JUST ANOTHER POLITICAL PARTY...BUT AN EFFECTIVE ONE:

How Hamas Wins Voters: The fundamentalists offer a defiant message, social services and good toilets. (Kevin Peraino, 4/10/05, Newsweek)

[Fatah]'s meetings are plagued by bickering. Its military wing, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, regularly appears reckless and out of control. Israeli intelligence officials have long warned that regional powers like Syria and Iran could buy the loyalty of poor Aqsa fighters and use them as proxies. But Al Aqsa doesn't need foreign help to embarrass itself. Recently a band of disgruntled Aqsa militants went on a rampage through Ramallah, firing at Abbas's headquarters. At a restaurant later that night, the Fatah thugs smashed wine bottles and left the walls chewed with bullet holes. "This makes us look like idiots," groaned one Aqsa boss in the West Bank.

Hamas, on the other hand, is admired for its network of social services and its clear, uncompromising ideology. In the West Bank village of Bidya, an old man who runs a vegetable stand explains that he voted for the Hamas mayor because he "fixed the [mosque's] toilets." And so far, unlike Fatah, Hamas has managed to avoid the taint of political compromise with Israel. "It's better to be in the opposition," says Mohammad Ghazal, a Hamas leader from Nablus. "You can shout at others and let them deal with the problems."

There are an awful lot of toilets to fix, during which time the hatred of Israel will dissipate.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 14, 2005 7:46 PM