The Palestinian Political Situation

 George Habash's contribution to the Palestinian struggle 
As’ad AbuKhalil, The Electronic Intifada - I lived more than half of my life in the US and I never felt the alienation that I felt on the day I read George Habash, the Palestinian revolutionary who passed away last week, labeled as a "terrorism tactician" in a front page obituary in The New York Times. What do you do when they want to convince you that a kind and gentle man you met and respected as a person is a terrorist when you know otherwise? Do you quibble with their definitions to no avail? Do you go back and see how they wrote glowing obituaries for Zionist militia leader and later Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, a man whose record of killing civilians is as horrific and grotesque as that of Osama Bin Laden, former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, Fatah Revolutionary Council founder Abu Nidal or Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet? more

 Divide and Rule, Israeli-Style 
Jonathan Cook in CounterPunch – The boycott by Israel and the international community of the Palestinian Authority finally blew up in their faces with Hamas' recent bloody takeover of Gaza. Or so argues Gideon Levy, one of the saner voices still to be found in Israel. "Starving, drying up and blocking aid do not sear the consciousness and do not weaken political movements. On the contrary Reality has refuted the chorus of experts and commentators who preached [on] behalf of the boycott policy. This daft notion that it is possible to topple an elected government by applying pressure on a helpless population suffered a complete failure." But has Levy got it wrong? more

 Gaza in the grip of Hamas 
Saleh Al-Naami in Al-Ahram Weekly – While temporary security in Gaza might have been restored under the control of Hamas, the economic conditions continue to deteriorate and the future for all and sundry remains under threat, writes Saleh Al-Naami in Gaza. more

 Saving President Abbas 
Uri Avnery – Ehud Olmert is the opposite of Midas, King of Phrygia. Everything the king touched turned into gold, according to Greek legend. Everything Olmert touches turns into lead. And that is no legend. more

 Whose Coup, Exactly? 
Virginia Tilley in The Electronic Intifada – Having sacked Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and dissolved his democratically-elected government, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas has now installed Salam Fayyad as the new Prime Minister, to the clear delight of the West. Mutual accusations are hurled by Abbas and Haniyeh that the other side launched a coup against the legitimate authority. Nevertheless, now a fresh line of grave Palestinian faces has lined up before the cameras as Fayyad's new "emergency government" is sworn in. That the new PA has virtually no power in the West Bank, and none at all in Gaza, is the first glaring problem with this pageantry. (Bitter jokes about a 'two-state solution' consisting of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have circulated.) more

 Towards a Geography of Peace: Whither Gaza? 
Ilan Pappé in The Electronic Intifada – The Gaza Strip is a little bit more than two percent of Palestine. This small detail is never mentioned whenever the Strip is in the news nor has it been mentioned in the present Western media coverage of the dramatic events unfolding in Gaza in the last few weeks. Indeed it is such a small part of the country that it never existed as a separate region in the past. Gaza's history before the Zionization of Palestine was not unique and it was always connected administratively and politically to the rest of Palestine. It was until 1948 for all intents and purposes an integral and natural part of the country. As one of Palestine’s principal land and sea gates to the world, it tended to develop a more flexible and cosmopolitan way of life; not dissimilar to other gateways societies in the Eastern Mediterranean in the modern era. This location near the sea and on the Via Maris to Egypt and Lebanon brought with it prosperity and stability until this life was disrupted and nearly destroyed by the Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948. more

 Welcome to 'Palestine' 
Robert Fisk in The Independent – How troublesome the Muslims of the Middle East are. First, we demand that the Palestinians embrace democracy and then they elect the wrong party – Hamas – and then Hamas wins a mini-civil war and presides over the Gaza Strip. And we Westerners still want to negotiate with the discredited President, Mahmoud Abbas. Today "Palestine" – and let's keep those quotation marks in place – has two prime ministers. Welcome to the Middle East. more

 A setback for the Bush doctrine in Gaza 
Ali Abunimah in The Electronic Intifada – The dramatic rout of the US and Israeli-backed Palestinian militias in Gaza by forces loyal to Hamas represents a major setback to the Bush doctrine in Palestine. more

 The American proxy war in Gaza 
Ali Abunimah in The Electronic Intifada – In recent days the unremitting, murderous brutality of the Israeli occupation has been eclipsed by the carnage in Gaza as dozens of Palestinians have been killed in what is commonly referred to as "interfactional fighting" between forces loyal to Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction on the one hand, and the Hamas-led government on the other. more

 Seven Questions: Ismail Haniya on the Future of Palestine 
Erica Silverman in Foreign Policy – It’s no secret that the Bush administration wants Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya out of power. Last Friday, it almost got its wish: Haniya offered to resign if the international embargo of the Palestinian territories were lifted. But even if Haniya steps down, he’ll still call the shots for Hamas, the government’s ruling party. FP recently sat down with the prime minister to ask how he intends to weather the current storm. more

