Abba Eban, the brilliant statesman and scholar, once opined that
the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an
opportunity.
Last week’s election was no exception. The Palestinian
people, who voted in droves, chose to elect Hamas, the unrepentant
terrorist organization that has murdered hundreds of civilians and
maimed thousands more.
Hamas won 76 out of 132 seats in the Parliament ““ a clear
majority over Fatah, the party of Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas.
From start to finish, this election has been an utter travesty.
It has unmasked the radical pulse of the Palestinian people at a
time when many in the West still wish to remain blind to the
reality at hand.
To begin with, Hamas should never have been allowed to run in
the elections at all. Just as Nazis are not allowed to run in
German elections and al-Qaida members should not be able to run in
elections anywhere, so it should have been with Hamas.
Since its founding, the group has murdered about 600 Israelis.
As a proportion of population, that is tantamount to about 30,000
dead Americans. Nearly half of the 147 successful suicide bombings
in Israel from 2000 to 2005 were executed by Hamas.
Thousands more attacks were prevented solely because of the
vigilance of the Israeli Defense Forces. Lest you think of their
violence as resistance, Hamas, like al-Qaida, actively targets
civilians ““ something for which there is never
justification.
Of Hamas’ attacks, 2 percent have been directed at
military targets. The group prefers blowing up cafes and discos
filled with innocent men, women and children. In its terror
rampage, Hamas has murdered many Americans as well.
In fact, al-Qaida and Hamas have more than a few similarities.
Both were founded in the late 1980s and are rooted in the ideology
of the Muslim Brotherhood. Osama bin Laden’s mentor, Abdullah
Azzam, headed the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. Hamas began as an
offshoot of the Brotherhood’s Gaza branch.
Both groups seek to implement strict interpretations of
“sharia,” or Islamic law. In the spirit of the Taliban,
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar promised that if Hamas won the
elections, the group would ban dancing between men and women. He
also referred to gays and lesbians as “a minority of perverts
and the mentally and morally sick.” Welcome to
Hamas-stan.
Al-Qaida and Hamas have worked together to destroy
Israel’s vibrant democracy. They both encourage the defeat of
the American military in Iraq. Al-Qaida and Hamas have collaborated
to conduct terror attacks, such as the 2003 suicide bombing at
Mike’s Place, a bar on the Tel Aviv beachfront.
In his August 1996 declaration of war, bin Laden mentioned
Hamas’ founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, by name, expressing
concern over his arrest. In 2004, Hamas distributed CDs in the West
Bank and Gaza that pictured Yassin and bin Laden alongside other
terror masterminds.
Hamas and al-Qaida ““though they may differ tactically from
time to time ““ are cut from the same cloth. They are two peas
in a pod of fanaticism, intolerance and militant jihad.
Some believe that once Hamas is in the political sphere, it will
be forced to become more moderate. Don’t be so sure.
Previously, non-democratic movements have used democracy to
ascend to power, abolish democracy, and pursue reckless
policies.
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels admitted that “we
used democratic methods only in order” to gain power. Once
elected, Adolf Hitler did not exactly moderate his fanaticism or
maintain elections.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran came to power in a popular
revolution, yet still found time to ban music and implement other
draconian measures.
The Palestinian people must not escape responsibility for this
latest calamity. Though hardly living in an environment of
tolerance or freedom, it is the Palestinians who elected this
vicious terror group to lead them. Since its founding, Hamas has
been committed to the destruction of Israel in its entirety and has
always rejected peace.
Its founding charter states that “(peace) initiatives and
so-called peaceful solutions … are in contradiction to the
principles” of Hamas. The fact that the group provides social
services to Palestinians should be about as relevant as if al-Qaida
had handed out blankets to poor Afghanis after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
The world must not be duped again the way it was with Yasser
Arafat, the dictator who was brought back from Tunisia to lead the
Palestinian people. Arafat signed a piece of paper renouncing
violence and was honored at the White House. Meanwhile, he never
stopped funding suicide bombers, protecting terror groups, and
working for the destruction of Israel.
Emboldened by Israel’s 2005 unilateral withdrawal, Hamas
is poised to be even worse.
The cliche that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is driven by a
“small group of extremists on both sides” has
unequivocally been disproved. By electing Hamas, a majority of
Palestinians have loudly declared that they have no opposition to
suicide bombing and the targeting of civilians.
The Palestinian community is responsible for any and all of
Israel’s defensive measures, including targeted
assassinations, closures, checkpoints and the security fence. The
Palestinians have elected a party of unremitting terror and
senseless war, and they must be held accountable.
All nations should refuse to court the government of Hamas-stan.
The United States, the European Union and the United Nations should
cease funding the Palestinian government, lest we aid in the
proliferation of terror.
Hamas, like al-Qaida, must be liquidated, not accommodated. Only
the naive have the audacity to believe Hamas will be anything but
an implacable enemy toward Israel, America and human dignity. What
a terribly unfortunate experience this has been for the world
““ and for the Palestinians.
Keyes is a former Daily Bruin columnist.