US plot to overthrow elected Palestinian government exposed (Part One)

[IndianaGreen]

US plot to overthrow elected Palestinian government exposed

Part One
By Jean Shaoul
8 March 2008

“The Gaza Bombshell” explains how, after the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004, the White House insisted upon early elections — under the guise of giving the Palestinians the chance to choose new leaders who were not “compromised by terror”. This was intended to forestall growing support for Hamas. Dahlan and Abbas repeatedly told Bush that the elections should be delayed until Fatah was ready. But Bush and his advisors would not listen.

Hamas came to power in January 2006 as a result of widespread disaffection with Fatah over its readiness to agree a rotten deal with Bush and its own endemic corruption. An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas does not represent a progressive alternative to Fatah but articulates the interests of sections of the Arab bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie.

When democracy resulted in the wrong party winning, the Bush administration was taken by surprise. Condoleezza Rice told reporters. “I don’t know anyone who wasn’t caught off guard by Hamas’s strong showing.” According to Vanity Fair’s sources, a Department of Defence official said, “Everyone blamed everyone else. We sat there in the Pentagon and said, ‘Who the f*** recommended this?’”

The White House rejected any idea of working with Hamas, even though leading Israelis including Ephraim Halevy, a former head of Mossad, supported such an approach. A senior State Department official said, “The administration spoke with one voice: ‘We have to squeeze these guys.’ With Hamas’s election victory, the freedom agenda was dead.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/vani-m08.shtml

[marmar]

1. Do you ever get the feeling that everything that's happening to this country.....

.... is some kind of cosmic karma for all the dirty shit our government has done over the years?

[IndianaGreen]

4. Gott Mit Uns

The Great War saw German soldiers with "Gott Mit Uns" engraved on their belt buckles. At the same time in America, progressive Christian leaders ditched their pacifism and became avowed crusaders for Wilsonian interventionism.

We know how that turned out. Germany was defeated, only to give rise to the Nazis. American civil liberties were squashed, beginning with the Palmer Raids.

Our republic was not supposed to be an empire. The Constitution was designed to prevent foreign entanglements and domestic concentration of power. What we got now are the consequences of ignoring the wise counsel of those who preceded us. We did things because they made us feel better about ourselves, so we cheered when Reagan bombed Libya in retaliation for the terrorist attack on a nightclub in Germany. Only later we find out that it was Iran that was responsible. Who grieved for the innocent killed?

A lot of innocent people have suffered or been killed on our account. Our government has committed crimes against humanity in our name. Justice demands that our leaders be held accountable for their crimes. Our inability and unwillingness to do so, makes us all responsible for what they have done.

[shenmue]

2. There is no Palestine. They're Jordanians.

This is nothing but an attempt to get back land Israel won in the 1967 war. A war most Palestinians still won't admit even existed.


:eyes:

[Violet_Crumble]

3. Thanks for the RW talking points...

A denial of the existance of the Palestinian people and a sheer disregard of international law, which forbids the acquisition of territory won in war.

[Douglas Carpenter]

7. its always a kick how we always get a few people who do not know ANYTHING

about the conflict, the history or the region - but they have read the usual talking points from extremist radical-fringe pro-settler movement material.

[bemildred]

5. Previous discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=202490&mesg_id=202490

[bemildred]

6. And related discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=202392