AND YET THE WEST THINKS IT CAN HELP FATAH...:

West chooses Fatah, but Palestinians don't: They prefer Hamas, which represents an alternative to Fatah's acceptance of the Israeli occupation. (Saree Makdisi, June 20, 2007, LA Times)

IN THE WEST, there's a huge sense of relief. The Hamas-led government that has been causing everyone so much trouble has been isolated in Gaza, and a new government has been appointed in the West Bank by the "moderate," peace-loving Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas.

So why then do Palestinians not share in the relief? Well, for one thing, the old government had been democratically elected; now it has been dismissed out of hand by presidential fiat. There's also the fact that the new prime minister appointed by Abbas — Salam Fayyad — has the support of the West, but his election list won only 2% of the votes in the same election that swept Hamas to victory. Fayyad and Abbas have the support of Israel, but it is no secret that they lack the backing of their own people.

There is a reason the people threw out Abbas' Fatah party in last year's election. Palestinians see the leading Fatah politicians as unimaginative, self-serving and corrupt, satisfied with the emoluments of power.

...by sending payola? It's funny to hear the folks who insist Iraq oughtn't be broken up into its natural constituent parts argue that Palestine ought to be artificially divided.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 20, 2007 7:17 AM