Our New Neighbors – Hamastan.

I was not surprised at all that Hamas was victorious in the Palestinian Legislative Council elections I find it kind of surprising that the Israeli government is surprised at this turn of events. Perhaps they, like Fatah, were overconfident that Fatah, the “moderate” Palestinian Party would form the next government.

Now, we have a terrorist organization whose followers adhere to a political and religious ideology that believes that Jews have no right to a sovereign state in the Middle East and that Israel is an affront to Islam, and therefore must be wiped off the map. To achieve this they believe and teach, their men, women, and most disgustingly, their children, that they are doing Allah’s will if they strap bombs to their bodies and go and blow up Jewish men, women and children in their buses, pizza parlors, shopping malls and supermarkets.

How wonderful it is to see the blossoming of democracy in the Middle East.
The Palestinian people have spoken and they have chosen an organization that advocates war over peace, extremism over moderation, and the armed struggle over any compromise whatsoever.

I suppose it was just a matter of time. Ever since we let Arafat and his cronies from Tunisia in to set up their Fatahland in the West Bank and Gaza, their people have suffered under them: autocratic rule, squashing of opposition, the press, rampant corruption, no rule of law, the last five years of a fruitless war against Israel and the creation of this suicide bomber society. They have continually been fed a maximalist ideology and were never prepared for compromise or peace. Fatah mismanaged themselves out of power after 40 years of dominance. Saab Erekat said as much during an interview. They have only themselves to blame. Perhaps things would have been different if Arafat hadn’t stolen an estimated 100 million dollars a year from foreign aid donations and spent it on his people like he was supposed to.

We have ourselves to blame as well. The Oslo Accords are one of the biggest political and diplomatic mistakes that Israel has ever made. Most of us wonder if it could somehow have been different.

History is full of places to ask what if:
What if Rabin had said no to Peres and Beilin? I mean we already had a peace process going: The Madrid bilateral and multilateral talks. Yes, yes, I realize that the Palestinian delegation did nothing without orders from Arafat in Tunis. But still, what if, we had continued to ignore Arafat and sideline him. I mean, after all, in the early 90’s he was bankrupt and politically isolated because of his support of Saddam Hussein during the first gulf war.

What if we had actually spent 1993-2000 continuing to negotiate only with Palestinian Leaders from the West Bank and Gaza while engaging in a program of increased autonomy and democratization in the territories? Would it have ended the same-instead of Palestinian Statehood, a suicide bomber culture making mindless war on Israel? Who knows? At least morally and politically we could have held our heads a little higher. And, perhaps, the Palestinians would have been better off than they are now: putting their destiny in the hands of Hamas who might give them better government and may restore some pride, but, if they continue to have jihad against Israel as a major political and theological policy, can only bring the Palestinians more heartbreak and bloodshed.