[Mb-civic] You Get What You Vote For. What Does Hamas Get Us? - Abdallah Alsalmi - Washington Post Sunday Outlook

[William Swiggard]

You Get What You Vote For. What Does Hamas Get Us?

By Abdallah Alsalmi
Washington Post Sunday Outlook
Sunday, February 5, 2006; B02

GAZA CITY

Here in Gaza, we are holding our breath, waiting to see what the 
unprecedented victory of Hamas in our legislative elections will mean 
for us. The territory is quiet. Even the militants have taken a break 
from launching rockets or occupying government buildings.

Ironically, the subdued atmosphere is a clear sign of the violent 
turmoil inside each and every Palestinian. But this unease is not 
focused on what attacks or retaliations might occur between Hamas and 
its avowed enemy, Israel. Instead, what I hear my neighbors and 
colleagues discussing is: How will Hamas govern without the support of 
international donors? Will I receive next month's paycheck?

It is easy to be cynical about these questions. After all, the 
Palestinians who voted for Hamas -- which remains dedicated to the 
destruction of Israel -- are collectively the same people who have told 
pollsters that, like the majority of Israelis, they want to end the 
Middle East conflict peacefully on the basis of a two-state solution.

So why did so many throw their support behind Hamas? In recent days I 
have asked this question of many friends and colleagues, and most of 
their answers had nothing to do with Israel.

Most common was the idea voiced by a woman named Ghada Rabee: "I elected 
Hamas to get back at the corrupt Palestinian Authority."

Educated as an English teacher, Rabee did not have the right connections 
to secure a job in the Palestinian Authority's school system, and all 
she has been able to find is volunteer work as a translator in my 
office. "The corrupt Fatah government did not give us good services or 
proper employment," Rabee says bitterly.

Rabee also expressed a sentiment I have heard, in different words, from 
many people: "I feel I belong to them" -- to Hamas -- "because they are 
as ordinary as we are." In contrast to the entrenched bureaucrats of 
Fatah, most Hamas candidates were teachers, civil servants and physicians.

A different point was made by Maysa Ahmed, 30, who has one son and works 
as a secretary in an educational institute. "The crime rate is 
skyrocketing," she said, referring to robberies and shootings. "It's 
unacceptable and it shows that the Fatah government was not able, or not 
willing, to impose law and order; obviously we had to seek a change."

Almost no one I speak with talks about Hamas's victory in terms of Israel.

Nevertheless, it is difficult not to think that Israel, with or without 
realizing it, helped Hamas win the election -- by undermining the 
existing government. A Palestinian police station I often walk past in 
Gaza City, partially destroyed by Israeli bombs, illustrates one part of 
my point: For a long time, Israeli forces responded to attacks by any 
Palestinian group -- Hamas, Islamic Jihad or Fatah -- by striking 
institutions of the Palestinian Authority. This made it even harder for 
the PA to deliver the security, public utilities and other services that 
the populations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank expected.

I discussed this with Mohammed Attiya, 34, an official with the 
Palestinian General Control Council, which manages budgetary affairs for 
the Palestinian Authority. Auditing the accounts of the agency I work 
for, he leafed through a big folder of papers. Attiya is a lifelong 
supporter of Fatah, and his party's stunning defeat was reflected in his 
sad face and unusually subdued speech.

"Even during the Israeli disengagement [from Gaza], Israel deliberately 
acted on its own, as if the PA did not exist," he said. "For ordinary 
Palestinians, this was another indicator of the government's absence 
from public life; this eroded the PA's dignity. And Hamas succeeded in 
getting the public to believe the Israeli pullout from Gaza was only a 
result of five years of struggle."

For a few days after the elections, Gaza seemed to be under a spell of 
hopeful serenity. However, the festivities and celebrations soon came to 
an end, and reality resurfaced. Fatah's path of negotiations and peace 
with the Israelis had not yielded any encouraging -- or at least 
sustainable -- results. In terms of security, jobs and food, the 
Palestinian territories seem far worse off than they had been when the 
PA was created 12 years ago.

And now, with Hamas taking power, we feel new pressures. Israel has not 
reopened some border crossings that should have been closed only for the 
Islamic new year's holiday, and it is already evident that some supplies 
in shops are not being restocked. As Hamas seeks to find legislative 
allies and form a government, we do not know to what extent the 
international aid that sustains the impoverished territories will be cut 
off. I am sure we are embarking on a tough and possibly explosive period.

Not everyone feels this way. Consider the hopeful remarks of my boss, 
Saeed Hassan. "All these doomsday scenarios are circulated by those 
[Fatah supporters] who still feel the bitterness of loss," he said. "If 
Palestinians join hands, they can make it through this extremely 
difficult period of our history." He advised that "Hamas should take 
action, any action that would show the people and the world that 
Palestine is still okay, regardless of who's in the parliament."

Akram Habeeb, 50, who teaches American literature at Gaza's Islamic 
University, was just as optimistic. "Hamas possesses the potential to 
establish itself as the Palestinians' most reliable political party" in 
the world's eyes, he said. "Hamas has a clear vision for a stable and 
corruption-free Palestine. "

I acknowledged that he had a point: Hamas won most of the municipal 
elections that were held here six months ago and has established a 
successful record at running things at that level. "The municipalities 
are such an example of how Hamas can convert a dilapidated community 
service organization into a transparent and effective local government," 
Habeeb said. He noted that the international agencies that now threaten 
to withhold funds from a Hamas-led Palestinian Authority did not cut off 
aid to local governments run by Hamas.

Habeeb was adamant in his belief that Hamas would not allow 
international donors to "blackmail" the Palestinian people. "Palestine's 
land has been occupied for long and we have nothing but dignity, so we 
won't sell our land for the donors' funds." If donors continue to insist 
that Hamas change its position on Israel, he said, the new Palestinian 
government would have to "find alternatives" -- presumably among wealthy 
Arab nations. Experience has given us little reason to expect that will 
happen, but Habeeb insisted: "Increasing local, regional and even 
international investments in Palestine will certainly have a strong 
boosting effect on the ailing economy, especially when Hamas duplicates 
what it did in the municipalities.

"Certainly some groups at the end of the day will try to sabotage 
Hamas's efforts but they will fail because most Palestinians have 
already said the word: Hamas is our legitimate and democratically 
elected representative."

Ten days ago, we Palestinians watched as streets awash in the 
sunshine-yellow banners of Fatah suddenly turned to the fertile green 
that is the symbol of Hamas. Today, we wait in limbo, flooded by 
uncertainty. My normally generous father recently turned down a friend's 
request to borrow some money: "We have to wait and see if we'll have any 
salaries at all in the coming months." Early this week, the electricity 
went out for a few hours -- and suddenly we were aware of how easily 
Hamas could fail to live up to its plans and commitments.

The other day, militants were demonstrating outside the European Union 
office in Gaza City. This time, the protest was over the publication of 
anti-Islamist cartoons in a number of European newspapers. Amid the 
usual gunfire and yelling, I saw a small child with signs of poor diet 
evident on his shrunken cheeks. He hurried by, terrified by the scene. I 
watched him run away, thinking about what future awaits him, and how 
much worse it will be if Hamas fails.

Abdallah Alsalmi is a public relations officer with the Palestinian 
Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, a nongovernmental 
organization in Gaza City.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020400226.html
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