4 thoughts on “West Bank First. Gaza Never. – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. I don’t understand your problem with HAMAS “being elected democratically”, and yet the US opposing them. Who says people who come to power “democratically” are always good? Free elections are only a small part of democracy and essentially they are the end product of having a stable, civil society that ensures human rights. England didn’t really have the semblance of a “democratic” parliament until the “Great Reform of 1832”, but that Reform was based on a rule of law and stable civil society based on human rights that existed long before. Hitler came to power “democratically”, and even conducted a partially democratic election after he came to power. His regime was genuinely popular througth the length of his regimes existence. BUT HE WAS EVIL.
    Neither the US nor anybody else is obligated to be nice to HAMAS just because they won an election.
    One of the things that brougth Theodore Herzl to Zionism was the spreading of “democratization” throughout the Austro-Hungarian empire. Free elections brought vicious antisemites to power, such as Vienna Mayor Karl Lueger. Free elections in the Arab world are doing the same today.

  2. It’s like the journey through time.

    This was one of the first ideas for dealing with the OTs – as seperate entities.

    One thing that this policy will achieve, is for Hamas to become the party of choice for Palestinian nationalism in the WB. One would assume that this is exactly what the US/Israel don’t want. It’s amazing what ideological blinkers will do forrational thought. The thinking (if you can call it that) is that the WB population will fall over themselves in gratitude to Fatah for not letting them starve with the resumption of aid. However, the abysmal failure that was the ‘Village Leagues’ was predicated on similiar thinking. The basic problem is that our armchair strategists don’t get some important stuff, like that while Palestinians in the WB will be relieved to see the end of the embargo, none of them are so deluded as to be grateful for being the victims of international blackmail because they didn’t vote the way the masters expected. They will also keenly feel the pain of Gaza.

    Debilitating Hamas may well work, but it will be, yet again, a pyrrhic victory. At the signing of Oslo, Palestinians who were dubious said that if Fatah and the PLO failed to make it work, Hamas would arise in their place. There is no reason to believe that this process won’t be repeated if Hamas goes the way of Fatah.

  3. BUT HE WAS EVIL.

    While the world would agree w. you that Hitler was evil, he was only a democrat in the sense that he fought a single true election in which he received 33% of the vote. Hamas, on the other hand, won 44% of the vote. And the majority of the world would not agree w. yr view that Hamas is evil. The majority of the world would say that Hamas is a pain in the ass, but that it won fair & square & deserves a chance to play out its hand POLITICALLY (but not militarily) w/o strangulation on the part of Israel, the U.S. & their fellow traveler nations who’ve gone along w. this failed policy.

    Neither the US nor anybody else is obligated to be nice to HAMAS just because they won an election.

    No, no nation is obligated to be nice to another. But no nation is permitted to interfere in the affairs of another or overthrow the elected government of another, which is what Israel & the U.S. tried & failed to do in Palestine.

    Free elections brought vicious antisemites to power, such as Vienna Mayor Karl Lueger.

    Yeah, & a free election brought Adolph Hitler to power (though his ultimate takeover of Germany is not the fault of democracy). It’s a messy system, no doubt about it. But look at the alternatives. Democracy is always going to give you some awful electoral results (just look at the U.S. in 2000 & 2004). But the avg. results provided by democracy are far superior to the avg. results produced by any other governing system. And if you ARE a democrat you don’t get to pick & choose which results you respect & which you reject. A true democrat honors the will of the people even if that result is repugnant to them. Doesn’t sound like you’re a true democrat. Maybe a selective democrat?

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