What Hamas Wants (Ahmed Yousef)

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"THE events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya but never received the handover of real power from Fatah, the losing party. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has now tried to replace the winning Hamas government with one of his own, returning Fatah to power while many of our elected members of Parliament languish in Israeli jails. That is the real coup.

From the day Hamas won the general elections in 2006 it offered Fatah the chance of joining forces and forming a unity government. It tried to engage the international community to explain its platform for peace. It has consistently offered a 10-year cease-fire with the Israelis to try to create an atmosphere of calm in which we resolve our differences. Hamas even adhered to a unilateral cease-fire for 18 months in an effort to normalize the situation on the ground. None of these points appear to have been recognized in the press coverage of the last few days.

Nor has it been evident to many people in the West that the civil unrest in Gaza and the West Bank has been precipitated by the American and Israeli policy of arming elements of the Fatah opposition who want to attack Hamas and force us from office. For 18 months we have tried to find ways to coexist with Fatah, entering into a unity government, even conceding key positions in the cabinet to their and international demands, negotiating up until the last moment to try to provide security for all of our people on the streets of Gaza.

Sadly, it became apparent that not all officials from Fatah were negotiating in good faith. There were attempts on Mr. Haniya’s life last week, and eventually we were forced into trying to take control of a very dangerous situation in order to provide political stability and establish law and order."

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[Shaktimaan]

1. An 18 month cease-fire?

Hahahahaha! Right! Yeah, gee wiz, I WONDER why no one has recognized Hamas' unilateral comittment to peace as evidenced by their extremely pacifistic cease fire?

Perhaps it has something to do with their cease fire consisting of a ceaseless que of Qassam rockets being launched at Israel. Of course, the cease fire was upheld from Israel's side for quite some time. So maybe that's what they meant by a cease-fire... when Israel stops retaliating for a few months to constant rocket attacks from Gaza.

I can't imagine why Israel hasn't jumped at the chance for a whole ten year cease fire! All Israel is expected to do in order to enjoy ten full years of constant Qassam attacks is submit to every Palestinian demand that Hamas puts forth. Pulling back to the '67 borders, release any and all Palestinians from prison, regardless of what crimes they have been convicted of, cease all operations in the territories, and fork over an additional swath of land connecting Gaza and the West Bank. After Israel does all this, Hamas will consider the possibility of making peace. (and we now know what Hamas considers a cease-fire, don't we?) What a deal! You would almost think that Hamas wasn't entirely reliant on Israel for water, fuel, electricity and food, the way he asserts himself with threats of violent retribution.

I am starting to feel really good about these guys. An era of peace is truly at hand.