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Originally Posted by longsuffering
The thing to remember about history is that it is constantly rewritten. Gerry Adams and Sein Fein were terrorists. Nelson Mandela was jailed as a leader of a terrorist or subversive organization. And has been mentioned here, many former Israeli leader and cabinet ministers were considered terrorists prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.
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It has also been said here many times that the Government of Israel actively worked to disarm these early terrorists. Begin renounced terrorism as the means to the end, became a politician and made peace with Egypt.
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You can't seem to acknowledge that Palestians, or Hezbollah for that matter, have any legitimate grievances. You just slap the terrorist label on them.
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The peoples grievances may be legitamate, the organizations using terrorism as the means to their end (whether that end is Palestitian Statehood or the Elimination of Israel) are not.
The main rationale for the Election of Hamas as the PA government is that the people kicked out a corrupt government, not that they abandoned the peace plan. Fine, they are a legitamate government. They could have announced that they are renouncing terrorism to concentrate on the needs of their constituants and improve their economy and hope to be able to sit with representatives of the State of Israel, which they recognize and will work with. The Gaza pullout gave them a six month to opportunity to act like a government. they could have incorporated their militia into the Palestinian Police force, cracked down on militants by shutting down bomb factories and disarming those that would not join the PPF. Success at ending the launches of rockets from Gaza at Israel, I don't think would have mattered so long as Hamas showed they were willing to even try.
Instead the first act of Hamas followers in Gaza was the public execution (without trial) of Yassir Arafat's cousin. Gaza was described as the "Wild West" in the CTV news report last night. Kidnappings of foriegn nationals is a job description instead of a criminal act.
Arafat told the West he would renounce violence, recognize Israel, crack down on militants in the PA and work towards peace. What he told the Arab world and his actions were a bit different, but what he told the West got him recognized, legitamized and cash. I would think that if Hamas said the same then the cash would flow and recognition would be there.