We have the Palestinian Authority, which is a subsidiary of Fatah - a terror group - running as the moderate alternative to Hamas, a terror group.
Both groups have impeccable terrorist credentials. Fatah has the legacy of master terrorist Arafat - and they are trying to capitalize on it:
But Fatah is also trying to be seen as a moderate party, a pursuer of peace with Israel. This schizophrenia is making it hard to get anything done. Not to mention the intra-Fatah fights: between the "young guard" and the old-timers, between the Tunis leadership and the Ramallah leadership, between the Palestinian "police" and the Abbas.
At the same time, Hamas has a consistent message - destroy Israel and get rid of the Fatah corruption. A single-minded focus on terror can only help, with a healthy dose of Islamic fundamentalism (Hamas, just like Al Qaeda, is a direct descendant of the Muslim Brotherhood.) Add this to the fact that Hamas has actually shown interest in improving the lives of ordinary Palestinian Arabs (in order to recruit them to terror, but still...) and it is hard for Hamas not be seen as the clear winner in any fair election - even though most actual Palestinian Arabs would prefer the pre-intifada world, they do not want to be led by the corrupt and hypocritical Fatah.
So now that the democratic table is set for Hamas to win any elections, the Western world suddenly becomes anti-democratic, or at the very least it gets its own schizophrenia about how Palestinian elections should be. This is in no small part due to the Bush mantra of "democracy" when in fact the mantra should have been "freedom."
At the same time, Hamas has a consistent message - destroy Israel and get rid of the Fatah corruption. A single-minded focus on terror can only help, with a healthy dose of Islamic fundamentalism (Hamas, just like Al Qaeda, is a direct descendant of the Muslim Brotherhood.) Add this to the fact that Hamas has actually shown interest in improving the lives of ordinary Palestinian Arabs (in order to recruit them to terror, but still...) and it is hard for Hamas not be seen as the clear winner in any fair election - even though most actual Palestinian Arabs would prefer the pre-intifada world, they do not want to be led by the corrupt and hypocritical Fatah.
So now that the democratic table is set for Hamas to win any elections, the Western world suddenly becomes anti-democratic, or at the very least it gets its own schizophrenia about how Palestinian elections should be. This is in no small part due to the Bush mantra of "democracy" when in fact the mantra should have been "freedom."
Democracy depends on an emotionally mature nation, and the Palestinian Arabs have acted any way but mature. Asking them to vote in the screwed-up world they live in is like asking seven-year olds to vote based only on the content of cereal commercials.
That being said, I do not have the same problem with Hamas running for elections that most of the Western world seems to. There is no real difference between Fatah and Hamas in their policies vis-a-vis Israel, just Hamas is more honest about its goals. A Hamas leadership would not have the Arafatian-style lies and half-measures to lean upon to make the world pressure Israel to make even more concessions. And it does appear that the world is wearying of the entire Palestinian Arab problem, as it is finally noticing that even when Israel gives them land for free, the Palestinian Arabs cannot show any ability to govern. (I think giving up Gaza the way it was done was a mistake, but this was one positive result.)
Also, any election that Hamas wins will be the last elections of "Palestine" - shari'a law will become the norm and some Imam will become the de-facto dictator.
Now that the Palestinian Arabs have a chance to show the world that they can run a country, they will show the exact opposite. Too bad so many innocent people had to die to prove what should have been obvious from the beginning.