Word: gaza
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...Oslo, Hamas may have, knowingly or not, taken a major step toward the inevitable. Indeed, ironically, the very fact that it has entered and won these elections affirms the legitimacy of the Oslo institutions it once mocked. Hamas, now, has assumed administrative responsibility for the West Bank and Gaza, territories whose economies remain dependent on that entity next door that Hamas doesn't formally recognize-but negotiates with, albeit indirectly. Five years ago, when Hamas sent suicide bombers to Tel Aviv, Israel would respond by attacking the Palestinian Authority. Now, Hamas will be the Palestinian Authority, making the cost...
...Abbas's party-Sharon had made it abundantly clear that Fatah was irrelevant to the fate of the Palestinians, and Fatah had made it abundantly clear that it had no program beyond waiting in vain for the Americans to intervene. Sharon, meanwhile, pressed ahead with a unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and possible follow-ups in the West Bank. Those dramatic moves, however, were never conceived of as steps toward a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. On the contrary, they were drawn up as an alternative to a negotiated settlement, an attempt to resolve the problem of the occupation on Israel...
...ruling Fatah party in the 132-seat parliament, will focus on its stated priority of "cleaning the Palestinian house." What this means, concretely, is ridding the Palestinian Authority of rampant corruption, and establishing law and order on the chaotic streets of the West Bank and Gaza. Ironically, that means that a Hamas government, despite its opposition to previous peace efforts by the U.S. and Israel, may nonetheless end up carrying out precisely the reforms in the PA long demanded by the the U.S. and Israel-ensuring accountability and transparency in government, and reining in the militias...
Voter sentiment was the same from the crowded cities of the Gaza strip to hillside towns in the West Bank: It's time to teach the ruling Fatah party a lesson. As Palestinians lined up to vote Wednesday in their first legislative elections in ten years, many said that their government needed a shakeup. Fatah, founded by Yasser Arafat and led today by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, is widely viewed as corrupt and incompetent. According to polls, around a third of all Palestinian voters now support Hamas, a radical Islamist group committed to destroying Israel but also widely...
...moderation. Israeli lawmakers said last week it won't deal with any Palestinian government that includes Hamas in leadership positions until the group disarms. The party has mostly stuck to a year-old self-imposed cease-fire, though an Israeli security official told TIME that rockets fired from Gaza into Israel are still made by Hamas operatives who pass them on to other radical groups. And while most Palestinians say they want peace-a poll cited in a report for the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace last week showed 60% now oppose the use of violence-Hamas...