I recently ran across a public opinion poll on Palestinian attitudes. It was embedded in an article that stated the best way to defeat Hamas is for Israel to prop up the Palestinian Authority. This is true if the Right Wing government of Israel truly wanted Hamas gone. I'm cynical towards that.
But the poll. It was interesting and it shows why Hamas can still get support amongst Palestinians. The poll was taken in late September by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. I have no idea their sample method so I'm posting these numbers rather blind:
66% of Palestinians believe that the Palestinian Authority's long term goal is to recover all or parts of the land occupied in 1967. (Aka Gaza/West Bank). 24% believe the PA's goal is to recover the 1948 lands. So right there the Palestinians think the PA wants a two state solution.
However 57% of Palestinians believe settlement growth has made a Palestinian state impossible. I can't blame them. President George W. Bush's roadmap to peace obligated Israel to freeze settlement growth and remove illegal outposts. Currently the right wing Netanyahu government has doubled funding for settlements. And the outposts that are illegal even under Israeli law? The current government is considering legalizing them. This leads into....
81% of Palestinians believe that Israel's long term goal is to annex the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967. And this is why Hamas still gets support. Because when a very large percentage of the Palestinians think Israel just wants to completely annex Gaza and the West Bank than there's no real chance for peace. And this is a tragedy.
Showing posts with label Hamas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hamas. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Newslinks November 19th, 2012
I will say the Hamas experiment has mostly failed. Their governing arm has done a decent job providing services to the Palestinian people in Gaza and the fact they are in charge has moderated the militant wing...a little. But it's way too little. The militant wing has too little interest in protecting the Palestinian people so they continue to be a terrorist faction instead of a source of stability and defense.
In all honesty, the way Gaza looks at the moment, if an election was held and Hamas was voted out I doubt they would give it up. Remember the civil war against Fatah. But that is just speculation, there'd first have to be an election and second Hamas would have to lose. And there were supposed to be elections back in May, in an agreement Hamas made (brokered by the Egyptians) with the Palestinian National Authority, but they backed out of the elections stating holding them would be "impossible." In January it will have been 7 years since elections were held in Palestine.
Also of interest: In 2011 the Independent Commission for Human Rights lambasted the PA, Hamas and Israel for human rights abuses against the Palestinians. I don't remember hearing much about this, but I think that should be highlighted.
Hamas could have ended up the good guys in this, however improbably and insane that statement seems. Terrorist organizations can reform, especially if given political power. But they're clinging to power and abusing the trust of the people they're in charge of. If there was the 15 years of peace (see newslink below) that Israel wanted, I wonder how long it would take for the Palestinian people to rise up against their own government. But it won't happen as long as there are attacks in their cities. No matter how bad their government is, people band together behind it when attacked by an outside force.
In all honesty, the way Gaza looks at the moment, if an election was held and Hamas was voted out I doubt they would give it up. Remember the civil war against Fatah. But that is just speculation, there'd first have to be an election and second Hamas would have to lose. And there were supposed to be elections back in May, in an agreement Hamas made (brokered by the Egyptians) with the Palestinian National Authority, but they backed out of the elections stating holding them would be "impossible." In January it will have been 7 years since elections were held in Palestine.
Also of interest: In 2011 the Independent Commission for Human Rights lambasted the PA, Hamas and Israel for human rights abuses against the Palestinians. I don't remember hearing much about this, but I think that should be highlighted.
Hamas could have ended up the good guys in this, however improbably and insane that statement seems. Terrorist organizations can reform, especially if given political power. But they're clinging to power and abusing the trust of the people they're in charge of. If there was the 15 years of peace (see newslink below) that Israel wanted, I wonder how long it would take for the Palestinian people to rise up against their own government. But it won't happen as long as there are attacks in their cities. No matter how bad their government is, people band together behind it when attacked by an outside force.
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