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Hamas
Victory In Palestinian Election Surprises World |
Posted:
1.30.06
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Hamas' surprising victory in last week's Palestinian elections
has regional and world leaders scrambling to determine how the
militant Muslim party's win will impact the Middle East peace
process.
Printer-friendly versions: PDF
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Hamas, which had refused to participate in the democratic process
before, won 76 out of 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament.
The Fatah Party, which had dominated Palestinian politics for
decades, won only 43 seats. Many are calling this an unexpected
political earthquake.
"I don't know anyone who wasn't caught off guard by Hamas'
strong showing," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
said. "Some say that Hamas itself was caught off guard by
its strong showing."
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Who is Hamas? |
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Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, is the largest Islamist
movement in the Palestinian territories. It formed in 1987 after
the beginning of the first Palestinian uprising against Israel.
The organization has two branches: a militant and a political
wing.
The militant wing, known as the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades,
has advocated for the destruction of the state of Israel and has
taken responsibility for many terrorist attacks and suicide bombings.
The political wing, the Dawah, runs social welfare programs,
such as building hospitals and schools, which aid the impoverished
Palestinian people.
Although Hamas has made no move to disarm or end its formal pledge
to destroy Israel, the group unofficially continues a year-long
cease-fire. 
The tension between the militant wing and the political wing
will define the new Palestinian government, according to regional
experts.
"Hamas will have to decide how it's going to deal with the
issue of the desire of the Palestinian people, the needs that
they have for calm and order and economic reconstruction. At the
same time, as it's going to want to continue with its policy of
militant resistance, what we call terrorism, towards Israel and
with the objective of destroying the neighboring state,"
Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, told the NewsHour.
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Israel reaction |
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Israel has said that it will not deal with a Palestinian government
that includes Hamas.
 "Under
no circumstances can we either accept nor countenance a [Palestinian
government] which is composed of an armed organization that calls
for the destruction of the state of Israel," Acting Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told world leaders over the weekend,
the Guardian reported.
The Israeli government has threatened to stop reimbursing the
Palestinian government the roughly $50 million a month it collects
in taxes and customs fees on the Palestinians' behalf.
Israel also has urged foreign governments to stop aiding the
Palestinian government unless Hamas disarms, stops calling for
the destruction of Israel and renounces violence.
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World reaction
and financial aid |
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Because of its terrorist activities the United States put Hamas
on its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This designation
means that the United States cannot provide funds or material
support to the organization. The European Union and Israel have
similar designations.
Rice is in London Monday to meet with a group known as "the
quartet" -- the United States, European Union, United Nations
and Russia -- to determine whether to continue to fund the Palestinian
government.
Currently the Palestinian government receives about $1 billion
per year in foreign aid, mostly from the United States and Europe.
Rice has said the United States will not support a Hamas government
and is working to convince others to cut off aid.
"There has got to be a peaceful road ahead. … You cannot
be on one hand dedicated to peace and on the other dedicated to
violence. Those two things are irreconcilable," Rice said.
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Hamas reaction
to threat of aid reduction |
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas have called on the
international community not to cut aid to the Palestinians.
Ismail Hanieh, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said the money would go
to schools, roads and health care, and that the international
community can monitor its budget.
 "We
in Hamas are ready to meet and have an open dialogue with the
Quartet," Hanieh told a news conference in Gaza City.
Other Hamas leaders say that the international community has
no choice but to support a democratically elected government.
"The Americans and the Europeans have an interest in this
also. They will be embarrassed in this part of the world if they
punish a people simply for expressing their democratic wishes,"
Saed Siyam, a Hamas candidate elected to parliament last week,
told the Washington Post.
--
Compiled by Annie Schleicher for NewsHour Extra
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