Shattering Democracy:
Sharon's Plan For Palestine
By Remi Kanazi
22 September, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Israeli
Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, showed his true colors earlier this week
as his normative praise of "democratic values" subsided. "I
announced as clearly as I could that we formally oppose Hamas participation
in the election as long as it is not disarmed and has not cancelled
the Hamas charter, which is a horrible document," Sharon stated
on Wednesday. On Saturday, he went further in an interview with reporters
in New York, rejecting calls for democratic elections in the Occupied
Territories, "We will make every effort not to help [the Palestinians].
I don't think they can have elections without our help."
Hamas plans to engage
in the Palestinian political process, as it has in previous municipal
elections, so why hinder the charged peace process after the successful
"disengagement" of Gaza? Sharon realizes that Hamas is gaining
momentum in the Occupied Territories and understands how much political
power it can attain through sweeping parliamentary elections, which
will likely occur in January if Israel doesn't interfere. Keeping a
balance of power between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas effectively
destabilizes a unified Palestinian voice and further advantages a politically
savvy Israel. Israel supported Hamas in the 1980's as a counterweight
to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)the de facto representative
of the Palestinians peoplebecause the PLO was gaining political
ground on the international front.
Sharon is trying
to politically deligitimize Hamas by keeping it out of the elections,
while demonizing Abu Mazen for not cracking down on "terror"
and using the excuse of having "no partner for peace" as a
ploy to further expand settlements, the Apartheid Wall, and to impose
greater restrictions on Palestinian life in the West Bank, and East
Jerusalem. Just this week as half the world was sleeping and the other
half was still dazed by the effects of Hurricane Katrina, Sharon stated
on Israeli radio referencing the controversial Maale Adumim settlement,
"They {Maale Adumim and East Jerusalem}will be connected, and I
don't think that this will become a problem."
The militaristic
mind of Ariel Sharon cannot forget the irony and hypocrisy in demanding
Hamas to disarm. The three major Jewish militantmany claim terroristgroups,
the Haganagh, Irgun, and Lehi were not disarmed before the creation
of Israel. On the contrary, they went on the offensive under the instruction
of Haganagh leader David Ben Gurion on March 10, 1948 when the groups
implemented Plan Dalet (Plan D). The effects of Plan D led to the dispossession
of hundreds of thousands of indigenous Palestinians and the massacre
of nearly 120 Palestinians at Deir Yassin. There was no attempt by these
Jewish groups to put their faith in the political process and live with
the indigenous population in peace; rather they coveted the land on
which the Palestinians lived, and sought to expel them to create a Jewish
homeland. Hamas is doing something the founders of Israel never thought
to do: assimilate into the political process in the land on which they
live, and substantiate their voice by positive means. If the founders
of Israel and people like Ariel Sharon had done this, armed groups such
as Hamas wouldn't be fighting against the injustices that have plagued
Palestinian society for the last 58 years.
Remi Kanazi is the founder and primary writer for
www.PoeticInjustice.net and I live in New York City as a Palestinian
American freelance writer.