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Jan

6

Abu Dhabi oped: Hamas has failed – as a government


I’ve been writing a lot and asking often about why the Arab countries do so little to assist the residents in Gaza and the West Bank. Not just now.  Not just 60 years ago.  But over centuries.  So far, not one answer.  Usually I read things like, “there have always been occupiers.”  Well, okay.  Only in the last couple of days has the pressure on Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia been amped slightly in its rhetoric, but Mubarek is holding firm – he absolutely does not want to see Hamas strengthened.

Well, if he’s looking for affirmation, he should definitely read this op-ed in the Abu Dhabi paper, The National.  Read the entire thing, but here are excerpts:

On its control and brutality:

Many thought that Gaza and the West Bank were inseparable entities until Hamas’s bloody takeover of the Strip in the summer of 2007 damaged that notion. Their 18-month rule is marred by lawlessness, extra-judicial public killings and gang warfare that is more reminiscent of Somalia than a civilised state.

Time magazine reported on the violence that followed the takeover then: “Gangs have tossed enemies alive off 15-storey buildings, shot one another’s children and burst into hospitals to finish off wounded foes lying helplessly in bed.” 

Last week, Taghreed El-Khodary of the New York Times reported that Hamas militants in civilian clothing again resorted to killing wounded former inmates of Gaza’s central jail who were accused of collaboration with the enemy. These unproved “collaborators” were executed in public even though Palestinian Human Rights groups repeatedly claim that “most of these people are completely innocent”. Hamas seems to be either unable or unwilling to stop such extrajudicial executions.

Additionally, on the first anniversary of Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip, the Christian Science Monitor found a lack of medicines in hospitals as well as of clean drinking water in the territory, and raw sewage streaming into the sea. And this isn’t because Hamas’s dignity prevents it from meeting the enemy.

On its relations w/Israel:

Hamas’s vast propaganda machine around the Arab world mysteriously fails to report on the meetings between its members and Israeli government representatives. For example, after a 90-minute meeting with an official from the Israeli state electricity company in order to sort out the town’s electricity needs, the Hamas-affiliated mayor of Qalqilya told the BBC about the meeting: “It was civil, without any problem between him and I.”

Where do you think Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader in the Strip, gets his electricity from?

Overall:

By any standards Hamas has failed miserably. It has failed in peace, failed in governance, and moreover failed in war. In addition to Hamas’s ambiguous political agenda, their goal seems to be resistance for the sake of resistance, a quagmire where the journey really is the destination. It is time for Khaled Mashaal to step down and allow more competent leaders to emerge before he causes even more damage to his cause. The question is if Hamas leaves, what is the alternative?

In fact, probably the only good thing that can be said about Hamas is that they are not Fatah.

A ringing endorsement, indeed.

The author of the piece:

Sultan Al Qassemi is a Sharjah-based businessman and graduate of the American University of Paris. He is the founder of Barjeel Securities in Dubai.

And he keeps a blog.

And in the comments, he and another commenter mention a desire for the Gulf Cooperation Council to intervene.  Why is this the first time I’ve even heard mention of the GCC in relation to this conflict? 

Here’s an article from today about how the Arab states are not of one voice, and it mentions the GCC.

By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:29 pm January 6th, 2009 in Blogging, Gaza, Israel 

Comments

One Response to “Abu Dhabi oped: Hamas has failed – as a government”

  1. 1 Jillian C. York on January 8th, 2009 1:14 pm

    I finally got to read this! It’s been open in a tab for two days, and I’ve been so swamped with information…apologies.

    A brief point about Qassimi:

    He is the emirati of Sharjah, arguably the most conservative province of the UAE (alcohol is banned and there’s a strict dress code; compare that to the hedomism of Dubai and Abu Dhabi)

    One of my frustrations with “GCC” countries is their total hypocrisy; sure, they condemn violence in the name of Islam, but they don’t condemn the many human rights violations they commit. So not only has the GCC mostly been a lame duck throughout the conflict (that’s why this is the first time you’re hearing about it), but they are also utter hypocrites.

    2)

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