As I sat in the back of a taxi headed west on an Ottawa freeway on Saturday, my friends and I discussed the recent electoral success of Hamas with our Palestinian driver.
Born in Nablus, educated in Amman, Jordan and currently studying political science at Concordia University, our cabbie succinctly expressed his opinions on the current condition of Palestinian politics in the wake of Hamas’ victory. We all left the taxi with a much clearer image of exactly what happened when many Palestinians voted for a “terrorist” group to run their government. The conversation solidified what I already understood about the situation.
The success of Hamas was not an indication that the Palestinian public desired Hamas as the dominant party in the Palestinian Authority, but rather that they did not want another Fatah-dominated parliament. Like the Liberal Party of Canada, Fatah held power for what many believe to be far too long. They had controlled the Palestinian Authority since its creation in 1993 but their power and dominance in the Palestinian political scene reaches back to the late 1960s.
With the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964, Fatah—meaning conquest—assumed the leading political and militant role within this entity, whose aim was to destroy the young Jewish state. Three years before the 1967 Six Day War (also known as the June War) in which Israel won what is now the “Occupied Territories,” Fatah symbolized the vanguard of elite Palestinian nationalist aspirations.
After 1967, Fatah took a prominent role in leading the nationalist cause, but with the Oslo Peace Accords in the early 1990s, coupled with the defeat of Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War, Fatah moderated its stance by recognizing the existence of the state of Israel. While this may have been a pragmatic rather than an ideological shift, it solidified the concept of the two-state solution in the psyche of many as the only possible way towards reconciliation. This development created a sense of euphoria among both peoples, as they believed that they finally had the formula for peace that would end this intractable conflict. But it was not to be. While not excusing Israel, Fatah played a prominent role in the decay of Palestinian society and economic conditions. In a recent article, Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, pointed out that due to Fatah’s inefficient and corrupt governance, the 1990s saw for this once-dominant organization wane. George Gavrilis, in the most recent publication of Foreign Affairs, illustrates that the economy of the West Bank, the traditional center of Fatah dominance, is in an utter shambles. In many towns the unemployment rates remain around 20 per cent. While many blame Israeli policy, most Palestinians are also quick to point a blaming finger at Fatah. The party’s association with corruption, scandals, financial mismanagement and cronyism has encouraged many to Hamas and other smaller fringe parties. Therefore, the void formed by Fatah’s inept governance created a situation in which most desired an alternative party to provide social services and honest leadership. While Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah represents what most Palestinians desire—negotiations with Israel, some sort of exercise of the right of return, and calm rather than violence—Hamas is ed because they are viewed as having the interest of the people at heart. Our driver explained that many Palestinians have grown angry at Fatah leaders who ride around in expensive luxury cars while poverty rates increase, and that sympathies have shifted toward Hamas leaders, who tend to drive beat-up Toyota Corollas from the 1980s.
Though Hamas’ ideological underpinnings stem from similar roots to those of Al-Qaeda and other radical Islamic organizations, for the most part this is not what Palestinians had in mind at the polls. In a recent article that appeared in Newsweek International, Dr. Khalil Shikaki, director of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, wrote 75 per cent of all Palestinians a two-state solution to end the conflict with Israel. Not surprisingly, the Los Angeles Times reported that at one Hamas rally, the usual symbols of fiery, violent resistance and calls for the destruction of Israel were absent and replaced by speeches focusing on honesty, legitimacy and piety.
It is apparent that corruption was the most important issue for this election. With a fair amount of political canny, Hamas has redirected the public’s frustration with Fatah, transformed it into electoral and subsequently gained greater power through the ballot box. Due to the conditions brought about by Fatah, Hamas has presented their organization as a viable alternative to a decaying party riddled with controversy and failure. This election does not symbolize a dramatic shift in the makeup of Palestinian political culture. It does not indicate that most Palestinians want the destruction of Israel and a more religious society. It does indicate that many Palestinians are fed up with the status quo and desire change. Fatah’s failures are the primary reasons for Hamas’ recent success, and in this sense the victory of Hamas may not be as bad as many may claim.
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