Disturbing, but not so surprising, be interesting to see if Hezbollah takes note of this and makes some equally feint hearted attempt to legitimize itself outwardly in Lebanon..
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/international/middleeast/21hamas.html?hp <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/international/middleeast/21hamas.html?hp&; ex=1124683200&en=fa55d24a5c5eaa12&ei=5094&partner=homepage> &ex=1124683200&en=fa55d24a5c5eaa12&ei=5094&partner=homepage Hamas Pushing for Lead Role in a New Gaza GAZA, Aug. 20 - Aides to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, invited reporters on Friday to record him at prayer. The imam outside his office in Gaza City celebrated Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and envisioned universities, schools, parks and mosques being built on settlement land. Skip <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/international/middleeast/21hamas.html?hp&; ex=1124683200&en=fa55d24a5c5eaa12&ei=5094&partner=homepage#secondParagraph> to next paragraph George Azar for The New York Time A rally by members of the military wing of Hamas yesterday celebrated the Israeli pullout from Gaza. <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/multimedia/index.html?8dpc> Multimedia <http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/international/2005_GAZAPULLOUT_GRAPHIC /index.html> Interactive Graphic <http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/international/2005_GAZAPULLOUT_GRAPHIC /index.html> http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/international/2005_GAZAPULLOUT_GRAPHIC/ index.html Abbas Talks of Future of Enclaves (August 21, 2005) At the same time, a few miles away in the Jabaliya refugee camp, hundreds of men and boys, unable to crowd into the Caliph Mosque, sat on nearby sidewalks and in alleyways. In a humid stench of sewage and fried fish, with expressions alert and thoughtful, they listened as their imam called the Israeli withdrawal an "achievement of resistance," celebrated prominent "martyrs of Hamas" and declared, "Allah knows that when we offer up our children, it is much better than choosing the road of humiliation and negotiation." Israel's evacuation of its Gaza settlements has touched off a fierce political campaign here, and its outcome may determine whether Mr. Abbas can succeed in governing and eventually making peace. Hamas and Mr. Abbas's more secular faction, Fatah, are jostling for position in municipal elections in coming months and legislative elections planned for Jan. 25, the first that Hamas has ever said it would enter. Mr. Abbas is trying to contain Hamas within the Palestinian political system and ultimately to take its weapons away. Hamas, a far more disciplined, methodical movement than Fatah, wants to strengthen its hold on Palestinian society. Hamas has "a mission," said Ziad Abu Amr, a political scientist and independent legislator who serves as a liaison between Mr. Abbas and Hamas. "They want to Islamicize the state and society. Yes, in the final analysis, they want control." >From the mosque roof on Friday, the green Hamas flag fluttered as usual. But three black, white, green and red Palestinian national flags stood there as well, modified to suggest Hamas's fundamentalist message. Across the blank white field, someone had stitched the words, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet." On Saturday the candidates vied again. In a speech here, Mr. Abbas appropriated the language of Hamas for his peaceful purpose of rebuilding Gaza, declaring, "the little jihad is over, and now we have the bigger jihad - the bigger battle is achieving security and economic growth." But at the same time, a few blocks away, Hamas gunmen in black masks held a news conference. For them, the jihad was not little and not over. Into a bouquet of microphones, one of them praised "the choice of jihad, which caused Israel's security theory to fail." "We're going to keep our weapons, because the battle with the enemy is a long one," he said. For Hamas no less than Mr. Abbas, the coming elections are crucial. A few days ago, as Mr. Abbas was seeking a promise from Hamas not to disrupt the Israeli withdrawal, Mr. Abu Amr played what he considered his trump card during a seven-hour meeting. "Listen, you want elections," he recalled saying. "If the withdrawal doesn't go smoothly, there will be no elections." The two sides came to terms, for now. Mr. Abbas's aides still fear that Hamas will act to disrupt the withdrawal or its aftermath, striking at Israel on its own or through a proxy to provoke devastating Israeli fire. They say the motive would be to prevent Fatah, which dominates the governing Palestinian Authority, from handling the withdrawal smoothly and fairly, which would allow Fatah to shake the reputation for corruption and mismanagement that it gained under Yasir Arafat. Hamas is careful to say it is not trying to supplant the Palestinian Authority. It instead presents itself as the guardian of the public interest as the Palestinians make use of the settlement land. "We are looking for partnership," said Nizar Rayan, a Hamas leader. "Hamas emphasizes that we are not an alternative to anyone. But at the same time, we reject any decision taken by the authority without consulting with all the factions." While crediting all Palestinian groups with the withdrawal, Hamas is taking pains to keep itself front and center. It is stringing banners throughout Gaza and organizing rallies; in advance of the withdrawal, it e-mailed a three-page list of spokesmen in Gaza to Arabic-speaking reporters. "This victory is the fruit of the people's efforts, and of the factions - and in the first place, Hamas," said Ismail Haniya, another leader of the group. Hamas has even begun putting up English-language banners, clearly aimed at the foreign media. "Gaza