To Hamas or not to Hamas

Oh dear, the Palestinians held an election and the wrong guys won. Rather than the moderate Fatah, victory went to the uncompromising Hamas.

Reaction in the West has been a bucket of hypocrisy. If Hamas doesn't recognize the State of Israel and renounce violence, Western nations, including apparently our own, threaten not to recognize the new government and, as further punishment, to cut off aid. The Palestinians thereby become unique. All other peoples are allowed to resist foreign occupation with violence, but not the Palestinians. All other governments are allowed to decide for themselves what countries they will recognize, but not the Palestinians. The job of the Palestinians is to submit, in effect surrender, and if they refuse, they will be starved into submission. So much for the West's respect for democracy.

It is true Hamas has sent suicide bombers into Israel, but then the Israelis have ethnically cleansed the Palestinians, conquered them, occupied their territory, and continue to humiliate them and steal their land even as I write these words. They surely have a right to respond, but what with? Israel has the best army in the Middle East, they have biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, and they are backed by the most powerful nation the world has ever seen. The Palestinians are naked by comparison. They are forced to resort to the weapons of the very poor, and that means the weapons of terror.

Personally, I am partial to passive resistance against an oppressor and I suspect it would always have been a better strategy than violence for the Palestinians, but, tragically, non-violent methods have limited currency in the world. As I say this, the Americans and the Brits continue to bludgeon Iraq into compliance.

So let's stop pretending there is something uniquely wicked about Hamas and its use of violence. Let's just do the right thing and recognize a government that has been freely and fairly elected.