Friday, May 26, 2006

Good news in Palestine?

For a while it has seemed that nothing good would come of the Palestinian elections. Hamas won and has failed to moderate its stance, as many, including myself, predicted it would. Worse, Hamas supporters have been clashing with Fatah's in the streets. But todays news brought something good. Abbas announced his support for a proposal to recognize an Israel confined to pre-1967 boundaries. This is an excellent political move by Abbas, as noted in Steven Erlanger's Times article:

Hamas faces a dilemma, suggested Roni Shaked of Yediot Aharonot: "Saying
yes would be betraying its principles, while saying no would be going against
the public," which generally supports a Palestinian state on 1967 lines
alongside Israel.

Joseph Schumpeter and others have argued that democracy is good, not because the people get what they want or would even be able to figure out what they want, but because politicians have to engage in some form of competition in order to get and stay elected. Palestine has been a good demonstration of this concept in the past few months: Fatah got kicked out because it is corrupt, but Abbas has now placed Hamas in a position where it will have to moderate or lose some its populist appeal. All of this is a credit to Palestinean voters. If this succeeds, as it may, some credit would also need to be given to those who shaped the market, the Israelis and Western Powers--or perhaps none should be, due to their failure to allow this kind of change earlier. But we'll have to wait and see. Optimism is not often warrented in the Israel-Palestine area.

4 Comments:

Blogger Robot said...

I was very impressed with this move by Abbas as well. Having just returned from his visit to the U.S., it's safe to assume he had discussed it -- if not derived it -- from the good ol' Condi wing of the government. From the polls that I have seen, it seems that Palestinians will vote in favor of recognition and a two-state solution. I'm just not sure if Hamas will let the referendum happen in the first place. And why should they? They were elected because of a platform that denies a two-state solution, and denies negotiating with Israel.

1:12 AM  
Blogger shrf said...

What the Zionist conspiracy doesn't want you to know is that they're talking about the borders pre 1967 B.C.[E.]!!!!!

2:33 AM  
Blogger Sebonde said...

My question is: Will the Rapturist Lobby that has Bush's Ear allow the Palestinians to be seen as offering a reasonable compromise--if they do recognize the pre-1967 Israel, that is? The Rapturist Whackos don't want the Temple Mount under the control of anyone except the Jews. They will probably regard any attempt to push Israel back to its pre-1967 borders as tantamount to refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist. And if this is how the Rapturists will spin it, it will probably be the official spin of the Bush Administration as well.

5:13 PM  
Blogger Austin 5-000 said...

Sebonde-
I doubt that Israel will ever be able to obtain control of the Temple Mount. You're right to fear what the Bush administration and their strange lobbies will try to advocate, but hopefully we can push through the next two years without too much trouble. Of course, pushing hard for Israel is a pretty easy move for Bush that will pay great returns. Which is one more reason to be pessimistic about things in Israel/Palestine.
Still, we should maintain some perspective. The whole area has a population of around 10 million. In the greater scheme of things, its one small turd in a huge pile of manure. I wonder if we should just ignore it--the Israel-Palestine conflict has caused much more damage outside of the area than could ever occur within.

11:39 AM  

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