You know. Everyone has already made a judgement about Democracy in Palestine leading to Hamas being such a hugely bad thing and it's all Bush's fault. Well, I'd say yes, it is the Bush adminstration's fault that there is Democracy there. Rice pushed for it and it happened and Hamas won in a fairly contested, reasonably transparent election. However, is it really a bad thing?
On the surface, yes. Hamas is radical, blood-stained, and committed to Israel's destruction. However, Sharon was much the same when he got elected. He's still radical, blood-stained, and was committed to Arafat's destruction.
So why don't we all wait and see. The true barometer of the failure of Democracy in the Middle East Muslim world is "one man, one vote, one time". So far, this was a fair election and Hamas needs to prove it can rule. If they usurp power once and for all and we never see elections again or the elections are rigged going forward, then we will know that Democracy failed in Palestine. If however, the Palestinian hold Hamas accountable and don't let them take liberties with their power like setting up an Taleban-style totalitarian regime, and if Hamas turns out to be a force for raising the standards of living for the Palestinians, and the transparency and accountability of government to the people who elected them, then I'd say that the world should give credit where credit is due.
In the mean time, we should all just wait and watch and listen. Nothing more. |
