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*Hamas' popularity soaring following Israel's Gaza blitz*<http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/02/05/hamas-popularity-soaring-following-israe> *Khalid Amayreh in Ramallah* February 05, 2009 http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/02/05/hamas-popularity-soaring-following-israe The latest public opinion survey in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has shown a dramatic rise in Hamas' popularity among Palestinians, with a significant decline in Fatah's public standing. Moreover, the poll showed that a majority of Palestinians believed that the advent of the Obama administration in the U.S. wouldn't make a big difference with regard to American efforts to resolve the Palestinian issue. According to the poll, Turkey, Venezuela and Iran as well as Hezbullah are the most popular regional forces among Palestinians. The results of the latest poll, conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) from 29-31 January, showed that nearly 48 % of respondents believed that Hamas came out of the Israeli blitz against Gaza victorious. Nearly 10 per cent opined that Israel won the war, while over a third of respondents, 37.4% said that neither side achieved victory. The poll, surveying a random sample of 1,198 respondents, found a dramatic rise in the popularity of Hamas, especially in the West Bank. In contrast, the popularity of the Fatah movement suffered a significant decline, especially in the West Bank. When asked if general Palestinian elections were held today, 28.6% of respondents said they would vote for Hamas. Fatah's standing declined from 34% last April to 27.9 in this poll. According to the latest poll, trust in Hamas rose from 16.6% last November to 27.7 % in this poll. In contrast, the percentage of those who said they trusted Fatah fell down from 31.3% to 26%. According to a press release by the JMCC, the rise in Hamas' popularity occurred mainly in the West Bank, which is controlled by the Western Backed Palestinian Authority. Similarly, the percentage of those who said they trusted Ismael Haniya, the Prime Minister of the Gaza-based Palestinian government, increased from 12.8% last October to 21.1 in this poll. Trust in PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas went down from 15.5% last October to 13.4 in this poll. The poll showed that the percentage of those opining that the performance of the American-backed government of Salam Fayad is better than that of the Gaza-based government declined significantly from 36% last April to 26.9% in this poll. However, those who believed that the performance of the Fayad government is worse than that of the Haniya's government rose substantially from 29.1 to 40% per cent. The latest poll also found that support for military resistance against the Israeli occupation rose from 49.5% last April to 53.5% in this poll. Moreover, the poll showed a rise in the percentage of Palestinians opposed to peace talks with Israel. Turkey, Venezuela and several other political and other entities have also become more popular among Palestinians, according to the latest poll. Turkey received the highest point of 89.6 %, followed by Venezuela (80.6 %) . The International Committee of the Red Cross received a satisfaction mark of (79.8) followed by UNRWA (78.6 %). Qatar received a satisfaction mark of 68.3%, Hezbullah 66.9 %, the Muslim Brotherhood movement 57.6 % and Iran 55.9%. The US received the satisfaction of only 2.8 of respondents, Britain, 10.4%, Germany 14.4 % France was the western country that received the satisfaction of the highest percentage of respondents, at 21.5 per cent. Egypt and Jordan received 35.1% and 41.7 % respectively. Finally, when asked which entity you would prefer to assume the task of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, respondents gave the following answers: A majority of 30.6% said they prefer an international mechanism under UN supervision to assume this task. The second choice was for a Palestinian national unity government to oversee the reconstruction. More than 23% said they preferred the government of Hamas to do the job, while a minority of 13.7 % said they prefer the Palestinian Authority to assume the task. The decline in Fatah's popularity can be attributed to the widespread public dissatisfaction with the Ramallah regime's lukewarm stance during the war. Many Palestinians had the impression that at least some of the PA and PLO leaders adopted a "conspiratorial stance" during the Israeli invasion of Gaza. Some PA officials had reportedly made remarks voicing the hope that Israeli would destroy the Hamas government in Gaza. Some PLO leaders, such as Yasser Abed Rabbo, reportedly criticized Israel for ending the war too soon without "finishing off Hamas." Another important reason for Fatah's dwindling popularity seems to have to do with the widespread suppression by PA security forces of public descent during the war. PA security agencies prevented and in many instances violently suppressed pro-Hamas protests during the war. Dozens of Palestinians, mainly Hamas sympathizers, have also been arrested by the PA security apparatus in the West Bank. The latest opinion poll is not going to be a good news for PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. >From Khalid Amayreh in Ramallah Abbas has been calling for early presidential and legislative elections in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the hope of ending Hamas' government in the Gaza Strip. ********** ** ** *Turkey wades into Middle Eastern great game* M.K. Bhadrakumar Friday, Feb 06, 2009 http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/06/stories/2009020654600800.htm *Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambitious policy in the Middle East should not be construed as abandoning the pursuit of European Union membership or