writer who writes because the pen is  
sometimes mightier than the sword and sometimes not. He welcomes  
comments at: g.a.evildoer at gmail.com. 
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