[Mb-civic] Questions for Hamas - Shai Feldman - Boston Globe Op-Ed
William Swiggard
swiggard at comcast.net
Tue Jan 31 04:08:58 PST 2006
Questions for Hamas
By Shai Feldman | January 31, 2006 | The Boston Globe
HAMAS'S VICTORY in last week's elections to the Palestinian Legislative
Council has produced more questions than answers. The first concerns the
legitimate framework within which a Hamas-dominated Palestinian
government will operate. The Palestinian Authority and its Legislative
Council were created in the early 1990s as part of the Oslo agreement.
The grand bargain included the Palestine Liberation Organization's
commitment to end the armed struggle against Israel and accept an
open-ended peace process. After Likud's victory in the 1996 elections,
the new Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu assumed Israel's
obligations under the Oslo accords although Likud had previously opposed
these agreements. The question is: Will a Hamas-dominated Palestinian
government do the same? If not, what would be its source of legitimacy?
Another question concerns the composition of the next Palestinian
government: Would it be dominated by Hamas or will it have a much
broader base, in the form of either a Hamas-Fatah ''national unity
government" or a Hamas-technocrats coalition that would include
non-Hamas members? The answer to this question is critical -- it will
largely determine whether President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) would be
able to continue serving as president and whether Israel, the United
States, and the European Union will be able to deal with the new
Palestinian government.
Other questions concern the odds of overcoming the state of anarchy in
the West Bank and Gaza. Who will command the Palestinian Authority's
security services, which were created by PLO leader Yasser Arafat and
whose personnel is composed almost entirely of Fatah members and
associates? In an attempt to streamline these services, they have been
formally placed under the authority of the minister of internal
security. But after Hamas's electoral victory, Abbas declared that he is
placing them under his command. To whom will they answer?
And what will be the future role of Hamas's militants? Will outside
pressures to disarm these militants lead, instead, to their
incorporation within the PA's security services? Under the Oslo
agreements, the PA's security services were to number up to 18,000. In
recent years, Palestinian police and military personnel have reached
about 58,000. If these numbers were to mushroom further by incorporating
the approximately 5,000 Hamas militants into the services, how would the
PA be able to pay the salaries of so many people? And if they don't, how
would the PA avoid Iraq-like consequences of releasing thousands of men
trained in the use of weapons to an economy suffering chronic
unemployment? The answer to these more practical questions will probably
be decided by the manner in which Hamas will resolve its internal debate
regarding a more basic set of issues: First, should it make a modest and
gradual attempt to incorporate its Islamic agenda and priorities within
an emerging Palestinian state structure along the Turkish model? Or
should it, instead, attempt to become itself the state structure, a la Iran?
Second, to whose needs should Hamas be more responsive: the population
of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem or the movement's external
supporters, primarily Iran? Sensitivity to the latter would probably
mean an indefinite confrontation with Israel. Emphasis on the former
would call for attempts to alleviate the plight of the suffering
population, even if this requires coming to terms with ''the Zionist enemy."
Finally, how will Hamas leaders interpret the messages they will be
receiving from their constituents during the coming weeks? Will they
understand the message to be an endorsement of continued violent
struggle against the Jewish state, or will they, instead, hear the
population saying: We voted you in because we were fed up with Fatah's
corruption, incompetence, and lawlessness. We were also proud of your
brave resistance. But a majority of us are not religious fanatics and we
want to get on with our lives. We want our dignity and independent
statehood alongside Israel, but replacing the Jewish state is a costly,
impractical dream. Our fledgling economy is dependent on Israel, the
United States, and the donor community. You need to come to terms with
the real world, even if implicitly and without ceremony.
Early indications are that Hamas leaders are hearing the voices calling
them to adopt a pragmatic approach, to favor gradual change, and to give
priority to alleviating the plight of the Palestinian population. Time
will tell whether or not these leaders will be able to part with their
orthodoxy and adapt to their new responsibilities.
Shai Feldman is director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at
Brandeis University.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/01/31/questions_for_hamas/
-------------- next part --------------
Skipped content of type multipart/related
More information about the Mb-civic
mailing list