Take it easy.
In Arabic we frequently say “take it easy ya azizi”, which means “take it easy my dear”
In Canada we just voted for a right wing government. In the US the people voted for George Bush twice and in Israel the people voted for a war criminal named Ariel Sharon. Yet the hysteria brigades are all up in arms over Hamas winning the last Palestinian Elections.
“Death of the peace process” I heard on the CBC radio
What peace process? What planet are these people from?
George Bush said something like “You can’t be a partner in peace if you are armed”
Oh yeah! And Israel, the only nuclear power in the Middle East, is no problem. Nobody is demanding that Israel disarms.
Our newly elected Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that Hamas must renounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist.
O! but extra judicial killings by Israel’s army are just fine. Israel doesn’t talk about Palestine’s right to exist, they simply make sure that Palestine does not exist through a brutal apparatus of a military occupation. None of this is factor in Stephen Harper’s consideration.
“We just witnessed the formation of hamastan” declared Bejamin Natanyahu, former prime minister of Israel
I suppose I can respond with an equally racist statement but I won’t.
And Condoleezza Rice said something indicating that they will cut aid to the Palestinian people.
This one I am glad that Khalid Misha’al (Hamas leader and a survivor of Israeli mossad assassination attempt) responds very eloquently in a recent article on the Guardian.
Here a few quotes from the article
We will not sell our people or principles for foreign aid
Our message to the Palestinians is this: our people are not only those who live under siege in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but also the millions languishing in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and the millions spread around the world unable to return home. We promise you that nothing in the world will deter us from pursuing our goal of liberation and return. We shall spare no effort to work with all factions and institutions in order to put our Palestinian house in order. Having won the parliamentary elections, our medium-term objective is to reform the PLO in order to revive its role as a true representative of all the Palestinian people, without exception or discrimination.
Our message to the Israelis is this: we do not fight you because you belong to a certain faith or culture. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for 13 centuries in peace and harmony; they are in our religion "the people of the book" who have a covenant from God and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be respected and protected. Our conflict with you is not religious but political. We have no problem with Jews who have not attacked us - our problem is with those who came to our land, imposed themselves on us by force, destroyed our society and banished our people.
I suggest you read the full article though.
I also would recommend this article on the washington post by Mousa Abu Marzook titled What Hamas Is Seeking.
Let me make it clear, I do not support Hamas, nor do they reflect my values. Had I been able to participate in the elections I would have voted for the Independent Palestine list. Hamas is considered to be a terrorist organization by the Canadian federal government and there is no doubt that Hamas is behind the terrorist attacks inside Israel.
I myself consider Hamas to be a legitimate resistance movement. They have a long history of providing medical and educational services for free inside the occupied territories and are generally perceived as much less corrupt that the leaders of Fatah. While leaders of Fatah wear fancy suits, drive in fancy cars and live in fancy villas. Leaders of hamas wear plain clothes, live in houses among average people, there kids don’t get educated in the Sorbonne and their wife’s don’t wear Chanel. If you research the biography of various Hamas leaders you will discover that many of them grew up in refugee camps and are graduates of Israeli prisons, making them more in touch with the average person on the Palestinian street.
To all those hysterical over the Hamas win in the elections I say “take it easy, ya azizi”. If Canadians can toss out the liberals over a corruption scandal and vote in a right wing party then why can’t the Palestinians do the same. Now that they are in power they will have to moderate their views because they actually have to do what it takes to make things work instead of criticizing things from the side lines.
Consider how Israel and the US have contributed in discrediting the Fatah leadership in the eyes of the Palestinians. By refusing to budge and taking a completely hard-line stand, Fatah under Mahmood Abbas’s leadership looked like puppet of the US government unable to gain any wins. With all the assassination attempts on Hamas leadership, the Israeli government made Hamas seem to be more aligned with the Palestinian struggle and aspiration of independence and freedom.
I hope and pray that Hamas leadership will use this opportunity wisely, ignore other Islamic based movements in the Middle East and focus solely on doing what is right for the Palestinian people. I hope they will take a moderate stand especially with regards to the Christian Palestinian community ensuring that their rights are respected under their governance. I pray that they will not be corrupted by this recent acquisition of power. I urge them to continue the fight for the rights of the Palestinian people while showing willingness to negotiate for a peaceful resolution when an honest opportunity arises.
Still felling hysterical about it?
