January 27, 2006

There are good reasons for Hamas's victory

By Rami Khouri

The dramatic victory by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Wednesday's parliamentary elections is a historic turning point, and perhaps also a potential political opportunity -- but only if sober minds prevail on all sides and everyone calmly separates the causes of the victory from its possible consequences.

The hysteria brigades are already on the march in North America, Israel and other quarters where Hamas and fellow Arab Islamist political groups are seen primarily through the lens of their attitude to Israel, with which they are at war. The twin priorities now are for Hamas to wield its new power with responsibility and wisdom, and for Israel and the United States not to repeat the mistakes of the past two decades that have promoted Hamas's ascent to power.

For years, the Israeli government believed fantastically that it could speak of wanting to make peace with the Palestinians, while it pursued a policy of occupying their territory, expropriating their land for Jewish settler-colonies, toying with the Palestinian Authority, and assassinating Palestinian militants from Hamas and other groups who resisted the Israeli occupation.

Hamas's steady growth since its birth just two decades ago is a direct response to the Israeli occupation policies and the incompetent response by the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, which have long been led by the Fatah group of the late Yasser Arafat. All concerned must acknowledge this victory for what it really signifies and portends. Three key points stand out.

The first is that the election campaign was not a referendum on making peace or war with Israel. Hamas did not win because it promised to wipe out Israel. It won because it held out the promise of redressing some of the terrible imbalances, chaotic distortions and deep indignities that have plagued Palestinian domestic society in recent years. These include corruption and incompetence in the Palestinian Authority, lawlessness at the local level, fragmentation as a result of Israeli occupation policies, and a humiliating inability to protect the integrity, humanity and day-to-day normal life of Palestinian communities. Hamas won because Palestinians think it can do a better job than Fatah in restoring order and self-respect to their lives.

The second important aspect of the election result is that Hamas will now experience the responsibility and accountability that come with incumbency. As a democratically elected governing authority, whether on its own or in coalition with Fatah and other Palestinian groups, Hamas will have to act in a manner that broadly reflects the views of the majority of the Palestinian citizenry. That majority is at odds with Hamas's view of Israel. Palestinians have clearly and consistently expressed a desire to negotiate a fair, permanent peace with Israel and co-exist in peace with the Jewish state, rather than to wipe it off the face of the Earth.

The third important point about Hamas's victory is that it represents a brand of political leadership legitimacy that has been rare in the modern Arab world. Islamists in other Arab countries, Iran and Turkey have also made important political gains in the past three decades, because the existing modern Arab political order has largely failed the crucial tests of good governance, satisfying statehood and legitimate leadership.

Turkey is the most heartening example of an Islamist political movement that achieved power democratically -- in a NATO country, no less -- and has ruled with credibility, rationality and efficiency. It holds out important lessons for what happens when moderate, mainstream Islamists are shunned and banned, or are allowed to engage in democratic politics according to fair rules.

Hamas came into being as a direct response to Israel's harsh occupation policy that reflected a broad denial of Palestinian national legitimacy. Hamas's policies, therefore, cannot be viewed in isolation, but rather must be seen in the context of the struggle with Israel. Unilaterally demanding that Hamas disarm its resistance wing, or unilaterally acknowledge Israel's existence, will get nowhere if such a call is not matched by confidence-building measures from the Israeli side.

The priority now is for would-be third-party mediators -- and I hope Canadians, Swedes, Norwegians and others will be among them -- to calmly craft a process that simultaneously identifies the legitimate rights and aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians, and the diplomatic steps to achieve those rights.

Rami Khouri, a Palestinian born in Nazareth, is editor-at-large of The Daily Star, published in Beirut.
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Published in the Globe and Mail, Friday, January 27, 2006 (Page A15)

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