Palestinian Elections
Palestinians will engage in democratic parlimentary elections today. The terrorist group Hamas seems poised to capture at least a share of government.

Daniel Pipes disagrees in a big way.

Martin Walker doesn't think it matters,

For anyone concerned for a peaceful future in the Middle East, the poll to watch is not Wednesday`s Palestinian election but an opinion poll presented Tuesday to Israel`s annual Herzliya security conference. It found 77 percent of Israelis pessimistic about the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and only 20 percent holding out any hope of a peace settlement in the next 20 years

The reason for this is simple. The vote to be held Wednesday for the 132 seats on Palestine`s Legislative Council is neither a pretty nor an edifying sight. Elections in themselves are fine things, but the contest between Fatah, the corrupt old rump of Yasser Arafat`s Palestine Liberation Organization, and the extreme Islamists of Hamas is hardly in the finest traditions of Athenian democracy.

Fatah and Hamas are organizations that believe in the suicide bombing of innocent civilians, ruthlessly exploiting young Palestinian zealots who have been convinced or brainwashed that the way to paradise is to slaughter young Israelis. Of the 160 potential suicide bombers who were last year stopped and arrested by Israeli police and army, 29 were identified as coming from Hamas, and 47 from Fatah`s Tanzim group. (There are other groups who dispatch suicide bombers against Israel, including some tragic brain-damaged youngsters who have little idea what they are doing or why.)

- posted by Base10 @ 9:04 AM