The
Palestinian Hamas – Vision, Violence, And Coexistence
By Jim Miles
02 July, 2007
Countercurrents.org
The Palestinian Hamas
– Vision, Violence, And Coexistence- By Shaul Mishal and Avraham
Sela. Columbia University Press, New York. 2006.
In
consideration of current events with Hamas’ military takeover
of Gaza, this book on the Palestinian Hamas is very timely. It would
have been more timely in its original version in 2000 at the start of
the al-Aqsa Intifada. With precise foresight into the possible problems
of armed conflict between Hamas and Fatah, aided and abetted by Israel,
it is almost prescient in nature. It is not prescient however, but a
thorough accounting of the structure and movement (political, social,
and military) of Hamas, the apparent prescience deriving from the always
present fear by Hamas that their less powerful position vis a vis Fatah
and the PLO could one day lead to an armed struggle that their perceptions
said Fatah could easily win.
It can be argued with a high
degree of accuracy that Hamas’ victory in Gaza is technically
not a coup, as being caught between two rocks and two hard places (PLO/Fatah
and Israel/America) necessitated the move for their very survival as
a democratically elected government of Palestine. All of which seems
absurd, all of which is absurd, the absurdity pointing directly at the
American petard of democracy. It can also be argued, after reading this
thoroughly documented and well presented work, that neither the winning
of the democratic elections (even if Hamas themselves expected only
about thirty per cent of the vote) nor the recent resort to civic violence
should have been any kind of surprise. That these two surprises caught
western media, pundits, and politicians completely off-guard underlines
that they quite simply did not understand Hamas and believed only their
own rhetoric about its singular violent, terrorist nature.
The current PLO leader Abbas
himself is caught up in this rhetoric, saying, "What happened in
Gaza is a bloody and ferocious coup d'etat against Palestinian legitimacy."
Unfortunately for him, the elections were very legitimate. As for the
coup, what type of reaction could one expect when one’s coalition
partner in a unity government is being salaried and armed by both the
Israelis and the Americans and making threats to take over all Hamas’
functions? Abbas is trying to create a political solution “on
the basis of international legitimacy, the Arab initiative, and [US]
President [George] Bush's vision.”[1] Scary thought when that
political legitimacy devolves from an international view now presented
by arch-warmonger Tony Blair, from a weak coalition of Arab states that
are fearful of the same type of democracy that put Hamas into power
in the first place, and from, of all things, George Bush’s “vision”.
Middle East politics is operating in the theatre of the absurd with
all the insanities that corrupt politicians foment; unfortunately, the
Palestinians suffer all the consequences.
To understand Hamas takes,
as I found out, a significant amount of reflective thought while reading
Mishal and Sela’s The Palestinian Hamas. It is not an easy ‘pop’
read, being more inclined to the academic and sociological manner of
examining what is as much, if not more, a social movement as it is a
militant terrorist group. Written by two Israeli academics, Shaul Mishal,
Professor of Political Science at Tel Aviv University, and Avraham Sela,
with a PhD from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, this portrait presents
a very sympathetic and surprisingly positive analysis of the Hamas movement.
Commonly perceived as being
solely dedicated to the physical elimination of Israel by violent means,
the authors used a series of very ameliorative words to describe the
social and political “realpolitik” of Hamas: flexible, innovative,
adaptable, conciliatory, resilient, accommodating, tolerant, pragmatic.
These descriptions would flatter any political movement and ideology
and with the support of concrete examples throughout Hamas’ history,
the authors document a movement that has creativity, political savvy,
intelligence, and a social conscience. Even less of a surprise then
that Hamas first won the legitimate election, and then won the mini
civil war to “pre-empt” a Fatah take over (how quickly they
learn from their occupiers and oppressors!).
The over-riding word from
the above list is flexibility. Operating from a position of weakness,
opposed by the PLO/Fatah and later by the PA, manipulated and attacked
by Israeli forces, and struggling with their own internal divisions
of “inside” leaders and “outside” leaders (those
in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon), the overall strategy had to remain flexible
to changing circumstances and changing facets of power. While the book
is not about the PLO it does mention that they too struggled with the
same divisions, with the same adversary and “became a symbol of
Palestinian national identity and of aspirations for independence and
statehood.” In 2000, the time of the first edition, the authors
concluded “The history of Hamas’s [sic, passim] relations
with the PLO, and later with the PA, shows that seeming rivals and enemies
can find ways to coexist even if they cannot resolve basic conflicts.”
In the preface to the 2006
edition, there is recognition that “while the al-Aqsa Martyrs
[PLO militant group] and other groups could match Hamas’s military
activities…none of them…could compete with Hamas’s
system of social services.” From that Hamas realized that its
“success among the people in the local government elections represents…common
trust in their ability to provide efficient and clean-handed government.”
Following the election, Israel, supported by the international community,
mainly the U.S., Canada, and the EU, denied the validity of the elections.
To add to these complications, Fatah proved reluctant to join in a coalition
government, and the PA’s treasury was empty and not about to be
replenished through its usual foreign aid and Israeli collected taxes.
Success was certain not to follow.
Israel initially gave tacit
support to Hamas, hoping to counteract some of the progress being made
by the PLO on the political front. From the start Hamas “employed
a system of consultation and opinion sharing based on committees that
represent a spectrum of figures and groups,” established initially
as a “social movement” with its “main energies and
activities…focussed on providing social and communal services
through well-administrated web of institutions, from clinics, kindergartens,
and schools to a blood bank and welfare services such as the distribution
of food and other basic commodities.”
All that leads to the counter-intuitive
statement - in light of the media presentations - that Hamas’
rise to power “through a democratic process is an unprecedented
phenomenon in the Arab Muslim countries,” and leading to the fear
from Jordan, Egypt, and the Saudis that their success “will bring
about an Islamic radicalization that could threaten their own political
stability.” Ah yes, democracy is messy at its best and needs to
be squelched whenever it threatens the powers that be.
From these overall perspectives
the authors discuss how this flexibility and willingness to view the
situation in terms of “realpolitik” has affected the group
throughout their history. Hamas philosophy is discussed as it relates
to the historical developments at different times in their short history.
The changing political landscape, the overriding position of being in
a subordinate position to both the PLO/Fatah and more so to Israeli
occupation, reveals a strong streak of pragmatic action and social democracy.
Having taken the militant
pre-emptive action that they did in Gaza, Hamas remains conciliatory
to the PLO/Fatah, revealing Abbas as being not much more than an Israeli
marionette wishing it could become flesh. What the end result of it
all is may be just as surprising to everyone as the democratic election
win and the militant consolidation win, but if the powers that be could
recognize Hamas’ flexibility and pragmatism, some actual progress
could occur. I don’t expect that, my own personal realpolitik,
something else will come along to surprise everyone.
The Palestinian Hamas presents
a sympathetic portrait of the movement, a movement with surprising –
again the word – flexibility and a high degree of democracy, counter
to the western Orientalist view that Islam cannot be democratic. It
is a tightly written narrative, focussing almost exclusively on the
Hamas, and introducing components of Israeli action and ideology, and
that of the PLO, only as necessary for understanding Hamas itself. It
is not a primer, as the reader should at least be familiar with the
big picture of the PLO/Fatah and its struggles with Israel, and the
bigger picture of Arab insecurity ‘inside’ and ‘outside’
with their relations with both the PLO and Israel. The authors have
done a wonderful job of examining a modern phenomenon without the prejudice
of western media and politicians, a highly recommended read.
[1] ______________ “Hamas
against foreign troops” http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1AEE36D3-5E18-43FD-9623-6F5EA790F1FC.htm
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.