Palestinians: EU Facilitating Hamas Victory
by Bassam Tawil • February 19, 2021 at 5:00 am
It is important to note that Israel did not stop the Palestinians in the past from holding presidential and parliamentary elections in 1996, 2005 and 2006.
Israel did not even stop Arab residents of Jerusalem from running in the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council election as candidates for Hamas, the Islamist movement that does not recognize Israel's right to exist and seeks to replace it with an Islamic state.
Hamas ran under the slogan "Islam is the solution" and promised to end corruption and bring good governance to the Palestinians... [and] also promised voters that it would resort to an "armed struggle" against Israel.
[W]hen Hamas participated in the 2006 election, which was also encouraged by the EU, the Islamist movement was still on the EU's list of terrorist organizations. The EU, however, did not try to stop the terrorist organization from running in that election.
The Quartet members should have set the conditions before, not after the election. They had every right to do so: the Hamas-led government was expecting the international community to continue providing financial aid to the Palestinians.
The Hamas-led government that was formed after the 2006 election was boycotted by the EU and most of the international community. Why? Because Hamas, in their eyes, is a terrorist organization. If so, why did the EU and other Western countries not object to Hamas's participation in the elections before the vote? Did Hamas become a terrorist organization only after it won the election?
The EU and other international parties perfectly well see that Hamas will run in upcoming election and again promise Palestinians to continue the "armed struggle' against Israel. They can perfectly well hear Hamas saying that its goal is to "liberate Palestine, from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea." It seems that Hamas's goal -- finishing what Hitler started, annihilating the Jews -- is precisely what the EU and the international community secretly, or unconsciously, want.
Those who are allowing Hamas to run unconditionally in the election are facilitating the terrorist group's next victory and certain rise to power.
Facing pressure from the European Union, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last month set dates for holding general elections for the first time in 15 years.
The EU was quick to welcome Abbas's decision to hold elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, the presidency and the PLO National Council.
"This is a welcome development as participative, representative and accountable democratic institutions are key for Palestinian self-determination and state-building," said a spokesman for the EU in Brussels. "The EU has in the past years consistently supported and funded the work of the Central Elections Commission in order to prepare for holding free, fair and inclusive elections for all Palestinians."
The EU also called on Israeli authorities "to facilitate the holding of elections across all the Palestinian territory."
The EU, in its statement, did not make a similar appeal to Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization.
