Hamas's predicament - self-inflicted?

[barb162]

Apr. 22, 2006 22:15 | Updated Apr. 23, 2006 5:03
Hamas's predicament - self-inflicted?
By DAOUD KUTTAB
Long before the Palestinian elections, I met in Ramallah with Hassan Yousef, a senior West Bank leader of Hamas. Before he began the interview, on our Ramallah TV station, to discuss the upcoming elections, Hassan Yousef told me that it would be a mistake for Hamas to win more than 25% of the Palestinian Legislative Council seats.

Yousef, who was reported to have had some problems with his own leadership, is now held administratively by Israel without trial or charge. He was arrested in September during a roundup of more than 200 Palestinians following a wave of rocket attacks.

Hamas nominees (including the imprisoned Yousef) won four seats for the Ramallah district. The fifth Ramallah seat was won by a Fatah candidate who competed for the district's seat set aside for Palestinian Christians.

Yousef's comments were based on his intuition that winning the elections would be disastrous to Hamas.

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http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498896961&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

[Kagemusha]

1. Democracy is dangerous, huh

Well it'd just have been postponing the inevitable anyway.

And it's not like you can go out there and tell only some people not to vote for you.

[OhioNerd]

2. This might actually be the best thing that could have happened.

This might actually be the best thing that could have happened.

Nations are like people. Sometime it takes a "Holy Shit" moment to motivate important changes.
Getting slapped in the face with a brand new reality, a reality that you're not used to dealing with, can create the much needed "Holy Shit" moment.

There is at least a possibility that the Palestinians will come to their senses and finally just cut the best deal they can.