Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., January 26, 2009 Shvat 1, 5769 | | Israel Time: 13:04 (EST+7)
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Not built for surprises
By Amira Hass
Tags: cease-fire, hamas 

Click here for more articles by Amira Hass

Planning, organization, self-control and order - these characterized this week's mass rally held by Hamas in Gaza and reflect the organization's modus operandi, both open and concealed. Neither force nor bribery spurred the masses to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the movement's founding. The very large number of women who participated also demonstrated the widespread support Hamas has garnered, despite Israel's assassinations of its leaders, which may even have helped Hamas.

Observers heard people in cars traveling to the rally shouting slogans like, "Just wait, Abu Mazen - we're on our way to Ramallah." While Ramallah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas may be far away, Fatah officials were close by, and they stayed away from the streets. Yes, Hamas also knows how to use fear and deterrence.
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Hamas in the Gaza Strip wears three hats: It is the ruling party, a popular semi-underground movement and a military organization. Some believed its role as the ruling party would contradict its self-image as a resistance movement opposing the Israeli occupation, leading one role or the other to be weakened or renounced. But so far, the facts indicate otherwise. The lab conditions of an isolated and impoverished strip of land allow both kinds of discourse to exist peaceably, side-by-side.

The rally saw the rhetoric of resistance given wide expression. Many young people have joined Hamas' military wing in recent years, a lot more than the armed and masked men who showed up at the rally. Skeptics and "heretics" with a sociological bent will ask what's the big deal, what else do young people have to do in the sealed Strip other than to go to mosque or join the resistance? For Hamas, that is a revolting argument; the movement maintains that its recruits have found the light and are guided by the desire to sacrifice their lives for the future of the people.

In broad strokes, the future looks like this:

Politically, Hamas accepts the borders of June 4, 1967, for determining the boundaries of a Palestinian state. The public is told two versions of what will happen next. In one, the state will be achieved only through a genuine armed struggle ("not like that of the PLO") and greater Palestine will be returned to its legal owners at the right time. The other, shorter version skips over the 1967 stage and gets directly to the future.

As a religious movement, Hamas is in no rush; the future belongs to Islam, even if only the great-grandchildren, or their grandchildren, will see it. This is a very real future, the evidence of which can be found in the Koran. Every believer can cite the relevant proofs and knows that the hour will come when the Arab states and Muslim nations are able to overcome the pro-American governments. Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization once had a similar agenda for the liberation of all of Palestine, but when it became clear that the future was becoming a mental refuge, the nationalist organizations chose compromise and the present.

It may seem that Hamas also deals with the present. In his speech at the rally, the prime minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, promised several measures intended to make the material aspects of life easier, including a modest pay raise for teachers; immediate financial assistance for 3,000 students and 10,000 needy families; a special budget for small businesses. The Gaza government is saying, "Here is a nation and a people who, despite the blockade and the global embargo, has its own ways of getting money and building a budget." In other words, it functions as a government, under the minimal conditions the siege allows it. But you don't need a government to distribute urgent aid: the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and other international organizations help many more of the needy. The present is much more than a promise of food and charity.

As a consolidated political movement, Hamas has done a good job of predicting what its rivals and enemies will do. Hamas leaders expected Fatah to do all it could to sabotage the 2006 election and prepared accordingly. Since the Oslo Accords, Hamas has crafted its policy on the assumption that Israel would do everything to foil the implementation of a two-state solution along the 1967 borders. The history of settlement expansion, the splitting up of the West Bank and the isolation of Gaza since 1993 show that they were right.

