Read the platform of Hamas here by the “Political” director of this terrorist group.
Money Quote:
Our message to the US and EU governments is this: your attempt to force us to give up our principles or our struggle is in vain. Our people who gave thousands of martyrs, the millions of refugees who have waited for nearly 60 years to return home and our 9,000 political and war prisoners in Israeli jails have not made those sacrifices in order to settle for close to nothing.
Hamas has been elected mainly because of its immovable faith in the inevitability of victory; and Hamas is immune to bribery, intimidation and blackmail. While we are keen on having friendly relations with all nations we shall not seek friendships at the expense of our legitimate rights. We have seen how other nations, including the peoples of Vietnam and South Africa, persisted in their struggle until their quest for freedom and justice was accomplished. We are no different, our cause is no less worthy, our determination is no less profound and our patience is no less abundant.
Here’s a piece by Richard Cohen on Hamas’s victory. And here HIS money quote:
In due course we will be told that what Hamas has been insisting on for years — the utter destruction of Israel — is not really a serious goal. Hamas should not be taken literally and, anyway, it will be forced to moderate both its platform and its policies by the reality of governing. When, for instance, it repeats the words of its charter — “The solution of the problem (Israel) will only take place by holy war” — we will be assured that it is only throwing red meat to what in America is called “the base.” As for its truculent anti-Semitism — not to be confused in this case with anti-Zionism — it, too, will be dismissed as without consequence. Hamas will have to deal with reality — and Israel, in the region, is the mightiest reality of them all. Yasser Arafat came to understand that.
Here’s a thoughtful (as usual) piece from Christopher Hitchens on the Hamas election. Here’s something to think about for those who want to blame the president for global warming and all terrorism.
It is shallow and short-term, therefore, to write up the election result as a bitter fruit for the Bush administration’s democracy initiative. (What was the alternative? No elections? Elections but without Hamas participation? And do not forget that the combined vote for the four secular and leftist and independent lists, at a time of extreme pressure to conform to either Fatah or Hamas candidates, was over 112,000 ballots, or about a tenth of the total.)