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RSS FeedWho should rule the Palestinians: Hamas or Fatah?
Results so far:
| Fatah | 62% | 80 votes | Total: 130 votes | |
| Hamas | 38% | 50 votes |
Fatah
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Add to FavoritesIt's so difficult to say which is right and wrong between Israeli and Palestinians because both have their good reasons; Israel has the right to have its State with safe borders and in peace with its Arab neighbours, while the Palestinians have the right to their independent State in the Gaza Strip and in Cis-Jordan, or in most of its territory. Also Israeli government had recognized the Palestinians' right to their free State and, in 2000, the final peace agreement was nearly reached at Camp David, US, between Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak, after the mediation of the "house lord", the US President Bill Clinton.
Eventually, Arafat hadn't the courage to accept a peace that gave Palestinians nearly everything, fearing to cause divisions inside his PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization); so, he made fail at the last moment the agreements asking for the return af all Palestinian refugees (at least, 4 millions) within Palestine and Israel; absolutely impossible. So, failed the talks, violence, war and hate soon started again with the Intifada at the first occasion (that famous Sharon's walk in the wrong place...) and the Palestinians never more obtained further concessions from Israel.
The great problem, in fact, is that Israel can't accept in any case an independent Palestine ruled by an extremist party or movement like Hamas that doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist in peace and wants its destruction with the most cruel and fanatical means. Have we forgotten Hamas' brainwashing of boys and girls to turn them into suicide terrorists who make themselves explode among Israeli innocent civilians? Or the launch of their missiles against Israeli towns from Gaza, trying to make as much victims as possible, always among civilians, despite the withdrawal of Israel from the same Gaza? No other Country of the world would accept a government like this at its border; just for this, I think the Palestinians commit another serious mistake to vote and follow Hamas and not Al-Fatah.
Also Al-Fatah has a terrible and not honourable past of terrorism against Israel and we cannot forget, among the others, its terrible massacre performed at the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, in 1972, against Israeli athletes.Despite this, Arafat and the other leaders of Al-Fatah, had the courage and the intelligence to start peace talks with Israel, in the following decades, until the partial peace of 2000. Also today, Al-Fatah represents the moderate sector of Palestinian public opinion and it's the only that accepts to seriously talk with Israel, whatever is its government. So, if the Palestinians desire a definitive peace for both sides, I think they can only vote for Al-Fatah and this is not the will to force their democratic decisions, but the only way to end this conflict. The Palestininas have obtained something only when they have abandoned violence and terrorism to talk for peace; differently, they have got only repression, enemies and diffidence in the rest of the world, without political support for their legitimate claim for an independent Palestine.
Voting and keeping on voting for Hamas is instinctively easy when the Intifada never ends, the misery, the violence against Palestinians by Israeli soldiers are continuous; rage, hate, radicalism and frustration are well represented by Hamas, but these feelings, if expressed in the majority of votes for Hamas, can only produce ruins, sufferings and no free Palestine for Palestinians. Peace can be made only with the enemies and talking with the enemies doesn't mean to talk with cruel and alien monsters, but with other human beings, with similar feelings, good and bad qualities. Hamas doesn't deserve the government either of the present Palestinese Entity and of the future Palestine, because they are too radical and violent.
Egypt and Jordan got a stable peace with Israel not with war but with talks and political courage, so that they got back the occupied Sinai Peninsula for Egypt and a stable peace for Jordan; this is the example to follow. The drama is that the Palestinians are deeply divided and many bloody battles have taken place among them in the last years; so, with which should Israel talk for a possible peace? Whatever agreement with Al-Fatah would be soon stopped by Hamas' violent reaction against Israel and the same Al-Fatah followers while no agreement is today possible with Hamas, until they will accept the existence of Israel and its right to security. The Palestinians can't obtain concessions for their bad choices and the cruel recent bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel is the exaggerate consequence of the fanatism and prevalent hate of the majority of them, who still vote for Hamas.
"Who sows wind harvests tempest" (literal translation of the Italian proverb: "Chi semina vento raccoglie tempesta").
Learn more about this author, Aldo Bonincontro.
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Hamas
Hamas or Fatah "ruling" the Palestinians...? A rather loaded question- and not entirely the correct question. But for the purposes of this debate we'll start by taking the side of Hamas, the party who were in fact democratically elected last year. Now if you truly support just democracy in the Middle East, and not our own US Government's dubious policy of "Regime Change", then Hamas is the ruling party in Occupied Palestine until new elections are eventually held. But here in lies the rub... no matter which party is in power in these illegally occupied territories of Palestine, neither has any real power at all whilst its own the borders, the sky, the airwaves, the utilities, the water and the economy- is under the complete and direct control of Israel.
This poses serious problems for Palestinians on many levels. On a public relations level, it's a dire situation due to the American mainstream media and it's unflinching support of Israel's open defiance of scores of UN Resolutions. In the face of Israel's expansionist and ruling policies, Palestinian leaders do not stand a chance of a normal social existence. Even some writers in the opposing column to this one claim that there is a "democratic Israel", which of course there is not... mainly due the fact the 4.5 million plus Palestinians and the land they occupy do not even factor into the democratic process anymore than the Native American tribes of North America factored into US democracy as settlers made their march westward. As Israel controls ALL aspects of Palestinian life, it naturally controls it's political destiny too. If the American public ever realized this fact then the real public relations bomb would really hit- the only difference between Apartheid South Africa and Israel's draconian control of the Palestinians is simply that one was called 'Apartheid' and the other is called merely 'Occupation'. A gross example of this is to look at the world's largest Apartheid Wall recently built by the Israelis around the West Bank, a wall which Israel has used to increase their own land holdings vis new illegal settlements.
On another level, recently declassified documents have proven that Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security services, have staged a number of False Flag attacks during the 70's and 80's in order to curry favor from the world and manifest its own Palestinian Terror wave. In collaboration with Uganda's dictator Idi Amin, Israel staged the famous hijacking and gained incredible international leverage as a result. This is not a backroom story, this comes straight from the Jerusalem Post. And it's just one example of many similar staged terror act. It really makes you wonder...
Hamas was never given a chance from day one after the elections, starved of funds, and put into a corner which is where we are at today in Gaza. It's a disaster for the Palestinians after all, but be aware that neither Fatah or Hamas rule over their people as 100% of power and the destiny of the fabled "Peace Process" has always been in the hands of Israelis, backed by the US and the UK. Expect no change or moves towards statehood in Palestine- a result which suits the powers who control this patch of land.
Astute followers of Middle Eastern news realize this fact and one could only hope that the casual soundbite consumers of news in the United States would take it upon themselves to do some research of their own and see that Israel's oppression in Palestine for so many years is one of the largest crimes against humanity ever engineered. By definition, Gaza is the world biggest open prison and the West Bank is shut in by an Apartheid Wall which makes Berlin's look like a speed bump.
Ultimately, Israel controls the political destiny of that land and its people. This needs to change if the situation is to improve at all.
Learn more about this author, Patrick Henningsen.
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