Word: palestinians
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...Guantánamo Bay prisons--has strengthened the appeal of Islamists opposed to the West. As a result, elections are producing governments more hospitable to extremism, not less. Exhibit A was the election of Hamas, a group the U.S. and Europe classify as a terrorist organization, to run the Palestinian Authority. In response to Hamas' victory, the U.S. has led an international ban on aid to the democratically elected Palestinian government...
...appeal to "anyone who has any influence on Hamas" is an admission that the U.S. has absolutely no influence on the Palestinian government. And the only players who may have any leverage in the situation will be those that actually rebuffed the Bush administration's demand that they sever all ties with the Palestinian government, particularly financial ties, after Hamas won democratic elections in January...
...embracing an Israeli strategy of using an economic blockade of Gaza to either force a collapse of the Hamas government or else induce it to make such symbolic concessions as recognizing Israel, the U.S. folded its arms in the face of the ever-explosive relationship between Israel and the Palestinians. The Administration spoke of ensuring humanitarian support for the Palestinian population and backing President Mahmoud Abbas, but that did nothing to change the reality that Palestinian voters had elected Hamas as their government - and polls show its support has actually grown during the current showdown. But the financial chokehold...
...Israel may be moving toward a prisoner swap - as demanded by Shalit's captors - in order to get its soldier home. That would be a massive victory for the hard-liners in Hamas - in the same way that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza without negotiating any agreements with the Palestinian leadership was taken on the street as vindication of the violent strategy of Hamas, which had not yet entered politics...
...Abbas and Haniyeh won't be the only losers if the crisis ends with a prisoner exchange. Israel, for all the violence it unleashed on Gaza in the wake of Shalit's capture, will have been seen in Palestinian eyes to have been humbled. And U.S. influence in the region is unlikely to be boosted...