American reactions to the Palestinian election victory of Hamas,
the Islamic Resistance Movement, have been hasty and miscalculated.
Generally speaking, this has been true for decades in regard to
American policies in the region. Policy makers in Washington lack
experience for understanding the political changes that have
changed the map of the Arab world. The reality is that oppressive
American policies that are blindly biased toward Israel, the U.S.
occupation of Iraq and its pressure on Syria, are injustices that
inflame the people of the region.
The U.S. Congress spearheaded the confrontation with Hamas. It
tried to prevent Hamas from participating in the Palestinian
Parliamentary elections after it had made such a strong showing in
the third stage of local elections. So under the claim that Hamas
is a terrorist organization, the Congress passed a resolution
shortly before the [previous stage of] elections in December,
warning Palestinians of a cut-off in aid if Hamas took part in the
final round of voting. The Congressional resolution passed by a
sweeping majority (397 for, 7 against, and 17 abstaining).
However, this was rejected by the Palestinians, their government
and their people, all stressing their rejection of any interference
in Palestinian internal affairs. Rather, American and Israeli
pressure on Hamas actually played a role in its rise to popularity
in the Palestinian street, where the people have tasted death and
destruction at the hands of Israelis armed with their American
weapons. Thus, the attempted interference by the American/Zionist
conspiracy was a major factor in sparking nearly automatic support
[for Hamas].
Furthermore, warnings of a cut-off in aid were given little
attention because the amount is so meager. The size of the
assistance was exposed by Isma'il Haniyah [SEE VIDEO BELOW], the
leader of Hamas, when he said: "It amounts to less than crossing
tolls." This reality was driven home by the fact that Palestinians
see no sign of this aid on the ground, given that their homes,
destroyed by American bomber aircraft, remain destroyed, and Apache
missiles continue to fall on their heads on a daily basis.
So recent actions and statements by the U.S. administration carry
many dangerous implications, the most import of these being
American and Israeli alarm at the rise of Hamas.
Despite the fact that it is a small organization, its widespread
popularity demonstrates that the Palestinian people have chosen it
as their means of regaining the rights that were stripped from
them, and they have chosen it as their means to establishing an
independent government on their homeland.
This is especially the case after the failure of all other attempts
at a settlement, which were backed by Palestinian groups and Arab
organizations over the past half century. Rather, racing to have
exchanges with the Israelis has caused the loss of many Palestinian
and Arab rights. Alarm over this is also extremely valid, since the
Palestinian people never abandoned, not even for a day, the
resistance which began after the first Zionist attack a century
ago.
Continuing support for the resistance never waned, even in the face
of collective hunger, siege, destruction, suppression, murder,
slaughter, and every type of hardship. And this I what the
American/Zionist Confederacy fears the most: the increasing support
for the Palestinian resistance across the rest of the Arab and
Islamic world. The American oppressions, including the infringement
upon the honor of the Nation, its body politic and its legislated
rights, have forced the people to gather around their choice of the
resistance.
This move by the American Congress also shows the dual political
game that Washington plays with Muslim people in general, but Arab
people in particular. So while it claims to be looking after
democracy, and that it is trying to initiate peace in the Arab
world through democracy, it stands clearly against the choice of
the Palestinian people and tries to obstruct their democratic
path.
So here, credit must be given to the Palestinian leadership for
siding with the choice of the people, for the quickness with which
the government spoke up, and for the Palestinian President's clear
declaration that he will stick to the law and hand Hamas the duty
of forming a new government. Credit is also due to the Egyptian
leadership, for rushing to declare its acceptance of the choice of
the Palestinian people. The same is also true of the Arabic
University [Lebanon] and many governments.
This movement also highlights the ramifications of America's
interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries, which is
carried out by taking advantage of weak organizations and a lack of
civic organizations.
Another dangerous implication of U.S. Congressional resolution is
that members of Congress, and every policy maker in the American
administration, bows to Zionist propaganda that has succeeded,
through hysterical warnings and exhortations, to twist the facts,
especially those related to Israel and the struggle in the Middle
East region.
It has also made the resistance of the Palestinian People appear
like terrorism that has to be confronted. And as for the Israeli
terrorism that has impacted all visible signs of life in Palestine
and the Arab region, it is regarded as justified self defense. The
American President, George W. Bush, mentioned this openly when he
said about Palestinian suicide missions, "The Israeli people will
continue to be slaughtered by the terrorists and therefore, Israel
will continue to defend itself."
Furthermore, some American writers, as well as some lawmakers and
Congress people, have acknowledged the terrorism of the Zionist
lobby in America. Edward Herman, who co-authored, Manufacturing
Consent along with Noam Chomsky, wrote, "The powerful Israeli lobby
in America represents the material support and defense of Israel.
This lobby is capable of not only controlling the media and making
Congress an occupied territory of Israel, but it is able to place
people with dual interests in strategic positions and sensitive
positions in the Bush Administration."
Also, the Jewish author, Israel Shamir, said in an article
entitled, "Ode to Cynthia," found on his Internet site, "Out of
every five dollars American taxpayer gives for aid, four dollars
land in the coffers of the Jewish state. They appear unstoppable,
as the politicians are scared of them and docilely raise their
hands and sign the pledge promising to send more money to Israeli
generals. Support of Israel is not a foreign policy. It is the
covenant of the Mammonites, and you sign it with blood. With
Palestinian blood."
Cynthia McKinney, Congresswoman from Georgia, exposed the voting
that takes place in Congress. She said, "There are many members of
Congress who want to be free. I am one of them. I wanted to be free
to vote according to my conscience, but I had been told that if I
didn't sign a pledge supporting the military superiority of Israel,
no support would come my way. And sure enough, I didn't sign the
pledge and no support came my way. I suffered silently year in and
year out, because I refused to sign that pledge." The Zionist lobby
in America is also not afraid to commit crimes of murder against
those who openly express their enmity, like what happened to
Senator Paul Wellstone from Minnesota, who was killed in an
airplane crash near the end of 2002, because he openly supported
the Palestinian struggle.
Moreover, the outcome of the Palestinian and Egyptian elections
shows the beginning of a change in the region that is built upon
the awareness of the people. This necessitates that other
governments and countries change the way they operate and begin
accepting the choices of the people.