Whether you're concerned about what's going on in Israel and Pres. Bush's trip there this week, or the war on terror in general...if you want a view of what it's like for a terrorist organization to gain power in a country, all we have to do is look at Israel.
After Mahmoud Abbas came into power of the Palestinian Authority (PA) replacing Arafat, Hamas won many seats in the government and introduced the new cabinet which would be led by their most militant members. This created a hard-line Palestinian government void of moderate voices, which Hamas was bent on doing even at the expense of future funding from Western nations, which totaled over $1 billion a year in humanitarian aid in the past.
In other words, by choosing hard-liners who do not recognize Israel's right to exist as a state, the PA forfeited much needed aid for their people. The West laid down the requirement that Israel must be recognized as a state by the PA in order for them to receive financial help. Hamas refused and said instead that it would replace the Western funds with financial backing from Iran and other Arab states.
One of the most important government positions in the PA, the diplomatic position of foreign minister, was given to the co-founder of Hamas, Mahmoud Zahar, who supports the use of suicide bombers, and holds the position that Israel should be destroyed...and will 'eventually disappear.'
Another elected Hamas legislator, Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Mubarek said, the world just has to learn to deal with this, "The majority of the Palestinian people gave their votes to Hamas to establish the new government, so the world has to deal with this reality."
Though Mahmoud Abbas has veto power, as we have seen the opposition in his government doesn't just disagree verbally, but with violence. Hamas has repeatedly fought against Abbas' Fatah party. Such as the Guardian Unlimited reported last year, "...when a group of armed men, some in masks, others in police uniforms, broke into the office of a Fatah MP in Rafah, southern Gaza. Ashraf Jumaa, one of only a handful of Fatah politicians who has stayed in Gaza, was beaten on the head with a rifle butt and an aide was shot in the leg in what appeared to be a warning. Mr Jumaa insists some of the attackers were members of the Hamas militia, the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades."
Recently, the leader of Hamas,Khaled Mashal, said, “Some Europeans have offered us to meet indirectly with Israelis to discuss a truce and we told them no and no 1,000 times.'' And called President Bush's upcoming visit, 'unwelcome' because he 'supports the occupation' of the Jews.
Hamas, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, declares its universality in its charter and its slogan, "Allah is its goal, the Prophet its model, the Qur’an its Constitution, Jihad its path and death for the case of Allah its most sublime belief." The war on terror is not just about Afghanistan, Iraq, finding Osama bin Laden, it's about stopping the spread of terrrorist organizations wherever they are found. If we don't then the above could become a reality, even here in America. Remember, Israel is the 'little satan', and America the 'great satan' in the minds of militant Islam.
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