Here’s a nice illustration of how Palestinian democracy works:
“The moderate Palestinian Authority president [Mahmoud Abbas] publicly warned Hamas militants on Monday that he has the authority to bring down their month-old government, and told them it was high time they recognized Israel…
“The constitution gives me clear and definite authority to remove a government from power, but I don’t want to use this authority. Everyone should know that by law this power is in my hands,” Abbas said.
How does the law work?
“Under Palestinian law, if Abbas dissolves the government, he would ask someone else to try to form a Cabinet, which would need approval from the legislature. Since Hamas controls the legislature, it’s unlikely he could do this. Once Abbas determines there is a stalemate, he has the authority to order new elections.”
And the response from Hamas?
“The senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the group would “not leave in silence” and threatened to stop recognizing a truce with Israel that Abbas brokered in February 2005.”
The Hamas official said:
“Being ousted from power will have a heavy price for everyone. We hope not to reach that point… We will go, but we will not recognize the Palestinian political regime… We will not participate in any new election and we will go underground as we did before and we will not adhere to any commitments, any truce, by anyone…We expect from President Abbas to protect his government and not to make such declarations.”
So, if Hamas doesn’t opt for peace, Abbas will dissolve the parliament, call for new elections, and Hamas will revert to.. what exactly? A terrorist organization? Isn’t that what they are now, a terrorist organization, albeit one with a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament? So, instead of publicly cheering on terrorism against Israel and the West, Hamas would privately cheer on terrorism against Israel and the West.
And that’s how Palestinian democracy works right now. Gives you a lot of hope for the future, doesn’t it?
Actually, it doesn’t give me any hope for the future, no. However, this latest bit isn’t at all surprising.
I love the quote from the 2nd senior Hamas official:
“The senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the group would “not leave in silence” and threatened to stop recognizing a truce with Israel that Abbas brokered in February 2005.”
These people wouldn’t know a truce if the white flag was stuck in the rectum.
Most people would consider that an act of war.