Word: gaza
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...late, Hamas' clean reputation has helped it make strong inroads into more sophisticated portions of the Palestinian population as well. Slates of Islamic candidates dominated by Hamas have taken control of the student councils at many universities across the territories. At Islamic University in Gaza City, the Hamas-led list took 83% of seats in a vote held a few months ago. Arafat's Fatah Party withdrew at the last minute rather than experience humiliating defeat. I asked a law student, Ali Hejjy, 19, why Hamas was so popular. Because, he answered, "they run the university justly." By that...
...same attitudes have brought Hamas new constituencies in the older Palestinian intellectual elite. A Hamas-led bloc recently won control of the Palestinian engineers' union in Gaza City, where Rafiq Mikki, 45, a civil engineer, is the chairman. He counted himself a true believer in Hamas but said the rising tide of votes came from the 35% of "undecideds" who have turned to Hamas out of profound frustration. Their hopes for an independent future have been thwarted by everyone: the Palestinian Authority, Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, the U.S., the U.N. "No one helps us," he said. "Hamas' rising strength...
...Although Palestinian society is traditional and conservative, few would want to live in an Islamic theocracy. Most just want the occupation to end and would be content to live side by side with Israel if they had a viable state of their own in the territory they inhabited in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem before 1967. That is almost exactly what the U.S. peace road map calls for, though of course it is the precise contours of the two-state solution that have eluded negotiators for so long...
...gain a state in the pre-1967 territories, Hamas could decide to end the violent struggle and leave it to future generations to decide whether it should ever be resumed. In one of his last public statements, recorded on the Hamas website in January, Yassin even hinted that a Gaza pullout could reopen the door to negotiations, something Hamas previously had consistently tried to thwart. "If the Zionist entity completely evacuates the Gaza Strip," he said, "we can start a new phase of calmness in order to discuss the issues of Jerusalem, the West Bank, the prisoners and the refugees...
...neither. "No one can finish Hamas," says Rantisi. Al-Zahar put it in starker terms: if Arafat tries to crack down again, "we are going to defend ourselves with all means available, including guns." Hamas leaders tell TIME emphatically that they will not allow a fraternal war to engulf Gaza. Said Rantisi: "Hamas has forbidden that from happening...