http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6766551.stm

it never ceases to amaze me the lengths that our government is willing to go to get its way, especially where the middle east and israel is concerned. we see on the one hand the refusal to deal with yasser arafat, accusing him and his ruling party (the fatah party) of corruption and not doing enough for the palestinian people to allow the peace process to proceed. nevermind that arafat *did* have problems with corruption for one minute, and the fact that he was known to keep money slated for the palestinian authority and palestinians in general for himself and/or giving it to friends and family. the fact is, arafat was one of the moderates of the ideologies vying for the hearts of his people, and he was going to be more able to make a deal with the US and israel. nevermind all of that because we insisted (practically forced) the palestinians to hold elections for a new government because supposedly arafat was so bad for the peace in the region.

well, in steps hamas with a sweeping victory over fatah in those very same elections we made them hold. hamas has a very extreme ideology and despite what they have said in recent months, their base belief is that israel does not truly exist and their struggle will end with the destruction of israel as a state. not exactly the kind of people who are going to bargain in good faith, or will even come to the table to listen to anything. hamas is an organization that prefers action to words, as they have shown time and again on the world stage. unfortunately for us, they won the elections we insisted on having. so for the US (and the EU for that matter) to turn their backs on the palestinians the way they have for the last year has been incredibly hypocritical to say the least. but then, i guess consider the source of that hypocrisy. it has never been in the best interests of any government to do the most moral thing in any situation, and history has a long lineage of governments which have done very immoral things to further their own agendas — present company included.

so now that the fatah party has basically RE-taken control of the palestinian authority after the hamas-led rout of their militants in the gaza strip, suddenly the US and EU are coming back to pretend as if this is the one true legitimate governing body of the palestinian people. sorry, but it doesn’t work that way! well, i guess it does when you’re dealing with two of the most powerful government bodies in the world who basically write their own rules as they go along, but it *shouldn’t* work that way. and basically, what have we really accomplished at this point? hamas is just as militant as they were before — maybe moreso now that they are no longer considered legitimate members of their own ELECTED government. mahmoud abbas (president of the palestinian authority) has called hamas’ fighting in gaza a coup, but then what exactly did he do by reshaping the PA in his own image?

and again, what has been accomplished? the PA is still controlled by those loyal to the fatah party, hamas is still an extremist islamist organization who probably wants israel to be destroyed even more than before. so now instead of a two state solution, now we’re looking at a three state solution with the current situation. but yet nobody is willing to talk to hamas because of their history of violence. so not only will any deal abbas makes with israel be looked at suspiciously, but he doesn’t represent hamas at all, but yet they control one entire part of the occupied territories. not that i am defending anything hamas has done as far as the violence is concerned, but they were democratically elected to represent the palestinian people at the insistence of the US government, and now they are effectively blocked from any kind of diplomatic arrangements, again at the insistence of the US government. quite a nice hole we’ve dug for ourselves. not that we have much credibility anymore in this situation, but i think what little we had is slowly drying up and blowing away.