[Mb-civic] Don't Be Fooled by Hamas - Richard Cohen - Washington Post Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

Don't Be Fooled by Hamas

By Richard Cohen
Wednesday, February 1, 2006; A23

While it is probably true, as everyone says, that Hamas won the recent 
Palestinian elections not because it promised to wipe out Israel but 
because it promised to pick up the garbage in Gaza City (all politics is 
local, etc.), it is also true that the prospect of increased violence 
did not deter the average Palestinian from voting for Hamas. We have 
seen this sort of thing before, and it is not very comforting. The rule 
-- the only rule -- is to take zealots at their word.

History speaks on this matter. If you asked a random German in, say, 
1932 whether by voting for the Nazis he was voting for the murder of 
Jews and a destructive European war of unimaginable scope and horror, he 
would have said, " Nein !" What he really wanted was an end to the 
brawling in the streets, a robust foreign policy and a big thumbs-up to 
traditional German culture -- no more of this smutty modern art and 
filthy plays: " Willkommen , Bienvenue , Welcome." Not any more. The 
cabaret is closed!

I saved for this paragraph any reference to Hitler himself so as to 
postpone the reflexive outburst of "Nothing can be compared to the 
Nazis!" Normally I agree, and I usually shy from such comparisons. But I 
am not likening Hamas or Islamist militancy to Nazism; I am only 
likening the mind of one sort of zealot to another. All too often they 
mean what they say.

Unfortunately, the men who were supposed to implement one sort of Nazi 
program were determined to implement it all. They had made no bones 
about it; it was all in their bible, "Mein Kampf," and in their rallies 
and speeches. It took some effort to overlook it, but a considerable 
number of people managed to do so and later professed shock at what 
happened. They looked into the abyss, saw nothing that concerned them 
personally -- and emitted a yawn of contentment.

In due course we will be told that what Hamas has been insisting on for 
years -- the utter destruction of Israel -- is not really a serious 
goal. Hamas should not be taken literally, and anyway it will be forced 
to moderate both its platform and its policies by the reality of 
governing. When, for instance, it repeats the words of its charter -- 
"The solution of the problem [Israel] will only take place by holy war" 
-- we will be assured that it is just throwing red meat to what in 
America is called "the base." As for its truculent anti-Semitism -- not 
to be confused in this case with anti-Zionism -- it, too, will be 
dismissed as without consequence. Hamas will have to deal with reality 
-- and Israel, in the region, is the mightiest reality of them all. 
Yasser Arafat came to understand that.

But Arafat's Fatah movement was secular and nationalistic. In this sense 
it was modern -- another secular nationalistic movement, much like 
Zionism. Hamas, on the other hand, can be traced back to the Muslim 
Brotherhood and its 1928 declaration: "The Koran Is Our Constitution." 
It is not modern; it is medieval. It gleefully sends people off to their 
death as suicide bombers, spackling the walls of Tel Aviv restaurants 
with the flesh of the innocent while assuring the bombers a place in 
paradise. This is loathsome. This is terrifying. That is the whole idea.

The mistake of the Bush administration is to think, based on not much 
thinking to begin with, that people are people -- pretty much the same 
the world over. This is why the president extols democracy. It must be 
what everyone wants because it is what everyone here wants. To denigrate 
this kind of talk suggests racism -- You mean we are not all the same? 
-- or a musty neocolonialism. But the hard truth is that culture and 
religion matter, and we should not expect moderation just because that's 
how we would react. Toto knows the truth. The Middle East is not Kansas.

The leaders of Hamas brim with the word of God and the certainty of 
their cause. From here on they will lie about their ultimate aim and 
smilingly assure us that what they have always said they no longer mean. 
Their intention is clean government, efficient garbage service, good 
schools and level soccer fields -- and also to con Europe and America 
into continuing to send money to the Palestinians. All over the world, 
people will believe them and urge the United States and Israel to do the 
same. Take my word for this. Anyone can see the future. It's all in the 
past.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101068.html?nav=hcmodule
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