lawyerlee
02-14-2006, 11:47 AM
U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/international/middleeast/14mideast.html?ei=5094&en=d28cff5caa1702fa&hp=&ex=1139979600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print)
New York Times
By STEVEN ERLANGER
JERUSALEM, Feb. 13 — The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.
The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement.
The officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood.
The officials and diplomats, who said this approach was being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the Israeli government, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
They say Hamas will be given a choice: recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements — as called for by the United Nations and the West — or face isolation and collapse.
This seems so wrong to me. We supposedly believe in spreading democracy all over the Middle East, yet when the Palestinians have a democratic election to select a government, if we don't like their choice, we will force these democractically elected leaders out? And who is going to enforce this? Do we really have the forces right now to back Israel up, given our entrenchment in Iraq and the ongoing difficulties with Al Qaeda? :( I'm really concerned about this tactic. It scares the hell out of me. :(
What does everyone else think about this?
New York Times
By STEVEN ERLANGER
JERUSALEM, Feb. 13 — The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.
The intention is to starve the Palestinian Authority of money and international connections to the point where, some months from now, its president, Mahmoud Abbas, is compelled to call a new election. The hope is that Palestinians will be so unhappy with life under Hamas that they will return to office a reformed and chastened Fatah movement.
The officials also argue that a close look at the election results shows that Hamas won a smaller mandate than previously understood.
The officials and diplomats, who said this approach was being discussed at the highest levels of the State Department and the Israeli government, spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.
They say Hamas will be given a choice: recognize Israel's right to exist, forswear violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements — as called for by the United Nations and the West — or face isolation and collapse.
This seems so wrong to me. We supposedly believe in spreading democracy all over the Middle East, yet when the Palestinians have a democratic election to select a government, if we don't like their choice, we will force these democractically elected leaders out? And who is going to enforce this? Do we really have the forces right now to back Israel up, given our entrenchment in Iraq and the ongoing difficulties with Al Qaeda? :( I'm really concerned about this tactic. It scares the hell out of me. :(
What does everyone else think about this?