alliance with Washington. * There are ways of looking at the Justice and Democratic Party or AKP, which rules Turkey. Militant secularists and Kemalists allege that it is a Trojan horse of Salafists whose members masquerade as democrats. Others say the AKP is so moderate that it might get ostracised as infidel if it were transplanted in Iran or Afghanistan. But it appears there could be a third way — looking at the AKP as a progeny of Iran's 30-year-old Islamic revolution. At least, that is how Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri thinks. He is one of Iran's senior cleric-politicians, was a Speaker of the Majlis, and is now advisor to the Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mr. Nouri explained last Sunday: "When Iranians talked of 'exporting' their revolution, they did not mean manufacturing something and then exporting it to other countries by trucks or ships; rather, they meant transmitting the message of their revolution and conveying its doctrine." As Mr. Nouri put it, "things have changed" in Turkey, which is what the avalanche of popular support for Hamas in its battle with Israel showed. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's public snub of Israeli President Shimon Peres last Thursday in a television chat show, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meet in the Swiss resort of Davos, has caught the imagination of the Islamic world and cut across the Shia-Sunni divide. All of a sudden, Mr. Erdogan takes the form of a latter-day Ottoman sultan with an empire that spreads across the fertile Mesopotamian planes, the Arabian desert, the Nile Valley, the Levant and the Maghreb, all the way into the heart of Africa. Mr. Erdogan, a backstreet boy from the working class district of Kasimpasa in Istanbul, has come a long way in his tumultuous political career. He is undoubtedly one of Turkey's most charismatic and gifted politicians. All the same, he couldn't have fancied that one day he would be proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize — or that his sponsor would be a revered figure in the world of Shi'ism. Addressing theological students in the holy Iranian city of Qom on Sunday, Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi did precisely that. Mr. Erdogan's protest, the ayatollah said, had had a profound effect on regional security. Mr. Erdogan's "claim" to a Nobel tenuously hangs on the 56 words he spoke at the Davos television show, in which he ticked off Mr. Peres, "You are older than me and your voice is very loud. The reason for your raising your voice is the psychology of guilt. I will not raise my voice that much. When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you hit and killed children on the beaches." That the resonance of a mere 56 words spoken in anguish should so stubbornly refuse to die down speaks something of the profound alienation gripping the Middle East today. Mr. Erdogan overnight joins Lebanon's Hassan Nasrullah of Hezbollah and Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who criss-cross with enviable abandon the historic sectarian divides in the Muslim world. Surely, here is some food for thought for U.S. President Barack Obama. Mr. Erdogan returned from Davos to Istanbul to hero's welcome. Opinion polls show that over 80 per cent of Turks endorse his retort. In Gaza, Mr. Erdogan has overnight become an iconic figure, so much so that pro-West Arab rulers look embarrassed. Turkey's shadows are deepening on the Middle Eastern Sunni Muslim landscape. Iran is plainly delighted. The powerful head of Iran's Guardian Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, shot off a message to Mr. Erdogan saying, "Your epic stand has pleased Hamas and its supporters and humiliated the lackey leaders of several Arab states." In Turkey itself, the ricochet has ripped open the country's split identity. The oligarchy of westernised elites based in Istanbul feels scandalised that Mr. Erdogan might have marred the cultivated image of the civilised Turk in Europe. On the other hand, the Anatolian Turk, with his seamless sense of history and culture, feels jubilant that Mr. Erdogan is reclaiming Turkey's habitation in its ancestral home in the Muslim Middle East. Neo-Ottomanism The AKP's agenda of "neo-Ottomanism" took a quantum leap last week. An engrossing phase is about to commence where the primacy may incrementally come to lie in the rediscovery of Turkey's imperial legacy while the country continues its tortuous search for an elusive national consensus that can reconcile the Turk's many identities. Under the seven-year AKP rule, Turkey began the painful process of coming to terms with its Muslim and Ottoman heritage. Contrary to general impressions, neo-Ottomanism is neither Islamist nor imperialistic. Arguably, it uses the common denominator of Islam to derive a less ethnic idea of "Turkishness" that is much more in harmony than militant secularism ever could be with the multiethnic character of the Turkish state. But in foreign policy, "neo-Ottomanism" has a grandiose agenda. As prominent columnist Omer Taspinar wrote recently: "Neo-Ottomanism sees Turkey as a regional superpower. Its strategic vision and culture reflect the geographic reach of the Ottoman and Byzantine empires. Turkey, as a pivotal state, should thus play a very active political and diplomatic role in a wide region, of which it is the 'centre'." Unsurprisingly, Mr. Erdogan's critics among the westernised elites in Istanbul and Ankara view any such pan-Turkic or Islamic openings in foreign policy as adventurous and ultimately harmful to Turkey's interests. However, "neo-Ottomanism" does not mean Turkey turning its back on the West. As Taspinar pointed out, after all, the Ottoman Empire was known as the "sick man of Europe," and not of Asia or Arabia. Being open to the West and western influence was a constant feature of the Ottoman era. Mr. Erdogan's ambitious regional policy in the Middle East, therefore, should not be construed as abandoning the pursuit of European Union membership or alliance with Washington. No doubt, Israel's Gaza offensive and Mr. Erdogan's Davos episode have created fractures in Turkish-Israeli ties. But with the cooling of tempers, the relationship will resume. The Turkish military has let it be known that military cooperation with all countries, including Israel, is based on the national interest. