There's Still Hope...

The recent Palestinian election, which saw the militant Hamas organization (best known for its calls for the destruction of Israel and terrorist attacks) win a decisive majority of parliamentary seats, have led many in the international community and the media to leap to conclusions regarding the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Hamas has supported/carried out numerous terrorist attacks on Israelis, their recent foray into electoral politics could be interpreted as a hopeful sign, not necessarily a doomsday scenario. It appears that if Fatah's leaders want to have any say in the direction of the Palestinian cause, they must do several things: First, this was a classic protest vote - the results may be interpreted as more anti-Fatah than pro-Hamas. As such, Fatah's leaders need to clean their own house and settle the internal bickering that has significantly weakened their position. Secondly, Fatah needs to remain open to any type of partnership that Hamas is willing to accept. According to shear numbers, Hamas doesn't need Fatah to form a majority coalition--they won enough seats to stand alone. However, as the AP notes, "But Fatah could help Hamas by serving as a a conduit for talks with Israel" - that's assuming that Hamas will eventually recognize Israel and both sides will even consider negotiating with each other. However, their willingness to even participate in the political process is a hopeful sign. With a taste of actual power, rather than the illusion of power that terrorist actions create, Hamas may see it in their best interest to lay down their arms and work for the good of the Palestinian people. Am I ignoring the fact that they have an ugly past full of heinous actions? Does my recognition of certain political realities make me a sissy liberal Israel-hater? I don't think so. Leaders on both sides have had innocent blood on their hands for decades. Hamas is no different.

History has seen similar movements turn to legitimate political means in other areas of the world (more on that later). If the relatively moderate elements of Hamas (or perhaps just the power hungry ones) choose to recognize Israel - something polling shows a majority Palestinian voters support - and can marginalize the radical elements, this will indeed be a relatively positive occurrence. This marginalization of the radical elements will require significant help from the international community; as a report (pre election) from the International Crisis Group suggests, "[T]he international community's best remaining option is to maximizee the Islamist movement's incentives to move in a political direction through a policy of gradual, conditional engagement."

One final point: this election was never going to speed up the peace process, especially with Sharon in the state that he is in and thsubsequentnt power vacuum. At the same time, if Hamas does moderate and engage in legitimate politics rather than a continued terror campaign, it too will take time. Nothing is going to happen fast. However, the road to peace has not been blocked with the election results. There still is hope...More of my thoughts later.

Corruption Is Delicious

There's nothing more entertaining and comical than watching members of Congress from both parties vow to clean up Washington. With Jack Abramoff, fedora in hand, ready to sing to the feds like a mocking bird on crack, our nation's legislators are returning campaign contributions and doing everything they can to distance themselves from this one 'bad apple.' The fact is, Abramoff is just one piece to an extremely corrupt beltway puzzle. Republicans will draft a loophole filled piece of legislation, maybe the "Clean Government Act of 2006;" when its all said and done, it will create more problems than it solves and Washington will remain as corrupt and money-driven as it has always been. For members of Congress to feign amazement at the level of corruption in D.C. is at best, funny and at worst, disgusting.

One more note: Delay is going down. The admittedly partisan prosecution at home is the least of his problems. He will be implicated in Abramoff-gate and may not even be reelected in '06. The Democrats will be pouring a lot of money into efforts to defeat him, much like the Republicans did to Tom Daschle in '04. Fellow GOPers are already staying far away from Delay; he had already temporarily resigned his Majority Leader post and will not be seeking the intra party reelection. Finally, in an ironic twist of fate, Delay will have difficulty keeping his seat. In the controversial Texas gerrymandering effort that Delay spearheaded, he made his own district more Democratic under the assumption that his seat was safe. It certainly doesn't appear to be safe now. Goodbye Congressman Delay. Your fat head will certainly be missed on the Hill.

Here's a roundup of the race for Majority Leader: http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/01/weeks_end_blunt.html#more