As a movement beholden to order, Hamas is not built for surprises. And Israel continues to fail to surprise. Israel, which controls the electricity, the water and the gates, continues to rule the Palestinian present. It is a present of chicken coops, without industry, without traffic, without development, without freedom of choice. Creativity is limited, and many want to leave. Without a present, what is left to the Palestinians, in the West Bank as in Gaza, is the heroic, mystic past, and the distant future, as a refuge. This is the bread and butter of religious politics.
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  1.   This certainly rings a bell... 03:59  |  joanne 17/12/08
  2.   Amira Hass admits 10:20  |  Yonatan 17/12/08
  3.   "the heroic, mystic past, and the distant future" 10:31  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 17/12/08
  4.   Amira, Hamas is choking off all other activity... 11:02  |  Esther 17/12/08
  5.   Oh My! It is all Israel`s Fault! 11:35  |  FOX 17/12/08
  6.   message to amira 11:52  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 17/12/08
  7.   so you admit 11:55  |  yosi 17/12/08
  8.   Who really thinks a two state solution will work? 12:20  |  De 17/12/08
  9.   If Gaza is a State then let it pay it`s own bills 12:30  |  De 17/12/08
  10.   Hamas, and all other Palestinians will need to... 12:37  |  Edith 17/12/08
  11.   #1 Joanne 12:44  |  Edith 17/12/08
  12.   so clear...so sad 13:19  |  jean la salle 17/12/08
  13.   Amira Hass also admits... 14:05  |  ARA 17/12/08
  14.   #8 how clear you put it (unfortunately) 14:10  |  amos 17/12/08
  15.   for De 14:24  |  Naser 17/12/08
  16.   #7, Edith 14:46  |  amihai 17/12/08
  17.   The end of the ending 14:56  |  Mark Lincoln 17/12/08
  18.   for naser, not every thing is a dream 15:02  |  amihai 17/12/08
  19.   A Page from Stalin`s Book 15:04  |  NoToStupidPeople 17/12/08
  20.   De I echo your questions 15:18  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 17/12/08
  21.   amira springs no surprises and invents history 15:34  |  victor hardman 17/12/08
  22.   Meshal, sitting in Syria, manipulates the long arm ... 15:58  |  Esther 17/12/08
  23.   What surprises do you suggest offering up? 16:01  |  ZISD 17/12/08
  24.   Hamas hired Israel and the US to promote it. 16:22  |  Labhras 17/12/08
  25.   Response to amihai 16:35  |  Naser 17/12/08
  26.   Cipora #`s 3 & 6 - You get a 100 out of 100. Only you! 16:52  |  S 17/12/08
  27.   Israel insured the failure of the truce 17:02  |  Ibrahim 17/12/08
  28.   Israeli Obvious Solution 17:05  |  Rafi 17/12/08
  29.   #11 & #16 17:36  |  joanne 17/12/08
  30.   Nicely put, Cipora 17:41  |  joanne 17/12/08
  31.   #27 Ibrahim.....Egypt and the EU are also involved 18:56  |  Lynn 17/12/08
  32.   Naser #25 19:04  |  ZISD 17/12/08
  33.   11, Qassams hit Negave, 48 hours. 19:13  |  Akram Zekaria 17/12/08
  34.   Ibrahim #27 19:37  |  ZISD 17/12/08
  35.   re. De 19:56  |  Adam 17/12/08
  36.   Lynn, so what is the truce for? 20:08  |  Ibrahim 17/12/08
  37.   Adam 20:19  |  ZISD 17/12/08
  38.   As there has been "Post-Zionist" thought 20:38  |  Yamin Salahi 17/12/08
  39.   Gaza 21:22  |  misaac 17/12/08
  40.   Amira Hass supports Palestinian terrorism 21:38  |  Eric Wood 17/12/08
  41.   4 Esther, Re: choking off other acticity... 22:16  |  Dutch 17/12/08
  42.   #26, S 22:16  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 17/12/08
  43.   ZISD 22:28  |  Adam 17/12/08
  44.   AMIRA Hang on,which 2 state solution does Hamas subscribe to 00:03  |  PETER SM 18/12/08
  45.   #43 Adam...you and ZISD are wrong... 00:40  |  Edithann 18/12/08
  46.   EDITHAN You are wrong.Lots of Moslem countries get US money 03:47  |  PETER SM 18/12/08
  47.   A better example 04:11  |  Jasper 18/12/08
  48.   To Edithann 05:17  |  ZISD 18/12/08
  49.   Amira illustrates that Hamas not ready for the big league... 05:23  |  Smadar 18/12/08
  50.   All lies: Hamas doesn`t accept 67 "borders" at all 05:39  |  McQueen 18/12/08
  51.   Lynn, so what is the truce for? 05:46  |  Mark Lincoln 18/12/08
  52.   Cipora, try a new tack... 06:59  |  BBSNews 18/12/08
  53.   There will be no state of Gaza Yonatan... 07:05  |  BBSNews 18/12/08
  54.   #52 bbs - dont know your history do you 08:31  |  Adrian de Klerk 18/12/08
  55.   Amira, Re Not built for surprise 08:45  |  Dutch 18/12/08
  56.   Cipora #42 08:46  |  S 18/12/08
  57.   #56, S 09:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 18/12/08
  58.   #51, MarkL, now you are comparing Kadima to Islamic Jihad 10:46  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 18/12/08
  59.   #54, Adrian de Klerk 11:03  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 18/12/08
  60.   #57 Cipora 11:52  |  S 18/12/08
  61.   Amira, Listen to Countdown to Inauguration / Obama 12:02  |  Dutch 18/12/08
  62.   #59, S 15:17  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 18/12/08
 Read & React
Livni: Israel should strike Hamas again to halt arms smuggling
Responses: 44
Amir Oren: 'Decisive' Gaza offensive merely rehearsal for next crisis versus Iran
Responses: 7
Netanyahu: Likud-led government wouldn't build new settlements
Responses: 32
Akiva Eldar: Saudi plan offers Israel united front with Arab states against Iran
Responses: 8


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