Hamas, whose shock parliamentary election victory changed the face of Palestinian The United States said it will review funding to the aid-dependent Palestinians from Reuters<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Extremely unsettling news. Hamas, It is clearly a case of reaping what one sows, What are we to do in cases like this? It seems Meanwhile, the West Bank is breaking out in sporadic Suddenly, for the first time in their lives, the tit One can only wonder if the Israelis are not also reaping It played perfectly into the hands of the Israelis and As our dear mother always says, "You made your \n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged fire on Friday in political turmoil as the long-dominant Fatah faction was threatened with a violent backlash from within after its crushing election defeat by the Islamic militant group. Hamas, whose shock … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/hammass.jpg\")
GAZA (Reuters<\/a>) – Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged fire on Friday
\n in political turmoil as the long-dominant Fatah faction was threatened
\n with a violent backlash from within after its crushing election defeat
\n by the Islamic militant group.<\/p>\n
\n politics and plunged Middle East peacemaking deeper in limbo, said it would
\n hold talks soon with President Mahmoud Abbas on a "political partnership." But
\n Fatah leaders have rejected a coalition with Hamas.<\/p>\n
\n if Hamas enters government and Israel suggested it could suspend customs
\n revenue transfers, adding economic uncertainty to the political upheaval. <\/p>\n
\n a terrorist group by any reasonable reckoning and the estimation of all
\n governments in the western world, has been elected to lead a country
\n vital to US
\n interests. Neither Israel nor the US will or can negotiate with a Hamas-led
\n government. The US and Europe cannot send another nickel to a Hamas-led
\n Palestinian Authority. Hell, in this country you can get spirited away
\n in black Lear jet and disappear into an officially non-existent gulag
\n of third-world black ops torture dungeons and coercion centers for funneling
\n money to terrorists.<\/p>\n
\n for all of the participants in this sorry open sore on the religious
\n heart of the world. The US has to accept that loosing a revolutionary
\n ideology like democracy on
\n long-enslaved
\n populations
\n often results in unbalanced regimes as election winners unprepared to
\n govern take over in pillaged countries around the world. Most of these
\n new governments are not going to like the US much, and the feeling will
\n probably
\n be mutual.
\n In many cases these rookie governments will quickly fail on their own,
\n and either be overthrown by military rulers or see their countries
\n slip
\n into
\n gansterism
\n or civil war. In other cases, governments may, like the Nazis, discard
\n the trappings and mechanisms of democracy after winning elections and
\n attempt to stay in office indefinitely.<\/a> <\/p>\n
\n here that we need to take a strictly hands-off attitude, at least as
\n far as direct involvement. It’s like having kids; there are certain lessons
\n they have to learn for themselves. There
\n is an old saying that in a democracy people usually get the government
\n they
\n deserve.
\n The
\n Palestinian
\n people
\n have the right of self-determination. However, they have to accept
\n the fact that if they elect a government that openly favor armed warfare
\n and suicide bombing of civilian targets, the cash spigot from the US
\n and Western Europe is going to quickly dry up. Maybe the Iranians or
\n the
\n Saudis can
\n keep them afloat, but this would cause additional problems for either
\n or both of these wobbly regimes.<\/p>\n
\n fighting between Fatah and Hamas gunmen. The Fatah guys are freaking
\n out, because for the past 30 years they have BEEN the Palestinian Authority,
\n most of that time under the MaxAuthority of Yasir Arafat, and they are
\n all on the pad, getting fat envelopes of cash at the end of every month,
\n as the "foreign aid" funneled to the Palestinians got distributed
\n to Fatah loyalists and filtered down to the average thugs and gunsels
\n on the street.<\/p>\n
\n is being withdrawn. The money flow is going to stop. Interestingly,
\n they are turning on their leaders, the rich, corrupt old lions, who have
\n certainly salted away enough millions to quietly retire in Monaco, Miami
\n or join Michael Jackson in Dubai. The younger commanders and fighters
\n haven’t had the chance yet to accumulate that kind of loot, and aren’t
\n looking forward to being left behind to face a Hamas religious anti-corruption
\n revenge-minded government. No wonder they are freaking out. They
\n are afraid for their lives, hopped up on speed and hashish, and heavily
\n armed.<\/p>\n
\n what they have sown. For years we have been convinced that
\n Yasir Arafat himself was the ultimate Israeli masterstroke – abetting
\n in the
\n rise
\n and supremacy of the ultimate king of corruption. Arafat
\n held his own people down for 20 years, created a culture of corruption,
\n dependency and dysfunctionality, and conveniently rubbed out any anti-corruption
\n or charismatic young challengers to his absolute power.<\/p>\n
\n worked to the detriment of any true Palestinian aspirations for a viable
\n state. Without Yasir Arafat a secular state of Palestine would have
\n existed for the last 10 years, at least. But it was a Faustian bargain
\n for the Israelis; a scheme so diabolically effective that it has eaten
\n the bodies and souls of two
\n generations of Palestinians and left the too smart by twice Israelis
\n without a rational negotiating partner in their belated grasping for
\n a lasting peace.<\/p>\n
\n bed, now you have to sleep in it." At least she trained us to make
\n our own bed, although we won’t be sleeping in it much if we keep thinking
\n about the way the Middle East is moving…..<\/p>\n