The AP updates us on the process of moderation that Hamas has undertaken:

Following their resounding election victory, the Islamic militants of Hamas met the question of whether they will change their stripes with a loud "no": no recognition of Israel, no negotiations, no renunciation of terror.

But the world holds out hope that international pressure can make them more moderate. At stake is the future of Mideast peacemaking, billions of dollars in aid and the Palestinians' relationship with Israel, the United States and Europe.

Hamas' victory — winning 76 of 132 parliament seats in Wednesday's election — has created a dizzying power shift in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, overturning certitudes and highlighting the failure by Palestinian leaders, Israel and the international community to ease growing desperation in the Palestinian territories.

The AP gets its editorial voice into a news report with that last paragraph, blaming Israel and the West for the Palestianian selection of Hamas as its government. That will apparently be the left-wing meme for the collapse of the illusion of a peace process that involved one party that would only accept the peace of annihilation. Israel coughed up Gaza without any return gesture from the Palestinians, and the West has poured billions of dollars into the territories through the organization that Europe and liberals insisted was the only one that truly represented Palestinian interests. Now the rejection of that corrupt organization for an explicit supporter of genocide and terrorism somehow translates to a failure of the West?

Perhaps the only failure that can be blamed on the West comes from trusting people like Jimmy Carter for advice and analysis. The Palestinians, however, have spoken clearly about what they want, and they want a government committed to the destruction of Israel and not to a two-state solution. Any other analysis not only ignores the obvious choice open to the Palestininans, it also transforms Palestinians into idiots who voted without understanding that Hamas supports terrorism as its main strategy for change.

I'm taking the Palestinians at their word. They want terrorism over negotiation, and war over peaceful coexistence with Israel. Let them have it -- and let them handle it without the moderating influence of the entire West restraining Israel's response to Palestinian provocations. Let the Palestinians feel the full consequences of the choice they have made. Only when they realize that the world will allow them to lose the war against Israel, and lose the land they have, will they start to form political parties that advocate for peaceful coexistence instead of two parties advocating for annihilation on two different schedules.

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Courtesy of Captain’s Quarters: The AP updates us on the process of moderation that Hamas has undertaken: Following their resounding election victory, the Islamic militants of Hamas met the question of whether they will change their stripes wi... [Read More]

Tracked on January 28, 2006 7:46 PM