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Hamas Victory: A Political Earthquake in the Middle – East By Muhammad Sani Liman, MNSE
Two years ago, the president of the United States, G. W. Bush in his state of the nation address called on the countries of the Middle East to embrace western type of democracy, and prior to that, after the ouster of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the government of the United States takes it a priority to export American version of democracy to the monarchies of the region with invaded Iraq as the starting point.
The unprecedented land slide victory of the Islamic militant Hamas in the January 25 parliamentary election in the occupied Palestine send a shock wave through the western world in one hand and a warning signal to some countries in the region most especially Egypt, Jordan and Syria who have a substantial number of Islamic resistant movements, and above all, it was simply a vote of no-confidence on the American backed government of Abu Mazin controlled by Fatah, the political/youth wing of the defunct PLO and the complete structure of the Palestinian Administration (PA).
Some prominent Palestinians like the top negotiator; Professor Hanan Ashrawi attributed Fatah’s embarrassing defeat to excessive official corruption in the PA, constant Israeli bombardment of the occupied territories and the failure of the American brokered peace talk known as ‘Road Map’ to bring any meaningful peace to the ordinary Palestinians who are constantly air raided by the Israeli helicopters, but the Professor was short of adding the humanitarian assistance rendered by Hamas in the occupied territories in terms of security, welfare, education, health facilities, infrastructure and corruption-free leadership.
The defeated Fatah movement is the Youth / political wing of the defunct Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) that was founded by the late Yasser Arafat of blessed memory nearly 50 years ago, it dominated for almost four decades the domestic Palestinian issues and almost 10 years of controlling 90% of the parliament.
On the other hand, Hamas came to lame light in the late 1980s shortly after the popular Intifadah uprising in the Gaza strip. The Islamic Resistance Movement is affiliated to the Gaza Muslim Brotherhood, Political Islamic Movement headed by the late Sheikh Ahmad Yasin. Sheikh Yasin was bombed to death two years ago by the Israeli agents on his wheel chair on his away back home from Morning Prayer. His successor, Dr Abdul-Aziz Rantisi was brutally murdered too by the same MOSSAD just two weeks later and in the same way as Yasin. Been that as it may, the Israeli authority thought that they had inflicted a crippling injury in the ranks and leadership of the movement, though the top leadership went underground, the movement continued its rocket attacks and suicide bombings of the Israeli targets from within and out side the occupied territories.
It is of importance to bring here–in the contribution of the past Israeli governments in nursing and financing Hamas when it became apparent that there was a total disagreement between PLO led by Arafat and Hamas led by Yasin. It was reported that Israel covertly financed the activities of the movement as reported by journalist Graham Usher, who said: ”The Israeli government gives me a budget and we extend some to Islamic groups (such as Hamas) via mosques and religious schools in order to help create a force that can stand up against the leftist forces that support the PLO.”
Prior to the election, the Washington Post reported that United States secretly financed the campaign of Fatah to the tune of $2m when it was obvious that Hamas would get a substantial number of sits; alas, Hamas swept 76 out of the 132 seats in the parliament and Fatah could only capture 43 seats leaving the remaining 13 seats to the minority parties. The split electoral system of the PA i.e. 66 seats nominated through local constituencies and the other 66 through proportional representation – based national list.
According to the New York Times, Hamas won 30 of the 66 seats on the national list and 46 of 66 seats at the local level, while the ruling Fatah won 27 of national seats and 16 constituencies. This clearly shows how broad based Hamas acceptability is.
As expected, there was a fierce criticism and out right condemnation of Hamas from all nooks and corners of Europe, U.S and Israel. “Washington’s response (in particular) to the election has again demonstrated the hypocrisy of the American government’s claims that its war in Iraq and its support for Israel are part of an effort to bring democracy to the Middle – East”, one source observed. Like in the Latin America, when voters choose a government that is politically at variance with the west, Washington simply refuses to accept the result of the election or the government formed no matter how free and fair the election was. The reaction of Madam Condelizza Rice, the out spoken US secretary of state that: “Anyone who wants to govern the Palestinian people and do so with the support of the international community has got to be committed to a two-state solution, must be committed to the right of Israel to exist.” Leaves no one in doubt that the US is not ready to recognize the Palestinian government.
In his reaction to the outcome of the polls, president Bush said the government of the United States would have nothing to do with the “terrorist” government of Hamas until it “renounces violence”. From the EU side, secretary Jack Straw emphasized that Hamas cannot have democracy and violence at the same time, forgetting that the Irish Republican Army (IRA) political wing, Sienn Fein was at the negotiating table with the British government when bombs were exploding in the street of Dublin. And the Israelis are of the same opinion with the west as acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared that there would be no peace talk with “an arm terror organization that calls for Israel’s destruction.”
From the EU / US side, the signal is the same that the aids given to the PA would be suspended. In 2005, the US assistance to the PA was $300m and that of the EU was $330m, and all of that was channeled through the ‘friendly’ NGOs and not directly to the Mahmud Abbas’ administration. It means that if the aids are suspended as threatened, the new government would have to look else where and it will most likely be “Arab and Islamic Nations” as indicated by Hamas political leader, Khalid Mashall.
What will be the way out then?
By and large, I am of the opinion that at the end of this political quagmire, Israel stands to benefit more from the Hamas victory than an ordinary Palestinian for a simple fact that come what may, Hamas must soft pedal and would have to make some concessions in terms of its founding charter of destroying the state of Israel and must recognize the Jewish state of Israel as sovereign state due to pressures from the west and brotherly Arab countries who for yeas have been sponsoring the activities of Hamas.
Likewise, Israel in one hand must stop intimidating the Palestinians in the occupied territories by destroying their homes, farms, hospitals and closing their borders as that will cripple their economic activities. They must as a matter of fact sit in the same negotiating table with the new leadership for their common good of lasting peace in the region. Most importantly, the west must not go ahead with their pre-election threat of cutting funding to Hamas-led government, for such a move would have an unpredictable consequences of possible collapse of the Palestinian Authority and the disintegration of its security forces which would equally hardened the most liberal among the Palestinians, such will breed more suicide bombers and more rocket attacks.
Muhammad Sani Liman, MNSE PHCN – Transmission Company of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa State
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