The Redhunter

Some have said that this brings "unavoidable clarity to the central issues in the region" and that, along with recent statements by Iranian president Ahmadinejad, make "impossible for (most) apologists to minimize the nature of the threats we face." Also gone will by the hypcrisy of Yassir Arafat, when he would "denounce them(terrorists) in English in the morning and celebrate them in Arabic in the afternoon. Hamas will not have that luxury".

No doubt moral clarity is a good thing. I always thought that those who criticized Ronald Reagan for his "evil empire" speech, and those who attacked George W Bush for his "axis of evil" characterization, were very misguided.

Another aspect of this is that now Hamas will have to perform. It is easy to criticize when on the outside, and tough rhetoric always whips up one's followers. But they will find that actually running a government is not so easy, and that public support is fickle. A leader in the Lebanese parliament seemed to speak for many Arab governments when he said that "Hamas had better get its act together." Other Muslim and Arab leaders voiced similar sentiments.

Hamas also has to decide whether it wants to become anything more than just a terrorist organization. The Wall Street Journal opined that it "...may even have the long-run benefit of educating Palestinians about the terrible cost of their political choices." The United States, let alone Israel, will not allow a state governed by terrorists to emerge in Palestine.

Besides clean government, voters also chose Hamas because they believe it can bring victory against Israel. Powerline observes "the fact is that a great many Palestinians, perhaps a majority, are living in a fantasy world in which the massacre of the Jews will somehow solve their problems." This is no doubt true, just as it is true that increased terrorism will only make matters worse for Palestinians.

Perhaps they will have to learn the hard way. The Bush Administration has announced that it will not deal with Hamas "unless it renounces its goal of destroying Israel." We will see whether the administration will be able to resist the inevitable calls that will eventually come to "recognize reality" and deal with the "legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people" that we will soon be hearing.

And They Want Their Own Country?

The response of Fatah supporters to the Hamas victory has been to riot and torch cars. No doubt we will hear many excuses from the left about how this is the result of their being misteated by the Israelis, poverty, not being "respected", bad childhoods....

Whatever. Last September Belmont Club reported that Palestinians werewrecking, dismantling, and carrying off very expensive greenhouses left for them in Gaza when the Israelis evacuated. The high-tech greenhouses could have been a source of much revinue for the Palestinians. That the Palestinian security forces did nothing to stop the looting is telling. If they cannot or will not stop looting, how can they run a country?

Behavior such as this can only harm their aspirations to nationhood.

The anti-Semitic portion of the world, which is all to great a part of it, will always excuse such behavior. The part that counts toward granting the Palestinians a country, the US and Israel, will not. And so as long as they behave this way, they'll stay poor and nationless.