Concerns about nullifying a democratically elected government are negligible in the face of civil war when almost half of a legislature is ranged against the other half and basic public services have been halted. The lessons of Algeria are instructive, and now that millions of dollars of denied funds are finally being sent to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, Fatah looks to be the political winner after a week of blood and misery. Abbas can also now claim credit for reviving his government's legitimacy.
“We are going to support President Abbas and what he wants to do,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday in announcing the change in policy. She said the United States would work to “restructure” and unfreeze $86 million in aid that was originally set out to help Mr. Abbas build up his security forces. It was frozen because Hamas would not renounce violence, was considered a terrorist group and did not believe Israel had a right to exist.
This of course yields the sound of one hand clapping from Ari Berman at The Nation's blog:
The US operation received surprisingly little scrutiny in this country. Few pundits noted the irony of the Bush Administration attempting to undermine the democratically-elected (though hardly moderate) Hamas government while preaching the virtues of democracy in Iraq.
Given that The Nation doesn't support democracy in Iraq, why it should be so perturbed by electorally iffy developments in Palestine is, I guess, part of its inimitable editorial charisma. The "operation" Berman refers to is the U.S.'s arming of Fatah to counter Iran and Syria's arming of Hamas. (Under the Palestinian constititution, the president of the PA is in charge of domestic security, which fact of course never stopped Haniyah's gang from maintaining their own private militia outfitted by men in ski masks.)
More interesting in Berman's post, however, is where his link attached to that wily neocon Elliot Abrams takes you — to a site called "Conflicts Forum," which features the following subhead: "listening to political Islam, recognizing resistance." [Italics mine.]
Founded in the mid-80s by two Brits — Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry — Conflict Forum has this to say on its About page:
Our encounters with political Islam – with both non-violent and armed resistance groups – leads us to conclude that Islamism is above all political. The overwhelming majority of Islamists are striving to create just societies and bring about political reform in a region entrenched with inequity, that has long suffered the overbearing influence of foreign powers.
The sweet justice of sharia law, which I'm sure Crooke and Perry look on with as much equanimity as the Nation gang does when the philosopher-kings are Shia sectarians in Baghdad. And Hamas is plenty influenced by foreign powers — above all autocratic and theocratic.
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