What Hamas could learn from the early Zionists about state-building
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1699252,00.html
Paralysed by the shock result of the Palestinian election, all sides
are now looking to the past to find a way forward
Jonathan Freedland
Wednesday February 1, 2006
The Guardian
In this new landscape, everyone is in the dark. After Hamas won an
enormous victory that shocked even them, all the players in the Middle
East conflict are stumbling around, unsure how to negotiate the new
terrain. No one knows quite what to do.
Proof of that came from Monday's statement of the Quartet of world
powers who preside over what is still laughably referred to as the
Middle East peace process. Translated, the diplomatese boiled down to a
plea for time. Everyone wants a pause for breath, to see what happens
in the Israeli elections on March 28, to see what Hamas does with its
parliamentary majority. Hamas are not exactly in a hurry to start
governing either: they anticipated (maybe even wanted) to form a large
opposition bloc rather than be given the hospital pass of actually
administering the Palestinian Authority. To have responsibility for
daily Palestinian life yet, because under Israeli occupation, little
power to do the job is a thankless, if not impossible, task. Hamas are
talking of a "period of transition"; they moot a coalition with Fatah,
the party they defeated. They too crave delay.
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