Wow. I had just about reconciled myself to the idea that there might be a silver lining to a strong second place showing for Hamas in yesterday’s Palestinian legislative elections — a showing sufficiently strong that it would force Hamas’ inclusion as a junior partner in the next government, which seemed the likely result when I went to bed last night.
Don’t get me wrong: of course, it’s a disaster on like ten different levels.
But political participation can force a hard form of accountability. If there is a major constituency for Hamas in the territories — which certainly there is — perhaps to have them in the government, on the line for dealing with nuts and bolts problems of administration, on the line for delivering a better life for the Palestinians as opposed to just peddling the heroin of violence, has some advantages over having them on the outside as a paramilitary force with a de facto veto over whatever the Fatah-based government chooses to do.
Yes, yes, there’s a lot of grasping for straws here. But as long as the structures of democratic government remain secure and intact — a big ‘if’ — participation in government tends to force a measure of pragmatism and accomodation.
Yet, as you’ve probably already seen, the news this morning is that Hamas has apparently scored a clear victory in yesterday’s elections.
Where does that leave things? I’ll be waiting eagerly to hear and read from others who follow the inner dynamics of these matters more closely and understand them better than I do. But it is hard for me to see how this doesn’t increase the sense and likelihood of the sort of unilateralism that Sharon pushed for the last two years but then seemed on the point of abandoning.
Like a crazy love affair, it’s bigger than the both of them — not the ‘peace process’ but the reality of a two state solution. This just changes the path, though the path can get awfully crooked.
