january 30, 2006

The Hamas Earthquake

The results of last week’s Palestinian elections were staggering. When the scope of the Hamas victory became known, it was clear a new era had dawned on the Middle East, and in fact the world.  This political earthquake was a major turning point for the region.  For the first time in the history of the Middle East, an Islamic group had assumed power through a democratic election. 

Earlier in the week, there was a great deal of speculation about how Israel and the U.S. would deal with a Palestinian government that would have Hamas members in its parliament or even in its cabinet.  How would they manage the delicate diplomatic dance of dealing with the Palestinian government but not directly with Hamas members?  That all changed when it became clear Hamas wasn’t just part of the government but it WAS the government.

It also became clear that the vote was in large part a response to the pervasive corruption of Fatah, Yasser Arafat’s ruling party that dominated Palestinian life for nearly a generation.  Now, an Islamic group takes its place and will now be the dominate influence in Palestinian life.  What does this Hamas victory mean? 

For one, it obviously and radically changes the dynamic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Israel’s official position is that it will not deal with a Palestinian government that advocates the destruction of the Jewish state.  So the “peace process” - which was on life support - had the plug pulled.

But what does Hamas want?  What are their goals?  The Hamas Charter has attracted a lot of attention because it’s their founding document and a road map about their intentions.  Here are some of its tenets:  Article Seven talks about the fight against the Jews.  (If you ever wondered where a suicide bomber gets his motivation to blow himself up in a crowed bus, you can find it here.) 

“... the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realization of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:
"The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

Article Eleven explains why Hamas doesn’t want a two state solution.  They want a one state solution, to replace Israel with Palestine. 

“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that. Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgment Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgment Day?”

Article Thirteen explains why Hamas will not negotiate with Israel:

“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion ... the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realizing the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitrators. When did the infidels do justice to the believers? ...There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with.”

Given these tenets of Hamas, is it any wonder the government of Israel said it would not negotiate with any Palestinian government dedicated to killing Jews and the destruction of the Jewish state?  The United States is not involved in a “peace process” with al-Qaeda. Why expect Israel to be involved in a “peace process” with Hamas?  As Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations said after the election, “Israel should be involved in a security process, not a peace process.”

Hamas wants to found an Islamic state, implement Sharia law, and eventually to establish an Islamic caliphate throughout the Middle East.  As they pursue these goals, they will be pragmatic, but they will not be compromise their core beliefs.  Compromise would be blasphemous.   

Is there a silver lining to this election?  Perhaps.  After forty years, the charade is over.  For years the Palestinian Authority and the PLO played a duplicitous game of plausible deniability of the worst sort.  They “condemned” terror attacks while at the same time providing funding for the terrorists involved in those same terror attacks.  For example, during Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield in 2002, Israel discovered a huge volume of documents implicating the P.A. and Yasser Arafat directly in financially supporting terrorists and terror attacks.  Yet, time after time, he and the P.A. denied involvement.  With Hamas, Israel at least knows who it is fighting.

Yet this week’s election seemed a victory for terror and the enemies of Israel.  But the Bible offers hope.  The morning after the results of this election were announced, a huge rainbow arched over the city of Jerusalem.  It spread like a banner over the place the Bible calls “the city of the Great King”.  This ancient reminder of God’s promise to never again destroy the earth through water, called to mind another promise:  “indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  (Psalm 121:4)    

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