Quote:
|
Well David Miliband mentioned how big a part they had played in his release when he was being interviewed on the BBC this morning.
|
Interesting - neither Virgin Radio news nor Radio 4 mentioned it. BBC News website does. It's clearly a propaganda coup for Hamas, of course, which is why the soft-pedalling of their influence is to be expected. Miliband's openness is to be welcomed - I'm still hedging my bets over whether we're actually going to see a sane foreign policy now, but it's a good start.
Quote:
|
Yeah, they're right up there with Adolf's youth club network in the social responsibility stakes.
|
I think you may be mistaking them for someone else. Hamas are a) a political party b) enjoying popular support c) have just beaten Fatah d) are clearly keen on imposing some form of order in Gaza*, which is more than Israel ever have or Fatah are capable of currently (the reason Hamas won is that Fatah were/are corrupt and incompetent, and the current policy of ignoring the free and fair election result and hailing the losers Fatah as Tel Aviv and Washington's best mates, supplying them with guns and pushing them over the border to fight is really not going to make them any more liked. It may have escaped people's notice that the average Gazan isn't a big fan of Israel or the USA, possibly as a result of picking bits of shrapnel with 'Made in USA' out of their relatives for years.
Obtaining Alan Johnston's release is a calculated act to demonstrate that Hamas are in charge now - he's on the radio now saying that when Hamas took over the whole attitude changed and the jihadis started getting very worried - this should be hammered home to everyone who fancies having an opinion on this -
if you get rid of Hamas from Gaza, the crazies who kidnapped Johnston will be *happier* - beware of creating power vacuums just at the moment.
There's the small matter of being an elected political party, too (with a heavily armed wing, but there aren't many Middle Eastern political parties without armed wings, least of all Fatah or indeed most of the Iraqi government coalition).
* My favourite story from
http://conflictblotter.com/2007/06/1...ts-and-pieces/ has to be this one
Quote:
|
...they have their own style of traffic policing as well. They do it with a sort of Islamic flare. We double parked so my fixer could get cigarettes today and a Hamas traffic cop in a yellow vest came up to the window. He wanted us to move our car, but said simply: “Bow to God.†Somehow it was all that needed to be said, because our driver instantly understood and pulled ahead into a parking spot.
|
Suddenly London's parking goons seem almost benign. What's interesting is that they're disciplined enough to get the traffic moving right away. These guys aren't gun-wielding madman or thugs any more than Hizbollah are, they're a great deal more sophisticated and thus deserve respect, although probably not actual approval. Forget that and you'll come to bad conclusions.
More on the release here:
http://conflictblotter.com/2007/07/0...stons-release/