 The Power of Saying No 
Jeff Halper – As the new Hamas government is sworn into power in the Palestinian Authority, we might ask: What would bring a people, the most secular of Arab populations with little history of religious fundamentalism, to vote Hamas? Mere protest at Fatah ineffectualness in negotiations and internal corruption doesn't go far enough. While warning Hamas that their vote did not constitute a mandate for imposing an Iran-like theocracy on Palestine, the Palestinians took the only option left to a powerless people when all other avenues of redress have been closed to them: non-cooperation. more

 Commentary: Hamas Election Victory is a Vote for Clarity 
Ali Abunimah in Electronic Intifada – Hamas' victory in the Palestinian Authority legislative elections has everyone asking "what next"? The answer, and whether the result should be seen as a good or bad thing, depends very much on who is asking the question. more

 Hamas drops call for destruction of Israel from manifesto 
Chris McGreal in the UK Guardian – Hamas has dropped its call for the destruction of Israel from its manifesto for the Palestinian parliamentary election in a fortnight, a move that brings the group closer to the mainstream Palestinian position of building a state within the boundaries of the occupied territories. more

 Why Hamas is Gaining in Palestinian Polls 
Ilene R. Prusher in the Christian Science Monitor – Speaking easy English and shaking the hand of male and female visitors alike, Adli Yaish is hardly the typical face of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement. Rather, the new mayor of Nablus embodies a cadre of Hamas "spinoffs." Gone are the full beards and fiery religious rhetoric. Absent are assertions that all Israel is a "Zionist entity" that Muslims must destroy. more

 Hamas wins huge majority 
Al Jazeera – The Islamic group Hamas has won a huge majority in parliamentary elections as Palestinian voters rejected the long-time rule of the Fatah Party. more

 Exit poll shows Fatah as biggest winner in Palestinian elections 
The Lebanon Daily Star – Fatah emerged as the biggest party in Palestinian Parliament elections, but Hamas came in as a strong second, first projections showed, with voter turnout estimated at more than 75 percent. more

 Who’s in Charge Here? 
Amira Hass in Haaretz – The Israeli intelligence officials and those who quote them in the press are right when they say that it’s not Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority security services who are in control in the Gaza Strip. The intelligence sources and those who quote them are misleading however, when they say that armed gangs and the Hamas run Gaza. The IDF runs Gaza. more

 Hope for the Future: An Interview with Amal Jadou 
IWPS – Amal is a 31-year-old refugee from Aida Camp, Bethlehem. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the U.S. She was recently hosted by the government of Japan, as a recipient of their Young Leadership Prize. She hopes to be elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Read More | Watch in RealPlayer | Download for Windows Media Player

 The Election Labyrinth of East Jerusalem 
ISM – At approximately 2:30 PM on election day, former US President Jimmy Carter intervened with the Israeli government on behalf of 124,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who were not allowed to vote near their homes because of Israeli government restrictions. This belated intervention allowed Palestinian residents of the city who hold Jerusalem IDs and who had registered for the election to vote at any of the six Israeli post office polling stations in East Jerusalem. more

 Abbas Wins Election 
Al Jazeera – Fatah candidate Mahmud Abbas has won the Palestinian presidential elections with 95% of the votes counted. According to the initial results that were released on Monday, Abbas won 66.7% of the West Bank’s votes and 65% of the Gaza Strip’s. more

 Analysis: Abbas Declared New President 
AlAqsaIntifada.org – The official results of the election are out, and Mahmoud Abbas has been declared the President of the Palestinian Authority. This is the candidate preferred by the U.S., Israel, and the Arab leaders – none of these being friends of the Palestinian people. And he is the candidate who will go along with their wishes and compromise Palestinian rights. more

 Young Volunteer Shot Dead by Israeli Army While Campaigning for Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi 
Palestine Monitor – On a thursday morning, Riziq Ziad Musleh, a 17-year-old Palestinian high school student, was placing posters on a wall near his home for Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi’s presidential campaign when, without any warning or incident, he was shot in his right side from the direction of the Rafah Yam Israeli settlement. more

 Overview of the Palestinian Presidential Election – Written and Audio 
IMEMC News – In the coming January 9 Palestinian presidential election, three parties are running candidates, and four independents are also running – 7 candidates in total are running for the position of president. Read and listen to the overview.

 Palestinian candidate ‘beaten up’ 
BBC – A candidate in January’s Palestinian presidential election says he has been detained and beaten by Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint. more

 Thousands Welcome Arafat’s Body Home 
Kim Bullimore – Amid chanting, gunfire, clapping and weeping, Yasser Arafat was welcomed home to his final resting place by more than 200,000 Palestinians on November 12. more

 In Arafat’s Aftermath 
Prof. George E. Bisharat in the San Francisco Chronicle – As Yasser Arafat has died, so die the hopes for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Contrary to the belief held in the United States and Israel, Arafat worked tirelessly toward the peace of the brave and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It was precisely because Arafat was such a dogged proponent of compromise with Israel that the Israeli government worked so hard to destroy him. more

 Opinion: Palestine is now part of an arc of Muslim resistance 
Seumas Milne in the UK Guardian – Ariel Sharon’s decision to incinerate a 67-year-old blind quadriplegic cleric outside his local mosque will certainly go down as one of the most spectacularly counter-productive acts of violence in the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. more