I suggest that you go eat some humus and pita. Contemplate how a humble dish that sustained poor Palestinina peasants for decades has become a fancy treat sold as health food in western fancy stores. Contemplate how the ANC was considered a terrorist organization by most western nations at one point and how today all world leaders are tripping over each other to get a photo opportunity with Nelson Mandela today.
Take a deep breath
Take it easy
I have a feeling that Hamas will rise to the occasion.
** The picture is of Kahlid Misha'al giving a speech with pictures of Arafat and Sheik Yassin in the background. The pic is from IslamOnline and I got it via Justice for Everybody
Update: Jimmy Carter on Hamas winning the elections
There is a way between voice and presence where information flows.
In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes. .... Rumi
12:59 PMHmhm.Looks like silence before storm.
Anyway, wasn't Hamas election victory somehow was written in roadmap to solution Israeli-Palestian Conflict?
For Washighton smarties...They have to do something with HR department in White house. They just lost the whole latino-american
continent.
I would replace Condoleesa Rice with Ihath - she knows more,
she feels more, she can be a great consultant for a new roadmap or at least for new middle east process
regulations.
10:21 AM
Dear Ihath,
In addition to popcorn (that's for Maxine) for relaxation, one can also find and post the jokes going around about the Hamas victory.
We've heard of Palestinian suicide bombers. Now we have Palestinian suicide voters.
All police stations in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip have been ordered shut because all complaints must now be filed directly to God.
Hamas stopped all suicide bomber operations ahead of the election, because they needed every vote they could get.
The fine for going through a red light is two prayers.
That's all I can find in English. Maybe some Arabic readers can find and post more.
Later...
5:02 AM
Dear Ihath,
Here's another anti-anxiety article about the Hamas victory:
"With Hamas win we should express relief rather than anxiety"
I agree with the author:
"Democracy, even in the violent Middle East, brings a certain clarity, and with it, at last, honesty."
"What we are witnessing are the aftershocks of the removal of Saddam Hussein and the messy democratization of the Middle East. These ensuing tremors have left pro-American autocrats in the Gulf and Egypt and hostile dictators in Syria, Libya and Iran trembling."
"We will encourage free and open elections, but need not always be friends of the subsequently elected governments."
We live in interesting times. Maxine, time to make more popcorn (assuming you can take control of the microwave).
Later...
5:06 PM
Bush was re-elected because John Kerry is a sanctimonious elitist and Nader is a relic of the 70s. I proudly voted for Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian.
Canada's Steve Harper was elected to a minority leadership role forcing him to work with other parties, which is a protest against Martin and that he's not some scray ultra-right figure Martin tried to make him. The NDP also won seats in the election, which will make it interesting if Harper and Layton can come to an agreement, like Layton decides social policy while Harper takes care of fiscal policy.
I agree with your stance on "take it easy", but I am suspicious and Carter's endorsement matters little to me, as I have found Bush a vast and immense dissapointment, but I like Peanut boy even less.
As for UNICEF, I don't trust any UN organization. Now a charity I fimrly support is Heifer International, and if they have aid aimed at helping Palestinians, I will gladly support them for it. Pita and humus is an excellent dish and I did not know it was Palestinian in origin.
As bad as Sharon was, he managed to remove the settlements from the Gaza Strip and would eventually move out of the West Bank. I sense he was going the way of Irgun's Begin and Yitzakh Rabin.
I am also glad Hamas's leader will go after the treatment of Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt, though the Palestinians in the US, Canada, and UK are not as badly off, and they can be a disapora that can benefit their homeland and help bring commerce there the way American businesses have done with Ireland.
If Hamas's politicians are true politicians they will know where the wind is blowing and will soften their approach, but they will probably be a little corrupted, but that is politics. And if Hamas doesn't soften, they'll be out the door in four years, and new parties will develop including what I hope to see a party like Turkey's CKP and hopefully one that sees Palestine's best hope in commerece and tourism, which will do a lot to promote peace.
With the settlements its too bad no Isaelis formed a peace settlement where each Israeli family would "adopt" a Palestinian family in the area and would be in turn adoptd by that Palestinian family and learn cooperation while breaking down the old negative feelings to friendly competition.
7:34 AM
Hamas demands return of Seville in internet children's magazine
2:10 PM
ihath, does anyone care what harper or canadians think about the middle east or any other issue? just jack up taxes, pass some pro-queer legislation, and kiss a moose. that is what the world expects of canada. now smile and say "eh"
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