is the start," one of them proclaims. During almost five years of the intifada, blows struck at Israel by Hamas, Fatah and other factions were also blows struck in the domestic political struggle, as all factions vied for popularity in the Palestinian street at Israel's expense. Henry Kissinger's dictum that Israel has no foreign policy, only domestic politics, is equally true of the Palestinians. Skip <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/international/middleeast/21hamas.html?pag ewanted=2&ei=5094&en=fa55d24a5c5eaa12&hp&ex=1124683200&partner=homepage#seco ndParagraph> to next paragraph <http://www.nytimes.com/pages/multimedia/index.html?8dpc> Multimedia <http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/international/2005_GAZAPULLOUT_GRAPHIC /index.html> Interactive Graphic Update: <http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/international/2005_GAZAPULLOUT_GRAPHIC /index.html> Settlement by Settlement Soldiers went door to door, trying to negotiate voluntary departures before resorting to carrying the settlers from their homes. Related Abbas <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/international/middleeast/21mideast.html> Talks of Future of Enclaves (August 21, 2005) Mr. Abbas saw this bloody competition as destroying Fatah's strongest political asset - its ability to negotiate with Israel. He opposed the violence from the start. Taking control after Mr. Arafat's death last year, he negotiated a shaky cease-fire among the factions. Yet because Israel is making its withdrawal unilaterally, rather than through negotiations, Fatah leaders also credit the "resistance" with forcing the evacuation. During Mr. Abbas's Friday Prayer, the imam said the Israelis were leaving because of the "steadfastness" and consistency of Palestinians, and because of their "mujahedeen." To say that, for most Palestinians, is to concede that Hamas was responsible. "Most of the martyrs are from them," said one Fatah member, Faez Chaben, 23. "They did most of the settlement raids. Fatah contributed, with some joint attacks." Fatah wants to change the subject from fighting. Arabic-language banners on opposite sides of one street in downtown Gaza City tell the story. On one side, drivers read a yellow-green Hamas banner that declares, "Four years of sacrifice beat 10 years of negotiations." On the other side, they read a white Fatah banner with, for Palestinians, a rather less stirring assertion: "Withdrawal from Gaza means a reawakening of the Palestinian economy." Gazans desperately want more jobs, and expected donor money is likely to help Mr. Abbas. But boasting of economic growth may be bad politics, some of Mr. Abbas's own advisers fear. While Hamas speaks a language of national liberation, Fatah is talking about cash. The fact that the Israeli withdrawal is unilateral, rather than negotiated, has also created an opportunity for Mr. Abbas. Hamas previously refused to participate in elections, because they were negotiated as part of the Oslo interim accords with Israel, which Hamas refuses to recognize. Mr. Abbas's aides said he might offer Hamas a deal similar to the one offered Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army: to join the political system in exchange for a promise to eventually disarm. "The real challenge to us will be what degree of vagueness we will accept," said a senior adviser to Mr. Abbas, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly. Palestinian political analysts say Hamas is following the model of the Lebanese guerrillas group Hezbollah, which formed a bloc in Lebanon's Parliament but retained its arsenal and policy of "resistance" to Israel. One of the biggest questions here is which element Hamas will ultimately stress, the parliamentary or the paramilitary. Palestinian security forces fought battles with Hamas militants before the withdrawal, and Mr. Abbas' advisers say he is preparing to confront the group in the future. But they say he can afford to do so only when Hamas clearly jeopardizes the calm that now prevails. The exhaustion of Palestinians with violence is one of Mr. Abbas's greatest assets. If Hamas is seen as retaliating for Israeli violence - like the killing of four Palestinians by an Israeli on Wednesday - then Mr. Abbas would have no support for punishing the group, his advisers say. During the Intifada, attacks by Fatah militants convinced Israelis that Fatah wanted to destroy Israel, not to achieve Fatah's official goal of a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in 1967. Since replacing Mr. Arafat, Mr. Abbas has tried to clarify that his faction's goal is the more limited one. As he has done so, Hamas leaders have increasingly spoken of establishing some sort of truce with Israel once the 1967 territory is free. But "this is temporary," said Abed al-Fatah Dokhan, 70, a founder of Hamas. "It's not the long-term dream. The strategic goal is the liberation of Palestine from the occupation, within its historic borders." As he quoted leaders of Hamas who were killed by Israel - but never mentioned Mr. Arafat or Mr. Abbas - the imam at the Caliph Mosque also spoke of a bigger dream. "Tomorrow there will be the West Bank and Jerusalem, and all the Palestinian sands," he said, meaning lands. "We will go on, on that road, for the resistance to move inside the West Bank, then into all our Palestinian sands. This victory is due to the resistance strikes." Mr. Abbas argues that Hamas politicians can think or say whatever they want, provided they are bound by Palestinian national decisions - much as Israel's settlers condemned but ultimately bowed to the decision to evacuate Gaza. Dan [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://www.terror-hunters.com/> www.terror-hunters.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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