Hamas and America's Erroneous Grasp of Middle East Reality

American reactions to the Palestinian election victory of Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, have been hasty and miscalculated. Generally speaking, this has been true for decades in regard to American policies in the region. Policy makers in Washington lack experience for understanding the political changes that have changed the map of the Arab world. The reality is that oppressive American policies that are blindly biased toward Israel, the U.S. occupation of Iraq and its pressure on Syria, are injustices that inflame the people of the region.

The U.S. Congress spearheaded the confrontation with Hamas. It tried to prevent Hamas from participating in the Palestinian Parliamentary elections after it had made such a strong showing in the third stage of local elections. So under the claim that Hamas is a terrorist organization, the Congress passed a resolution shortly before the [previous stage of] elections in December, warning Palestinians of a cut-off in aid if Hamas took part in the final round of voting. The Congressional resolution passed by a sweeping majority (397 for, 7 against, and 17 abstaining).

However, this was rejected by the Palestinians, their government and their people, all stressing their rejection of any interference in Palestinian internal affairs. Rather, American and Israeli pressure on Hamas actually played a role in its rise to popularity in the Palestinian street, where the people have tasted death and destruction at the hands of Israelis armed with their American weapons. Thus, the attempted interference by the American/Zionist conspiracy was a major factor in sparking nearly automatic support [for Hamas].

Furthermore, warnings of a cut-off in aid were given little attention because the amount is so meager. The size of the assistance was exposed by Isma’il Haniyah [SEE VIDEO BELOW], the leader of Hamas, when he said: “It amounts to less than crossing tolls.” This reality was driven home by the fact that Palestinians see no sign of this aid on the ground, given that their homes, destroyed by American bomber aircraft, remain destroyed, and Apache missiles continue to fall on their heads on a daily basis.

So recent actions and statements by the U.S. administration carry many dangerous implications, the most import of these being American and Israeli alarm at the rise of Hamas.

Despite the fact that it is a small organization, its widespread popularity demonstrates that the Palestinian people have chosen it as their means of regaining the rights that were stripped from them, and they have chosen it as their means to establishing an independent government on their homeland.

This is especially the case after the failure of all other attempts at a settlement, which were backed by Palestinian groups and Arab organizations over the past half century. Rather, racing to have exchanges with the Israelis has caused the loss of many Palestinian and Arab rights. Alarm over this is also extremely valid, since the Palestinian people never abandoned, not even for a day, the resistance which began after the first Zionist attack a century ago.

Continuing support for the resistance never waned, even in the face of collective hunger, siege, destruction, suppression, murder, slaughter, and every type of hardship. And this I what the American/Zionist Confederacy fears the most: the increasing support for the Palestinian resistance across the rest of the Arab and Islamic world. The American oppressions, including the infringement upon the honor of the Nation, its body politic and its legislated rights, have forced the people to gather around their choice of the resistance.

This move by the American Congress also shows the dual political game that Washington plays with Muslim people in general, but Arab people in particular. So while it claims to be looking after democracy, and that it is trying to initiate peace in the Arab world through democracy, it stands clearly against the choice of the Palestinian people and tries to obstruct their democratic path.

So here, credit must be given to the Palestinian leadership for siding with the choice of the people, for the quickness with which the government spoke up, and for the Palestinian President’s clear declaration that he will stick to the law and hand Hamas the duty of forming a new government. Credit is also due to the Egyptian leadership, for rushing to declare its acceptance of the choice of the Palestinian people. The same is also true of the Arabic University [Lebanon] and many governments.

This movement also highlights the ramifications of America’s interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries, which is carried out by taking advantage of weak organizations and a lack of civic organizations.

Another dangerous implication of U.S. Congressional resolution is that members of Congress, and every policy maker in the American administration, bows to Zionist propaganda that has succeeded, through hysterical warnings and exhortations, to twist the facts, especially those related to Israel and the struggle in the Middle East region.

It has also made the resistance of the Palestinian People appear like terrorism that has to be confronted. And as for the Israeli terrorism that has impacted all visible signs of life in Palestine and the Arab region, it is regarded as justified self defense. The American President, George W. Bush, mentioned this openly when he said about Palestinian suicide missions, “The Israeli people will continue to be slaughtered by the terrorists and therefore, Israel will continue to defend itself.”

Furthermore, some American writers, as well as some lawmakers and Congress people, have acknowledged the terrorism of the Zionist lobby in America. Edward Herman, who co-authored, Manufacturing Consent along with Noam Chomsky, wrote, “The powerful Israeli lobby in America represents the material support and defense of Israel. This lobby is capable of not only controlling the media and making Congress an occupied territory of Israel, but it is able to place people with dual interests in strategic positions and sensitive positions in the Bush Administration.”

Also, the Jewish author, Israel Shamir, said in an article entitled, “Ode to Cynthia,” found on his Internet site, “Out of every five dollars American taxpayer gives for aid, four dollars land in the coffers of the Jewish state. They appear unstoppable, as the politicians are scared of them and docilely raise their hands and sign the pledge promising to send more money to Israeli generals. Support of Israel is not a foreign policy. It is the covenant of the Mammonites, and you sign it with blood. With Palestinian blood.”

Cynthia McKinney, Congresswoman from Georgia, exposed the voting that takes place in Congress. She said, “There are many members of Congress who want to be free. I am one of them. I wanted to be free to vote according to my conscience, but I had been told that if I didn’t sign a pledge supporting the military superiority of Israel, no support would come my way. And sure enough, I didn’t sign the pledge and no support came my way. I suffered silently year in and year out, because I refused to sign that pledge.” The Zionist lobby in America is also not afraid to commit crimes of murder against those who openly express their enmity, like what happened to Senator Paul Wellstone from Minnesota, who was killed in an airplane crash near the end of 2002, because he openly supported the Palestinian struggle.

Moreover, the outcome of the Palestinian and Egyptian elections shows the beginning of a change in the region that is built upon the awareness of the people. This necessitates that other governments and countries change the way they operate and begin accepting the choices of the people.