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said: "There is a rift in our relations. This cannot be hidden. But these relations are very important for both countries." She noted that Ankara was "drawing a distinction between bilateral ties and the censure they are levelling at us over the [Gaza] operation." Jewish groups based in the U.S. are also trying to calm the agitation. Mr. Erdogan told the *Washington Post* that Turkish mediation had brought Israel and Syria "very close" to direct peace talks on the future of the Golan Heights. During his visit to Ankara on December 23, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert not only hid from Mr. Erdogan that Israel was planning to attack Gaza four days later but also assured the Turkish leader that as soon as he got back, he would consult his colleagues and come back on the talks with Syria. While Mr. Olmert was in Ankara, Mr. Erdogan telephoned Hamas leader Ismail Haniye in Gaza and consulted him on the issues to be discussed with the visiting Prime Minister. Evidently, Mr. Erdogan felt let down. "This operation [in Gaza] also shows disrespect to Turkey," he said. But then, Israel is used to acting solely in its self interest. Anti-Israeli demonstrations Meanwhile, Turkey erupted into massive anti-Israeli public demonstrations over reports of Israeli atrocities in Gaza. But Israel was probably lackadaisical. It said Mr. Erdogan was being "emotional." He shot back: "I am not emotional. I am speaking as a grandson of the Ottoman Empire, which welcomed your forefathers when they were exiled ... History will accuse them [Olmert and Livni] of putting a stain on humanity ... It is unforgivable that a people who in their history suffered so profoundly could do such a thing." On balance, it hurts Israel more that a trust deficit has developed. Turkey has many friends in the region, whereas Israel has hardly any. Turkey is an irreplaceable ally for Israel in the Middle East. With the expected U.S.-Iranian engagement and the ensuing realignment in the region, Israel (and the pro-West Arab states) needs Turkey as a "balancer" more than ever before. Iraq can no longer play that role. The effusive Iranian salute to Mr. Erdogan shows Tehran is conscious of the new imperatives too. Beyond all that, however, an ageless spectre may come to haunt Israel. For the first time in the rolling Anatolian heartlands, a surge of anti-Semitism is visible. If the Ottoman era's fabulous record of providing asylum to the wandering Jew is indeed becoming a relic of history, do not ask who is responsible. Israel's leaders must take the blame for it. *(The writer is a former Ambassador to Turkey.)* *************** [image: New York Times] <http://www.nytimes.com/> *S. African Dock Workers Won't Unload Israeli Goods* By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: February 4, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/04/world/AP-AF-South-Africa-Israel.html?_r=4 JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- South African dock workers won't unload ships carrying goods from Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/palestinians/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>, a union leader said Wednesday. Randall Howard, general secretary of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, said it appeared a ship carrying goods from Israel was nearing Durban's port. If once the ship docks its cargo is determined to be Israeli, he said, union workers won't unload it. ''We will make that contribution,'' he said. ''The historic and heroic struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination ... is a struggle that SATAWU supports.'' Last year, South African dock and freight workers refused to unload a ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe to protest Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/robert_mugabe/index.html?inline=nyt-per>rule of the neighboring country. In the case of Israeli goods, Howard said, it did not matter whether they were weapons of vegetables. ''If it's an Israeli product, we're going to boycott it, plain and simple,'' he said. In Israel, Foreign Minister spokesman Yigal Palmor said: ''If these people think that by refusing to unload shipments from Israel they are promoting peace they should go back to school because they have misread the situation in the Middle East big time.'' Israel's three-week military offensive against Gaza, which killed hundreds of civilians before ending last month, sparked protests in South Africa. Israel says the operation was aimed at halting Hamas<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/hamas/index.html?inline=nyt-org>rocket fire from Gaza. Howard, decrying Palestinian as well as Israeli violence, says Israeli attacks were ''extremely disproportionate.'' Strong South Africa-Israel ties cultivated by the white government in the apartheid era have been maintained since the onset of majority rule. South Africa also has a close relationship with Palestinians, thanks to long-standing connections between the governing African National Congress<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/african_national_congress/index.html?inline=nyt-org>and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Associated Press Writer Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! Visit: sultan.org Subscribe: [email protected] Post to group: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
