Hamas

Submitted by Sameer Jordan (Jordan), Jan 28, 2006 at 08:38

What happened yesterday in Palestine was not expected, maybe "Hamas" had many chances to compete "Fatah" or maybe leading with some small margins, but the results are clear now in what I can call it "clean election process on Wednesday", what lead to this result had many reasons to bring those people who are refused from many countries to talk to and as well the previous threats from many different sides which gave the ordinary Palestinian the choice to vote for his "Prosperity and Independence" if he had voted for "Fatah" OR his "Poverty and Isolation" if he votes for "Hamas", what did this ordinary Palestinian choose?? Logically, nobody votes for his poverty and isolation, but why those went to "Hamas"??

We should not put aside the hidden religious motives which is in the mind of the vast majority of Muslims which pushes them to listen to those who talk from an Islamic point of view, that does not mean that they are right but people usually give them a big ear, in "Hamas" case, I can say that they have good speakers who can reach the ordinary people easily and convince, if we compare this with the Egyptian case some weeks ago, although the "Barbarian" way of dealing with "Muslim Brothers" candidates during the Parliamentarian Elections, but they could gain more even than those candidates expected, and today, Mr Jamal Mubark "President's son" started an offensive campaign against them as they are an illegal party, but who gives the legitimacy??

The way the USA dealt with the Palestinians and their leadership gave them the image that the US is supporting only Israel either on right or on wrong, they almost lost hope that this leadership could change that much in their daily life situation, in the beginning, as far as I know, many Palestinians had the hope that the US will be at least looking at their interests in their independence and their rights, I agree that they and their leadership made many mistakes and were not clear towards Israel, but what made things really worse and made those who supported the peace process to withdraw their faith in it was the "unfairness" which from their point of view the US treated them and assuming them the responsibility of every clash happened between them and Israel, and of course the war against Iraq and recently the campaign against Syria and of course the death of President Arafat and all the rumors that he was poisoned without any "Investigation Committee" like what happened for "Hariri" and the UN resolutions against Syria for unproved ideas.

Israel as considered as the "unified" enemy for the Palestinians and most of the Arabs gave the chance to the voters to believe what "Hamas" says, actually Israel proved that what "Hamas" was saying and is saying were all right, when talking about occupation, penetrating their lands, cutting their taxes and keep it, punishing them as a nation if any single incident happens… as well all the accords signed or agreed on were supposed to be only implemented by the Palestinians only, even the withdrawal from Gaza was late to show them that Israel is seeking peace and the way the Israelis gave themselves the right to re-enter Gaza any time they wanted, all of those gave "Hamas" the chance to prove that what it says was right and those who were jumping from the White House to Oslo to Camp David to Taba to to to were wasting time and wasting the efforts of the Palestinian people, this made the ordinary citizen to lost hope in these meetings and believe that the only way to deal with Israel is with the language which it understands "Force".

Since I was a child I used to hear about the corruption of "Fatah" members in the "Diaspora", in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and in the Gulf Countries, These stories were so many in the Palestinian society which were told among the poor and the rich ones in the same time, which many poor families were suffering in the camps, this high corruption became worse when they moved into Palestine, they made the Palestinians in Palestine to hate their return, the way those "Fatah" people made money and lost their economy made the people to lost faith in them… when they were looking at what "Hamas" and its members were doing, they saw those leaders living in poor houses in the camps and their families were living with them while the "Fatah" families were enjoying the US and Europe or Dubai easy life.

The trend in the Arab World is Islamic, the real Arab World is ruled by clerics who are not close to the political leadership, look at Iraq, Sistani, Sader, Al-Hakim and others, they are not political leaders, the formal political leaders are seeking the religious leaders' "Bless", look at Egypt, they put many of the "Brothers" candidates and members in the prison, but this did not stop their progress, the same in many countries in the Arab and Islamic World, Palestine is within the trend, 30 or 20 years ago, this trend was very weak and unable to go through the people with its powerful effect, the same goes in Jordan if they have the freedom and as well as in Syria…

The credibility which "Hamas" gained in the local society was very strong, they help the poor families, they have their clinics, their doctors do not charge the poor people, their teachers do not charge the students for private lessons, when they say something, they do it, they understand the needs of the majority of the people, they started to speak other foreign languages, they are organized in the daily life, they do not do troubles even if they are pushed in the corner, I know the "Hezbullah" model, they are very well organized in Lebanon even during the war, they did not act like robbers or killers, the "Hamas" members have the same attitude among the people, they treat people well in the streets, and even when they work at the ministries or the public sector, they do not ask for bribery or delay the work, in general they are committed to certain ethics in the daily life which they say it is part of Islam.

What made the "Fatah" candidates in worse situation more than it was, the news about the American financial support to help some of them in front of "Hamas" members as the US did not like to see "Hamas" gaining, these news made it worse for those candidates whose reputation was not good enough and it became worse and worse after these news, where we found that the "Hamas" campaign did not cost that much comparing to "Fatah's" one, the people became reluctant to any outside intervention in particular to the US.

"Hamas", I think, will not keep its hard line as it was, Israel will not find an easy people to talk to, the US will use its financial stick against the Palestinians, at the end, the ordinary people will pay the price as "Hamas" will have those demands: the Freedom and the Independence which are accepted by the whole Arab World… regarding accepting Israel, today they started talking about Status Quo, which means that Israel is here and we are obliged to deal with it… Internally, they will impose their point of views on the daily life of the society for a certain limit… "Hezbulla" in Lebanon gave them a good example of being respected among the local society which worked at the end, now "Hamas" will give the other Islamic parties the courage to win in the elections and rule… The West should not resist this by force, they will make the people more stubborn to protect them more and more, the West and in particular the US should stop supporting those "rotten" leaders in the Arab World just because they implement the US interests, when I listen to the debates on different TVs in the Arab World about this issue, most of the speakers are convinced that the US is not seeking any kind of change in the Arab World if this is against its interests, they give examples if Saddam agreed the US, or if Syria says Yes to everything the US asks for… when I talk to simple people, I find they are convinced by what they hear from those point of views…

Let's wait and see, but the Palestinian issue entered a new era…

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