This article by Amira Hass is a must read for anyone who still entertains the illusions that Hamas is a bunch of angels with invisible wings, who are above corruption and cynical manipulation of power. She does a good job of puncturing the myth of Hamas's networks of charities, showing how they aim to create clientele. Here's how she opens her article:
"A resident of a refugee camp in Nablus, a member of Fatah, used to worship at a mosque that is identified with Hamas. As an employee of the public sector, he is one of tens of thousands of wage-earners who are not getting a regular salary. Once every few days, he would find a generous food package on his doorstep, put there by anonymous benefactors. Recently he began to worship at a different mosque, one not identified with Hamas. Since then there haven't been any packages. It's a story that is in accord with various impressions to the effect that Hamas finds indirect ways to reward its supporters."
Hamas has also proved that it can assassinate and shoot at demonstrators like the best of them. I would say that Hamas is different from Fateh in that while Fateh will talk about the "homeland" and the "nation," Hamas uses the language and authority of religion, which makes for a great and a dangerous camouflage.
11 comments:
just a quick comment on the execrp you have posted from the article.
It is stated that the man is fateh i.e. not a hamas supporter, yet he still recieved a food package.
He changed his mosque, it could be that to avoid double charitibale food packages (in a stretched economy) they assumed the other mosque would have similar values, and did not continue with their actions.
Anyways, a mosque is a mosque, praying in one or the other is usually a statement about how easy one is to reach with respect to another, not of 'supporting' a political party.
Just my 2 cents.
Hi Laila,
Sure, your reading of the example is valid but only if you isolate it from the rest of the article and the other details she gives of how Hamas is doing what all politicians do: take care of its supporters and try to gain new ones. Fateh does it by employing traffic policemen who create more traffic jams on al manara than they solve. Hamas does it through its "charity." And of course recently through its ministries.
As to a mosque being a mosque, I'm not sure this is true in the Palestinian context anymore: people are really polarized. Before the current crisis, the line separating Fateh supporters and Hamas supporters was fluid. And I know for sure that lots of Fateh supportes voted for Hamas to teach their organization a lesson. However, more recently, and thanks to the militarization of the groups, the line has become more rigid. There's blood betweeen them now.
at the risk of sounding naive, i would say that what hamas is doing should not come as a surprise, not because it's hamas, but because it's a political entity that is trying to increase its' membership.. the jesuits of old were doing the same thing in recruiting "heathens" into the christian religion, as do other religions; want some food? do you accept the lord and saviour jc into your heart?? :P the lesson that the people wanted to teach fateh was unfortunatley lost as a result of u.s. and e.u. shenanigans; both entities knew that the election of hamas was a democratic one and that the people had spoken, but why bother dealing with a new partner or adversary in hamas, when your familliar crook..err.. partner is more maleable? hence the recent up-arming of fateh and the cash transfers (money that is obviously Palestinian to begin with).. to butcher a kuwaiti saying (assuming we didn't steal it from somewhere else): hold on to your lunatic before he is replaced by a crazier one..
Hi Amal,
Thanks for your response :)
I do not attempt to analyse Hamas as a plotical party, and maybe praying at A mosque instead of B mosque in Palestine constitutes a political affiliation, I dont live there.
But when it comes to charity as an act, dont we all pick and choose? and dont we all do our best to reach many people as possible? I dont know, but I think in citing this particular argument as an intorducation to the article, the author established a clear bias against Hamas in attempting to to lessen from the rather nice act of annonymously (and I stress this) donating food packages to someone who is known not to support them.
The blood between them, Allah yir7am, the finger of blame though is obvious. I am not anti fateh, pr hamas, I dont live there, but from the public actions of the figure heads, i would say abbas has alot to answer for. When HIS people voted in a government as president he MUST honour this and work with it, not try to backstab them. Yes Fateh and Hamas are not friends, but Yassin and Arafat still respected each other and the others wish to do what is best for Palestine and her people. This is being lost now, and once again the palestinian people are the victims :(
q80,
Yes, Hamas is doing what all political groups do. That's all I ask: that we subject it to the same analysis that we subject any other political group. This has been my line from the first day on this blog.
One thing that I find mystifying is this: why did Israel bombed the PA institutions to smithereens the first couple of years in the second intifada if they wanted to do business with them afterall? Remember when they bombed the hell out of all PA ministries and police stations? Two of my neighbors, both policemen in the PA, died in such a raid.
Hi Laila,
The question you're raising about her example is a valid one. I don't live there either, but Hass does (or used to for years). I've been reading her for a long time and she's one of the reporters I trust--the Israelis think she's "biased" against the occupation and in favor of the Palestinians. Which she is.
BTW, there's nothing "anonymous" in the west bank, not even ants. I have no doubt the man knew who left him the package.
As to the leaders we are left with, Israel made sure to leave the mediocre ones on all sides.
when israel bombs the infrastructure, it's buying time and rearranging it's tactics and positions; both figurativley and militarily. by keeping things in such disarray, they weaken the "enemy" camp and make it more difficult for them to act coherently, which is tough in the best of times, so forget about it when your infrastructure collapses.. i'm sure that's in some sun-tzu text..
as for subjecting hamas to the same scrutiny as directed towards other parties, that would work better under the glaring eyes of western media, if it was constant.. we don't seem to engage in that type of scrutiny, with a few exceptions... we don't have a systematic process that holds officials accountable, we couldn't produce our watergate with what we have now...
q80,
Your explanation in the first part of your post makes sense, but it's assuming Israel always knows what's doing. I sometimes wonder.
As to the second part: Hamas gave the western media plenty of amunition in recent years so I doubt the Palestinian scrutiny of Hamas, if it ever happens, will yield anything more dramatic than what the group does in its public performances.
Yes, there's very little accountability in our part of the world, but religious political groups like Hamas get more exemptions than others and I think the way Hamas combines religious language and armed resistance language, two taboos above questioning, allows it to get away with quite a bit.Fateh used to use the armed resistance part, and tried to get back to that by competing with Hamas over suicide bombing. But it's been in a bind since Oslo, hence it's crisis.
amal,
i always wonder if they know what they're doing; i never meant to imply that they always know what they're doing, sorry for the confusion.
the scrutiny i mentioned is required for the very same reasons you state; covering hamas as a terror group by western media is not the goal, but having them scrutinized as a political party that has won an election, is..
p.s. how do u manage all these postings with kids and work? mashallah!!
response to ps.: we eat lots of fool!
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