Well, our worst fears were realized, and the terrorist organization Hamas will be in charge of the Palestinian parliamentary.
For most of us, this is particularly bad news for not only Israel, but the entire Middle East.
For many in the comments section of this post, it’s yet another opportunity to bash Jews, bash President Bush, and yes, even bash the concept of democracy. It’s got to be painful to live with such tiny, impotent anger all day long.
I would give Sharon some grief about creating a new terrorist state, but I think the whole thing is going to collapse. Hamas is already starting to have infighting as some of the more radical factions have actually begun to fight amongst themselves. I can see Iran beginning to take advantage of the whole mess and turn the West Bank into a staging ground for a future invasion of Isreal. The PM of Iran will begin moving troops in to “stabilize” the situation at the request of the new administration. Isreal and the U.S. better keep a close eye on this situation.
I don’t think people take this to bash democracy. It’s clear, however, that democracy means different things to different people, or more accurately, to different societies. In Palestine, it’s o.k. to throw out a corrupt government and install terrorists as the new leaders. From what I read, international observers said the election went fine. Apparently, democratic election of murderers is acceptable in Palestine, which means that the democratic process worked, in their eyes, as it should.