Hamas Flags Fly Next to Kfar Saba

Hamas terrorists Saturday celebrated their sweeping election victory in Kalkilya, next to Kfar Saba, flying their green flags and handing out candies to children.


Kalkilya is the largest Arab urban center west of several large Israeli communities in Samaria, including Ginot Shomron, Karnei Shomron and Kedumim. It also is adjacent to Kfar Saba, north of Tel Aviv, and the community of Kochav Yair, where Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz and several senior IDF officers live.

The Hamas victories in Thursday's local elections already have had their effect on Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). He immediately called for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "to push the peace process forward and to discuss the implementation of the agreements between us, like that of Sharm El-Sheik," he said.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=81499

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Notice not the Palestinian flag....but the HAMAS flag.
Pretty obvious who is in charge.

Funny thing about letting terrorists run free....they come back to haunt you.

paradoxically. If Abu Mazen has called an urgent meeting to push the peace process forward due to Hamas gains then it could give impetus to the project.

I bet it sure focusses the mind anyway.

when I posted this.



Does it now seem plausible to you that given...

a.the strong showing by hamas , esp.in the cities

b.the cowering of mazen to hamas

c.the independance of hamas by raising its OWN FLAG



that hamas has a very real chance of being in full control of the

palestinian govt and implementing the HAMAS COVENANT ?

If Hamas recieved less than a third of the vote, thats less than a 1/3 support, and as i understand it their support is localised and highly concentrated in specific areas.

If the international community can strengthen Mazen financially to improve palestinian lives, and in the eyes of his own people by not making him look a fool at negotiations he may even make inroads into their support.

I think its heartening that after the death of Arafat palestinians didn't react by voting for Hamas, instead voting for a (relative) moderate who you could't exactly call a hero as Arafat was.

Mazen cowering to Hamas is dangerous but confronting them directly is also dangerous. What if he lost?

Also the raising of the Hamas flag rather than the palestinian flag will not necessarily be advantageous in the eyes of palestinians in other areas, or may just be celebrating victory rather than a statement.

I still believe there is absolutely no chance of the Hamas covenant becoming part of some palestinian constitution.

and I repectfully disagree.

which is quite understandable given the region we are discussing.

I am also a cynic of most things, but have blind flashes of optomism. If i lie down for an hour they usually pass.

However there is still no way the Hamas covenant will become part of any kind of palestinian constitution.

Heres why in my humble opinion. If hamas gained power, talks would break down immediately, or if in some form the covenant became part of an a constitution, talks would break down immediately.

From there, there would be a return to violence by both sides, parts of the West bank and Gaza would be re-occupied, incursions into palestinian heartlands, and the government, of whatever form, would collapse effectively as any form of viable state.

From this position, as before, peace would be built up slowly and any palestinian state/government would be started from scatch once more. Again without the covenant. If the covenant became included again (see paragraph 3) and so on.

But before that it ain't gonna happen anyway

hamas , which now has a foothold of power,demands certain concessions from Abbas. Abbas concedes some power which will never satisfy hamas.

There is a continued spiraling up of violence - perhaps even to civil war - and abbas base erodes....due to lack of progress.

Either a civil war will happen or repeat elections will happen- either way,hamas gains full control of the govt and begins to implement the hamas covenant.

I believe a credible scenario.

"hamas gains full control of the government" in your scenario. There is no government as such in the conventional sense as Palestine is not a proper state.

It will never become a proper state if a group like hamas was in control, therefore Isreal would again be fighting a terrorist group who had control illegitimately of parts of the West Bank. Just like the IRA had illegitimate control of Derry and other parts of Northern Ireland

Your scenario would lead to there being no palestinian state and therefore no hamas conenant as part of any constitution of a palestinian state.

Civil war is also highly unlikely anyway, so lets just hope for progress