Time to duck and cover

Just my luck that the time Blogger picks for maintenance issues is at the very time I need to eat a little crow. The Hamas win is so overwhelming that there will be no major lawsuits alleging vote fraud over the final tally, and furthermore, the entire Fatah cabinet has turned in their resignation as a result of the Hamas electoral sweep.

A senior Hamas official said recognizing and negotiating with Israel are "not on our agenda." However, Hamas also signaled flexibility, saying it wants a "political partnership," presumably with Fatah. The Palestinian Cabinet submitted their resignations following the apparent Hamas victory Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia's office said, setting the stage for the Islamic group to lead a new Palestinian government.
The resignations were in part a formality required after an election, but the timing of the move, hours before the release of official results, was surprising. The announcement from Qurei's office did not mention Hamas. Under Palestinian law, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas must now ask the party that holds a majority in the legislature to form a new government. Hamas won virtually all of the 66 seats in electoral districts in the Palestinian parliament vote, election officials said Thursday.
(…)
Earlier Thursday, Hamas' top candidates on claimed the group won a majority of seats in Palestinian legislative elections, despite exit polls showing them finishing second to Fatah. Fatah officials concurred that Hamas captured a majority of seats, shortly after the terrorist group claimed victory. The Fatah officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they expected Hamas to win about 70 seats, which would give the Islamists a majority in the 132-seat parliament.

Talk about shades of the US election circa 2004 with the exit polls leaning towards Fatah but Hamas playing the New Bush sweeps to victory. According to this YnetOnline report Hamas will not recognize the Jewish state, will not negotiate with the Jewish state nor will there be a revoking of the Hamas Charter clause that calls for the destruction of Israel.

A senior Hamas official said Thursday recognizing Israel and talks with the Jewish state are "not on our agenda." "Negotiations with Israel are not on our agenda," said Mushir al-Masri, who won the election in his home district in the northern Gaza Strip. "Recognizing Israel is not on the agenda either now," he said.

Meanwhile, despite its pledge to cooperate with all Palestinian factions, however, Hamas stressed the group has no intention to disarm, with al-Zahar reiterating Hamas does not plan to "change even one word" in its charter, which calls for Israel's destruction.

I am not going all-apocalyptic over Hamas victory. The End of Days is not here but it could potentially be the beginning of the end of this conflict. Hamas has proven itself to be quite a pragmatic organization and I do believe dialogue will continue despite various “unofficial” statements from senior members of the organization. I can foresee situations where the few remaining Fatah members will be utilized by a Hamas Administration as the official go-between in any discussions with Israel.

Hamas, though a terror organization has been highly effective in delivering quality social outreach programs for Palestinians in the disputed territories. The corruption and duplicity of the Palestinian Authority was so all-pervasive that any progress in delivering services for their citizens was marred by outright graft that any alleged benefits rarely materialized. On this level is does represent a victory of sorts for the Palestinian people.

Hamas can claim that at heart it is a democratic populous movement unlike the Fatah and the PLO which was no more than the self-appointment of rule by various and sundry thugs, kleptos and despots. Hamas can claim with a legitimacy of sorts as the manifestation of the will of the Palestinian people residing in the disputed territories.

The Palestinian people in the disputed territories have shown in poll after poll that they have been overwhelmingly in favour of continuing the “armed resistance” against Israel even at the cost of the lives and future of their children. Golda Mier perhaps said it best when she said, “that peace would come when the Arabs loved their children more than they hate Jews.” You cannot get it plainer than that. It is time for the West to face those very inconvenient facts and acknowledge that there are no peace partners for Israel yesterday, nor today or possibly even tomorrow.

Hamas will remain consistent in their aims and at the same time will be bogged down organizing the civil administration of the government. In fact, if Hamas does not immediately take up the challenges of civil administration (such as imposing law and order) it will lose the legitimacy of the Palestinian people. It might be wise to have international pressure brought to bear on Hamas to take up the challenges of civil governance and immediately act to facilitate the return and re-settlement of those Palestinians currently residing in refugee camps spread out in the neighboring countries back into the Gaza Strip.

Furthermore, Hamas looks, quacks, waddles exactly what it is. This will allow the Israelis a freedom to act that they have not had since the Oslo Accord was fully implemented in 1996. It is far easier to fight an enemy that stands front and center without the subterfuge. What is far more interesting is how the Israeli electorate will perceive the kind of leadership needed for Israel after a Hamas win. All three major Israeli parties (Labor, Likud and Kadima) are claiming the need for unilateral withdrawals and concessions but will the task be given to Likud or Kadima?

The Hamas victory practically guarantees that Labor will not form the next government as they have been perceived to be far too dovish and ineffective in the face of terror. The choice becomes between Likud led by Netanyahu, a known hawk and tough negotiator or the unknown Kadima led by Ehud Olmert, a man now rumoured to be contemplating the partitioning of Jerusalem.

While Olmert is not considered “dovish” per say; his only hawkish credentials to date is that he would not hesitate to turn out the IDF, police forces and tax collectors on his own people but has been relatively ineffective in responding to Palestinian terror. I haven’t a clue as to whom the Israelis will choose but it may represent the final days of struggles for the land – one way or another.