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June 14, 2007
Gaza Year Zero: Khmer Rouge With Korans
I wanted to give Hamas the benefit of a doubt. Despite differences of opinion on Israel policy issues, I accepted the argument that the group primarily wanted to reform Palestinian territories, be rid of the corrupt Fatah adminstrators, set up social welfare programs, speak truth to the power of American/imperialist hegemonistic ambitions, protect the environment and all living creatures, support healthy lifestyles and encourage moral behavior. Everything sounded so right.
In fact, I viewed Hamas very much the way a clear-sighted U.S. journalist described another reformist group, or at least one of the group's leaders. According to Powerlineblog, the journalist wrote that the man was
a "French-educated intellectual" who wanted nothing more than "to fight against feudal privileges and social inequities."
Wow, that kind of resume would play well at the Iowa Democratic caucuses.
Unfortunately, the journalist misunderestimated the kind of fight the group had in mind. The writer was Sydney Schanberg, the group was the Khmer Rouge.
After everything I've read about Gaza this week, the killing fields sounds like a possible template for the social evolution of Gaza.
With Israel on one side and a fearful Egypt on the other, Gaza residents are waking up to this reality: They are trapped in a sandy ghetto with zealous rulers freed from any constraints on their behavior by the secular types of Fatah, which at least approved of barber shops and Internet cafes.
Now, Hamas can remake society in its own purified image. With all the weapons and the triumph of its blitzkrieg against Fatah (which played the role of the French in 1940), Hamas is the Law: Judge, Jury and Executioner of Revolutionary Islamic Justice. I doubt that the UN, Jimmy Carter, International Solidarity Movement or Code Pink are going to show up and start sassing Hamas members about any rough edges of their new regime.
Anyway, as every good leftist knows, when you chop wood, the chips fly.
With the stories of executions of Fatah members in front of their families, massacres in hospitals, and more, Hamas has shown it accepts no limits. And it acts accordingly. We've seen how they treat Palestinians, their co-religionists -- what plans do they have for the Israelis?
Hamas is riding high today, but as the French, Russian and Iranian revolutions show: violent revolutions always eat their own. Millions suffer, however, while the guilty fall to the guillotine.
Van | 06/14/07 at 08:28 PM | Categories: - Gaza and Palestine
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Comments
Good post. I noticed that the Washington Post front page this morning is selling this as Bush's failure. Damn, but that man gets around.
Mike Walsh, MM ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.keshertalk.com/nav-commenters.gif)
| June 15, 2007 07:13 AM
ive never given Hamas the benefit of any doubt, theyre terrorists and evil.
I wouldnt count on a Cambodia type outcome. Hamas is damn sight cleverer than that (well most of them) and they have their eyes set on bigger winning than Gaza alone. To start a massive bloodbath now would impair their chances of staying in power in Gaza (where are the Khmer Rouge now?) much less taking over WB/Yesha, and eventually Israel.
Nah, theyre gonna be competing with Fatah to prove how nice they are to Pals on the street, even as they kill anyone they think is a threat.
liberalhawk | June 18, 2007 03:20 PM
a million of Cambodians would agree.
Hamas *is* worse than Pol Pot.
Nice call.
asdf | June 25, 2007 10:16 PM
I thought it was "when you make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs"?
That was always a great metaphor for why the Left invariably screws up nations it takes over, because as every skilled omelet maker knows, you need a lot more than broken eggs. Grated cheese and sauteed mushrooms, for example. But while the thugs and tyrants the Nihilistic Left puts in power are great at breaking stuff- and immensely proud of this skill, which the rest of us have mastered by the age of 3- sauteeing mushrooms requires finesse beyond their capability or understanding.
Back to the subject at hand- Hamas would like to pretend it's good at the sauteeing and grating and other stuff, but like the rest of its ilk, their primary skill is in breaking things. But this is a good opportunity, I think. People have a way of redefining themselves, and the more that Hamas can take upon itself the role of Bad Palestinian, the freer the others are to take the role of Moderate. People especially like to differentiate from others who are currently trying to kill them- the spilling of blood between Hamas and Fatah will only cause Fatah to move away from Hamas ideologically. And the "real" past will not matter- if, a generation from now, most Palestinians accept that all the Bad things done in the Palestinian cause were actually done by Hamas, who cares what really happened? LET Hamas be the scapegoat. They can do that well. Maybe it gives the chance for other Palestinians to learn to sautee the mushrooms.
There aren't a whole lot of good opportunities for Israel OR the Palestinians, given what we know of human nature. It is impossible to have a Palestinian culture that simultaneously desires to live in peace with Israel, and lionizes the horrendous deeds of their terrorists. Those are incompatible, because to lionize the terrorists you must demonize the Israelis- their is no other way to accept, psychologically, the fact that your hero is a guy who blew himself up in a hospital waiting room. The Fatah-Hamas split offers Palestinians a chance to mentally reclassify terrorists from "OUR heros" to "THEIR (HAMAS and NOT US) Heros". If they can mentally re-orient, there is hope.
Ben
Ben | June 26, 2007 09:47 AM
