While Sharon warns against Hamas's participation in the upcoming Palestinian elections, the resistance group is resolute that it will, writes Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank Seeking to appease his far-right constituency ahead of crucial internal Likud Party elections slated for next week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been escalating his rhetoric against the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas. Sharon had always demanded that the Palestinian Authority (PA) eradicate the "terror infrastructure" of Hamas. However, as the movement has grown stronger, becoming an essential political player in the Palestinian arena, Sharon has now threatened to disrupt the Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for January 2006. From New York, where he spoke before the UN General Assembly this week, Sharon warned that Israel would prevent the organisation of the elections if the PA failed to meet two conditions: disarming Hamas and getting it to abandon its anti-Zionist ideology. "We will make every effort not to help the Palestinians. I don't think they can have elections without our help," Sharon was quoted as telling reporters. The Israeli premier said Israel might maintain roadblocks throughout the West Bank, making it difficult for Palestinians, voters and candidates alike, to move around. It is not clear to what extent Sharon will be insisting on the conditions he has spelled out. However, some analysts assess that the ultimate say in this regard belongs not to Sharon, but rather to the US. "I don't think the Americans will back Sharon on this" said Yossi Alpher, a noted Israeli current affairs commentator, adding that "The Americans have already allowed armed Islamic militias, such as Al-Badr in Iraq and Hizbullah in Lebanon, to take part in elections, and some argue that Hamas will be no exception." Alpher told Al-Ahram Weekly that the inclusion of Hamas into the Palestinian political discourse concerned not Israel, but the entire American policy of democratic reform in the Arab-Muslim world. Alpher's predictions might well be correct. On Saturday, a State Department official tacitly rebuked Sharon for threatening to thwart the Palestinian polls, saying the upcoming elections ought to be free from external interference. Confronted with the America rebuff, Sharon argued that as the Americans barred Al-Qaeda's Abu Musa'ab Al-Zarqawi from the Iraqi elections, Israel was trying to do the same with Hamas. The parallel here, however, might appear to overlook the fundamental fact that Hamas, a popular political and social movement, has accepted the democratic process and declared its willingness to respect the choices of the people. Moreover, contrary to Al-Zarqawi's pariah status (Al-Zarqawi, among other things, is not an Iraqi citizen), all Palestinian political groups and institutions, including the PA and its de facto ruling party Fatah, welcome Hamas's participation. Finally, given Hamas's popularity, observers predict that a successful and legitimate election poll in the occupied Palestinian territories cannot be realised without Hamas's participation. The PA subsequently has condemned Sharon's threats as "preposterous and unacceptable". "The Palestinian elections will be Palestinian and only Palestinian, not Israeli," insisted PA President Mahmoud Abbas while touring the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on Sunday. He reminded Sharon that every Palestinian meeting conditions spelled out in the Palestinian election law would be able to take part in the elections irrespective of his or her political or ideological views. PA Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that any Israeli interference in the Palestinian elections would only hurt PA leader Abbas, and strengthen Hamas. "I urge the Israelis to stay out of our elections and our internal affairs; not to put their noses in this. Our elections will be a turning point toward political pluralism and maintaining law and order," he said. Predictably, stronger reactions came from Hamas itself, which accused Sharon of "brazen and rude interference in Palestinian internal affairs". "I think he is afraid that Hamas's participation in the elections will strengthen the collective will and immunity of the Palestinian people vis-à-vis Israeli insolence," said Hamas senior spokesman and leader, Mahmoud Al-Zahar. Al-Zahar accused Sharon of "throwing stones at people's houses while his own is made of glass". "If he wants to play the game of imposing conditions, then we have a thousand conditions we would want Israel to meet. First of all, Israel must disarm all these thugs and child killers -- the Jewish settlers. Then all right wing and religious parties in Israel that deny the very existence of the Palestinian people have to be banned and dissolved. Then Israel will have to abandon its Talmudic ideology which views non-Jews as water carriers and wood hewers," said Al-Zahar. Another Hamas leader, Mohamed Ghazal, dismissed Sharon's fixation on Hamas's charter, which refuses to recognise Zionism. "We are not thinking of destroying anybody. We are not thinking of destroying Israel. If we win the Palestinian elections, our top priority will be rebuilding the economic, social and cultural life; essentially rebuild what Israel has destroyed." According to some insiders within Hamas, Ghazal's remarks about "Israel's destruction" -- a concept widely manipulated by Israel for propaganda gain -- may herald a tendency on Hamas's part to remove "the elimination of Israel" from its political discourse or at least keep it dormant as an ideological, even theological, underpinning. "We certainly have no problem with Jews living in peace and dignity in this land. But we do have a problem with the inherently racist infrastructure called Zionism. We are committed to the removal of Zionism, not Jews. And we reject the concept of a 'Jewish state' because Palestine belongs to non-Jews as well." Hamas's defiance of Sharon took the form of more than just words. On Sunday, several hundred -- some say two thousand -- armed Hamas fighters marched through the streets of downtown Gaza City amid cheers from tens of thousands of supporters. The "victory march" was meant as a "message" to Israel, said Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri. "Our message is that the resistance will continue until the occupation ends."
