Luan Pra bang

I have a lot of sympathy with Palestinians and the opression they suffer but this does seem like a disaster for the peace process.The western governments should really find a way to deal with them though as they are the elected leaders. The IRA managed to seperate Sinn fein and Hamas will have to do the same and find people with a political view on how to get peace rather than just talk about violence.

TelBoy

"The Americans and the Europeans say to Hamas: either you have weapons or you enter the legislative council. We say weapons and the legislative council. There is no contradiction between the two. "

Flatcapdriver

Presumably, you hadn't considered that his statement is a negotiating point in the first place?

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

they seem just as thick as you Brits voting labour in again!

Some people will never learn!!!!

unclebuck

That's what Blair and Bush say too.

Holy Ghost

i think it's too early to say yet - but they're in & that's that. plus it does bring a perverse kind of clarity to the situation. the palestinian cards are well and truly on the table now - they're inside the political tent and being bolshie, instead of outside setting fire to it.

my gut feeling is that hamas in government will now have to grow up very very quickly: not only do they have to have political and diplomatic discourse with israel and the US (regardless of the grandstanding), they also have to talk with the UN, the EU and many other countries besides. in effect, forcing them to think with their heads instead of simply acting with an AK. the very fact that they are in political power (and out of the shadows) makes their people more visible and more vulnerable to mossad assassination if they simply choose the 'business as usual' option. i'm sure they will realise this.

the pressures they face by reverting to type will, i think, destroy them. these people are dangerous extremists from the terrorist fringe but they are not mad (unlike mahmoud ahmadinejad in iran) and will understand that by achieving legislative power they themselves must undergo fundamental change and adapt to this new environment. it won't happen overnight though and is bound to be bumpy.

remember, menachem begin and moshe dayan once preferred the bullet to the ballot box and they became nation-builders of the jewish state. much will also depend on how tel aviv reacts and who fills the vacuum left by sharon.

call me an optimist but this just might help cut through all the bullsh1t and get arab and jewish eyes firmly on the ball. at last.

_RIP_

Where do you get this sort of insight from Holy Ghost? You seem very well educated on the topic of world politics

TheBigMan

Let's all be honest now. Unless you have family there, who really gives a ****e about the middle east - I mean "really".

Quite frankly sick, bored and tired of it.

Sorry, but who gives two ****s.

OllyK

I guess anybody that uses oil or its products gives a $hit

TheBigMan

...and going on, and on, and on about it will change what?? Just numb and tired by all the middle east this, middle east that.

Not just on this issue, generically. Every time I switch on the news all I ever see is this. Sick to the back teeth of it.

So you care about oil (no doubt the price of...) as do I but it's happened, and other things happen "out there" that we have no control over.

Maybe (just maybe) we should discuss something else other than a a bunch of biblical people that offer nothing to the world other than instability and crazy **** attitudes.

2000TLondon

Spot on HolyGhost

The bigger picture has been viewed.......

Leslie

That is an incredibly short sighted view Big Man.

Les

Flatcapdriver

It's called reading and observing the media and then forming your own opinions.

TheBigMan

Ever since 9/11, all a middle eastern politicians has to do is fart and it's broadcasted as headline news.

It's almost as though the media, especially the TV feel they MUST report on middle eastern movements, makers and shakers these days.

I am sure that there are more pressing matters happening in Britain, and indeed the world that have a greater importance than any sort of political movement in the middle east - no matter how remote.

Yes, I am sure it is important - however let's re-introduce some priorities before we all fall through the media-hyped loop.

OllyK

Being sick of it isn't going to improve things and having Hamas at the helm "may" pan out OK and as HG said, they may well get a grip, but if they don't and go the otherway with the likes of Iran also showing signs of more outward resentment and the middle east that has been simmering nicely for the last few hundred years may start to go in to melt down and it's welcome to WW3.

Flatcapdriver

Whilst I understand your impatience with the whole subject and indeed the whole region - hell, we're all sick of it, but the fact remains that the Middle East has been the unsettled region for thousands of years as it is essentially the meeting point between east and west. Therein lies the problem.

Anyway, Israel managed to deal with the PLO (another terrorist organisation) and at one point the Israelis themselves were terrorists but then again the hypocrisy of Israel never ceses to amaze me, so I probably don't share Holy Ghost's optimism for the region.

OllyK

...,,?!,,..,,,.,,.

Have the punctuation I missed out of that last sentence

TheBigMan

WW3.........I think that is a bit of a broad statement, Olly...??

A war in the Middle East - maybe, however the only countries I can see becoming involved from the developed world would be Britain and the US - as per normal.


However, I may be wrong. Though, I hope not!!!

OllyK

That's the problem though if the US do wade in to help Israel, certainly Russia and China will have some objections - if they would object enough to actually get involved is another matter.

Holy Ghost

**

kind of you to say. i'm blushing. just read and observe is all. avoid tabloids and the Biased Broadcasting Corporation and you can't go wrong.

_RIP_

Noted

_RIP_

Yes of course. It's Just that some people seem to have better observational skills than others

turbotroll

The middle east is of massive importance, which is why the U.S miliatry have just completed the construction of a huge base in Israel. WW3 starting from a larger middle east war is a great possibility. Israel is surrounded by enemies on all sides at present, and mahmoud ahmadinejad may just tip it over the edge.

With the U.S military already overstretched, a conflict with Iran (as is looking increasingly likely) would be the ideal oppurtunity for China to wade in on Taiwan, and for the North Korean loon to go after the south, & possibly Japan.

Should be an interesting year!

Petem95

This is a very worrying development, Hamas are hardly going to start peace talks with Israel now theyre in power are they?

Israel obviously wont co-operate with terrorists, so will probably take direct action, like an air-strike on buildings where Hamas 'government' officials are in talks, and things will surely only escalate.

Iran may be closer to getting its hands on nuclear weapons than some people think, and they wont be as afraid to use them as the Western countries because it will all be in the 'name of allah' etc

US/UK surely need to do whatever it takes to stop Iran getting nukes.

turbotroll

What if more attacks are carried out on Israel in the form of suicide bombings, publically backed by a Hamas government? You then have a foreign government approving aggression against a neighbouring country, that could be construed as an act of war by Israel!

dpb

To have WW3 there needs surely to be a conflict of intrests/gain between the superpowers - what has Iran got to offer..?? The sqabble between the isreal/arabia is never going to go away but is never likley to be more than that as i see it .

Brendan Hughes

He's omnipresent, of course.