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Thursday, January 26, 2006
The TurkeyBlogger is taking the same stance on Hamas' victory that it took over results in Iraq:
Part of democracy is living with whom you elect.
Part of being elected is having to govern.
Both the governed and the governing are often chastened by the experience.
The Palestinian people have made their choice.
If they meant it, they should rightly bear the consequences of their approach to life.
If they didn't, they should rightly bear the consequences of their approach to democracy.
Hamas, likewise, is in a bind. Either they meant it with their bluster, in which case they will have problems in the international community that keeps the PA funded. Or they didn't, in which case they will face problems with their hardliners.
To keep things in perspective, it could be worse: We could have had a narrow victory by Fatah.
In that case, we would have had the farce of working with supposedly earnest negotiators who continually used their weakness as justification for extracting concessions and not following through on their own commitments - i.e. what Arafat gave us until 9/11.
This way, the cards are on the table. More to the point, the Palestinians can no longer claim to be victims of their leadership, begging the rest of the world to fund their leaders' violent and corrupt ways for the sake of their pitiable selves. This is a course they have chosen whose consequences the world can in good conscience let fall upon them. Let us hope for their sake that Hamas is smarter than it seems.
posted by gbarto at 4:18 PM
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