Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:54:21 PDT Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:54:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Madison-Rafah Sister-City Proj Subject: Weekly Briefing No. 11: More on Internal Conflict in Palestine IN THIS BRIEFING: (1) Hamas' Shock and Awe by Sam Bahour (2) Palestinians Must Have Hope to Move Forward by Dr. Mona El-Farra (3) West Chooses Fatah, Palestinians Don't by Saree Makdisi (4) Palestine Between Delusion and Destruction by Rami Khouri (5) Danger of Dividing Palestine by R. Malley and A. Miller (6) In Search of Justice in the Middle East by Ali Abunimah (7) Hamas Statements from Washington Post, New York Times with note by Ali Abunimah (2 articles) ****************************** Hamas' Shock and Awe by Sam Bahour (June 19, 2007) Excerpt: As the Bush Administration failed to export its understanding of democracy to Iraq via the US military, the US's second regional blunder was trying to impose US democracy in occupied Palestine by using a proxy governing body called the Palestinian Authority. The US 's weapon of choice for Palestine was to dangle millions of dollars as bait, there for the taking if the Palestinian leadership showed total obedience. While US and other donor countries channeled billions of dollars to 'promote' democracy and 'build' Palestinian security forces, Hamas was busy learning the intricacies of the US game of military shock and awe and imposed democracy. During the last 17 months, Hamas attempted both, successfully: they won democratically held elections, as confirmed by election observer President Jimmy Carter, and then went on to overrun Gaza by brute force. Full Article at: http://www.countercurrents.org/bahour190607.htm ********** Palestinians must have hope to move forward by Dr. Mona El-Farra (Wednesday June 20, 2007, Austin American-Statesmen) As a physician from Gaza, I have treated far too many Palestinians wounded by Israeli troops. Now a day has come that I thought I would never see. Throughout our 59-year struggle to obtain our freedom, we Palestinians debated strategy and tactics. Political factions competed for popular support. But never would I have believed that we would turn guns against each other. What brought us to this point? Full Article: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/06/20/20elfarra_edit.html ********** West chooses Fatah, but Palestinians don't They prefer Hamas, which represents an alternative to Fatah's acceptance of the Israeli occupation. By Saree Makdisi (Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2007) IN THE WEST, there's a huge sense of relief. The Hamas-led government that has been causing everyone so much trouble has been isolated in Gaza, and a new government has been appointed in the West Bank by the "moderate," peace-loving Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. So why then do Palestinians not share in the relief? Well, for one thing, the old government had been democratically elected; now it has been dismissed out of hand by presidential fiat. There's also the fact that the new prime minister appointed by Abbas — Salam Fayyad — has the support of the West, but his election list won only 2% of the votes in the same election that swept Hamas to victory. Fayyad and Abbas have the support of Israel, but it is no secret that they lack the backing of their own people. Full Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-makdisi20jun20,0,2672122.story?coll=la-opinion-center ********** Palestine between delusion and destruction By Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star (Lebanon) Note: Rami Khouri will speak in Madison this fall sponsored by the Madison Civics Club. It's hard to know who appears more ludicrous and despicable, the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas leaderships allowing their gunmen to fight it out on the streets of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, or an American administration saying it supports the "moderates" in Palestine who want to negotiate peace with Israel. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday to underline American support for "moderates" committed to a negotiated peace with Israel, such as Abbas. She also called leaders of "moderate" Arab states to rally their support for Abbas against Hamas. Surrealistically, this was happening when Hamas forces were routing Fatah's security forces to take control of all public facilities in Gaza, and Abbas was proving that the sort of Arab "moderation" he represents has little anchorage in reality anymore, and has little credibility with Arabs above all. Full Article: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=83067# ********** The danger of dividing Palestine Don't think Mahmoud Abbas can afford to concentrate on the West Bank at Gaza's expense. By Robert Malley and Aaron David Miller (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) June 20, 2007 Having embraced one illusion -- that it could help isolate and defeat Hamas -- the Bush administration is dangerously close to embracing another: Gaza is dead, long live the West Bank. This approach appears compelling. Flood the West Bank with money, boost Fatah security forces and create a meaningful negotiating process. The Palestinian people, drawn to a recovering West Bank and repelled by the nightmare of an impoverished Gaza, will rally around the more pragmatic of the Palestinians. The theory is a few years late and several steps removed from reality. Full Article: http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1256063.html ********** In search of justice in the Middle East '3-state solution' is no path to peace By Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian-American and the author of "One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." (Chicago Tribune, June 21, 2007) The U.S. decision to back Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the recent turmoil virtually guarantees an escalation in violence. Abbas has installed an unelected "emergency" government to replace the democratically elected Hamas-led national unity government. Full Article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0621gazajun21,0,4877386.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed ********** Hamas Opinion pieces published in Washington Post, New York Times, with commentary by Ali Abunimah: In a quite remarkable development, both The Washington Post and The New York Times today carry op-eds by Ahmed Yousef, a senior advisor to Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the democratically-elected Palestinian Authority cabinet, that Mahmoud Abbas purports to have removed from office in favor of an unelected, US- and Israeli-backed "emergency government." Each article takes a different angle, and each should be read carefully as indications of Hamas' strategy and intentions. It is also worth referring back to a commentary Mr. Yousef wrote late last year in which he wrote "Hamas proposes a long-term truce during which the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can try to negotiate a lasting peace," a truce called in Arabic, 'hudna.' He added, "Such a concept - a period of nonwar but only partial resolution of a conflict - is foreign to the West and has been greeted with much suspicion. Many Westerners I speak to wonder how one can stop the violence without ending the conflict. I would argue, however, that this concept is not as foreign as it might seem. After all, the Irish Republican Army agreed to halt its military struggle to free Northern Ireland from British rule without recognizing British sovereignty. Irish Republicans continue to aspire to a united Ireland free of British rule, but rely upon peaceful methods. Had the I.R.A. been forced to renounce its vision of reuniting Ireland before negotiations could occur, peace would never have prevailed. Why should more be demanded of the Palestinians, particularly when the spirit of our people will never permit it?" (Pause for Peace, New York Times, November 1, 2006) If Israel and the United States had ever been serious about ending the conflict, they would have paid careful attention to what Hamas said then, and they would pay attention now. --Ali Abunimah, June 20, 2007 (http://electronicIntifada.net) Engage With Hamas: We Earned Our Support By Ahmed Yousef, The Washington Post 20 June 2007 GAZA CITY, Palestine -- The Palestinian National Authority apparently joins the list of elected governments targeted or toppled over the past century by interventionism: nations that had the courage to take American rhetoric at face value and elect whomever they would. No doubt some in Washington persist in the fiction that the United States is following a "road map" to democracy for Palestinians, just as others believe the Iraq war has been a sincere exercise in nation-building. Neoconservative strategists have miscalculated, however, and Hamas is stronger than ever...Full article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/19/AR2007061901736.html What Hamas Wants By AHMED YOUSEF (The New York Times, 20 June 2007) Gaza City--THE events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya but never received the handover of real power from Fatah, the losing party. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has now tried to replace the winning Hamas government with one of his own, returning Fatah to power while many of our elected members of Parliament languish in Israeli jails. That is the real coup. Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/opinion/20yousef.html