I don't know how exactly what proportion of the people of Gaza voted for Hamas, but my understanding was that they got 90% of the local vote in the 2006 election.
I remember reading the Hamas manifesto at that time and being appalled at what it promised-- a commitment to continuing attacks against Israel plus a sort of sub-Gandhian rejection of anything that smacked of capitalism in favour of local hand-woven industries.
Oh, and it also promised to change the Palestinian curriculum and all cultural activities to reflect the Islamist vision, in place of the secular marxist Fatah one that it replaced.
Hamas, while under the PLC dome, will propagate the culture of resistance among the Palestinian people in addition to the love of Jihad. The Qassam Brigades, armed wing of Hamas, and its weapons will stay solid and solely pointed at the Israeli enemy for as long as the occupation on our land lasts".
"The armed wing will increase in quality and quantity, and its weapons will be effectively upgraded to drive the occupation out of our Palestinian lands.
"We are proud to be the servants of the Palestinian people, and we shall extend a helping hand to families of our martyrs, wounded, and jailed heroes. And we will use all means in our possession to liberate our prisoners, including kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and officers.
It's all too commonly argued that the Palestinians, and especially the Gazans, only voted for Hamas because of the corruption of Fatah. But no electorate can take selective responsibility, saying I only voted for this part of the manifesto, so the rest of it isn't anything to do with me. It can hardly absolve the Gazans from responsibility for electing a government whose aims and priorities clearly put attacking Israel with increasing ferocity at the top of the agenda.
And A'Zahar turns out to have given a very faithful and accurate outline of what Hamas proceeded to do.
By mid December of 2008, none of the people of Gaza could have been in any doubt about the commitment of Hamas to carry out attacks, including the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit and the bombardment of Sderot and other Israeli towns with rockets. And by then, they had seen the brutal Hamas coup which had led to the summary execution and even hurling off buildings of large numbers of their Fatah rivals.
As the clip at the top shows, they seem to have turned out in absolutely vast numbers to celebrate Hamas' twenty first anniversary. I doubt if there were less than 100,000 present. And it seems to have been an event for men. It hardly seems likely that the women of Gaza were less supportive of the general mood of festivity. And towards the end of the clip, you will see children centre stage, dressed in Hamas uniform and head banners, toting real machine guns, glorifying the jihadist cause.
That mass rally took place on 14th December, just two weeks before Israel launched its retaliatory attacks, and at a time when over fifty rockets a day were being launched at Israel. Not included in the clip was the incident in which a Hamas man dressed up as Gilad Shalit and moaned in Hebrew that he wanted his mummy and daddy, mocking the supposed weakness of both the prisoner and the Israelis. I doubt if anyone walked out in disgust.
No. I certainly don't want to gloat over the death and destruction now raining down on Gaza. And of course there are many who did not vote for Hamas, albeit only a small minority of the population.
It's so often argued that Hamas should be recognised by world governments, because it was democratically elected. Somehow, there's never any going beyond the requirement to recognise Hamas and hold the electorate responsible for the military catastrophe they're voted for by electing a terrorist group committed to ever increasing acts of jihad, including kidnapping Israeli soldiers.
How indulgent would liberal commentariat opinion be if the electorate of Britain were to vote solidly for the BNP because they were fed up with the way Labour had been running the economy and then found they were landed with a racist, fascist dictatorship whose militant manifesto promises embroiled them in a disastrous war with a powerful neighbour?
But that's exactly what has happened in Gaza.
And, yes, I do think the adults of Gaza have to take the lion's share of responsibility for the horrific situation they and their hapless children now find themselves in.
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