Hamas in Gaza

Hamas commander sitting on Abu Mazen's chair.
(Photo courtesy of guardian.co.uk)

Hamas's victory over Fatah in Gaza has been swift and complete. Yet again they impress with their discipline and tenacity. My contacts in Gaza however remain fearful. The most common word I've heard is "confusion". No one knows how to feel or what to think about this sudden shift in the balance of power. Israel and the Western powers have no such uncertainty however. They remain committed to supporting Abu Mazen, the Palestinian President and head of Fatah. This response belies their abject lack of understanding of the Palestinian people, and, dare I say it, not a little bit of racism too. Mazen is a political light weight who has been incapable of providing leadership either politically or administratively (it was under his leadership that Fatah so bungled the last election that in some electorates they fielded multiple candidates!). So why the West's undying faith in Mazen? I'll come back to that later.

First to Hamas. What can we expect from Hamas in Gaza? This is impossible to predict with much certainty, but already some signals have been made. Hamas have said they will not induct the Sharia over Gaza and the Hamas PM has asked for restraint. Whether or not this will actually be followed through is another matter. But if one takes off the racist glasses you can see quite clearly that Hamas, while not a choir group, is fairly disciplined and rational in its actions. Rational here means following a course of action based on a logical framework which is largely predictable (as opposed to rational in the scientific sense).

Remember Hamas played by the rules, they won elections and they even seized all suicide attacks in Israel. Where did it get them? Boycotts, targeted assassinations, the kidnap of their ministers. At the same time Fatah has been corrupt, arrogant, inept and openly and unquestioningly supported by all the major players - Israel, the US and Europe. Fatah gets this support because they understand the rules of the game. Palestine is never to exist. The Palestinians are merely to be the untouchables of greater Israel. Fatah will be the mafia bosses who run the Palestinian slums in what's left of the Palestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza after the wall and major settlement areas have been completed. If the Palestinians behave themselves, they might be fortunate enough to provide some cheap labour for Israeli industry. But that's only a maybe. In recent years Israel has preferred migrant labour from places like the Philippines.

So Hamas was left with two options, play by the rules and eventually disappear into oblivion, or take matters into their own hands.

Of course crimes have been committed, and there is no excuse for that. Ideally the people who have committed these acts should be punished. But the situation is so horrible that what would normally be common sense is mere fantasy now. Gaza is a harsh, cruel place. People with guns get the power. That's what victimhood does to you.

So yes, frankly, I hate to say this, but Hamas did what from their perspective was the only logical course of action. They took matters into their own hands. They're sending a pretty clear message - we're a force to be reckoned with so speak to us. Stop calling us a terrorist organisation, we're a major political force whether you like it or not.