OneJerusalem.com

In light of the development in the PA we got some selected excerpts written by Ray Hanania before the elections. The article is published on Ynet News where Ray has a syndicated column.

Ray Hanania writes an award-winning syndicated column analyzing Middle East events, is an author of several books, and is a humorist, satirist and professional stand-up comedian who launched his public comedy performances after September 11th to help break through the growing hatred and animosity. You can find out about him, his stand-up shows and his books.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization that is driven by religious fanaticism and the superiority of Islam over Judaism and Christianity. Its power and popularity has come not from the purity of Islam but from the secular political stumbling blocs that have consistently prevented Palestinians and Israelis from achieving peace.”

“More importantly, religious faith always remains uncompromising in the face of secular reason and Islamic militants like Hamas continue to insert their religious beliefs as the alternative to the so-far failed secular solutions.”

“Hamas rings a bell that sounds of reason to the increasingly despondent Muslim Palestinians, especially the growing numbers who see conflict as the only way to achieve their goals. Violence satisfies the human nature for vengeance, a stark contrast to the non-violent peace process that has offered little real satisfaction of any form.”

“On one hand, the critics are too harsh, denouncing everything, while the defenders are too broad in defending everything. There is a middle ground and Hamas is not in it.”

“Hamas was a great distance from being anything like al-Qaeda when it was founded in the despair of the Gaza Strip ghettos in the late 1970s. It was nurtured into existence by the assistance of some Israeli political leaders who hoped to nurture a religious alternative to the secular Palestine Liberation Organization, not knowing their actions would result in the murderous organization’s rise.”

“Instead of stopping Hamas, Israel has continued a policy of punishing not only the Hamas terrorists for acts of violence against Israel, but all of Palestinian society and especially the secular alternative to Hamas, the Palestinian Authority.”

“Israelis have taught Palestinians to not see the difference between Hamas and the secular Palestinian leadership when it comes to achieving their independence.”

“Some Hamas leaders have hinted… that they might renounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist.
Their goal is transparent, to help ease Israeli pressures that might hold down their numbers in the election Jan. 25, and undermine the already dysfunctional PA government, which is wrapped in a knot of string so tight that the only answer is to cut it completely rather than try to unravel it. It’s not about disavowing violence.”

“An Islamic Palestine will not be an independent state at all, but become another oppressive regime that misuses the reality of life and the peaceful premises of Islam to impose tyranny and fundamentalist dictatorship.”