Hamas and Gaza
One thing I've noticed recently listening to Hamas on BBC Arabic and Jazeera and following Gaza blogs is that they sort of find themselves between a bit of a rock and a hard place.
On the one hand, it is important for them to demonstrate the severity of the sanctions that Israel has imposed on the strip. It is most effective in helping bring about international condemnation of Israel, far more effective than those counterproductive rocket attacks and even worse the unconscionable suicide bombs. The Israelis sound a lot worse when justifying their blockade as against aid flotillas than they do justifying their much more severe poundings of Gazan cities and villages which have caused far higher civilian casualties than anything that happened on those damn boats. But the poundings respond to rockets and suicide bombs, and the flotillas, the same language sounds much worse. I mean you listen to the Israelis as against the flotillas, and they sound marvelously like the Assad regime. Every protestor is a terrorist, every form of opposition existential. That works when crazed nuts are suicide bombing your cities, as Hamas has done with some frequency. It doesn't with the boats. These folks on these boats are clearly not terrorists, they're middle aged hippies, same folks who in another cause run out and get in the way of the whaling boats, a pain in the ass but not a terrorist threat. Israel feels out of its element, its vocabulary out of date and not credible. So all of that is good for Hamas.
But the problem Hamas has is that a ruling party cannot just sit on top of territory, cry sanctions, and expect those it governs to continue supporting it, any more than Obama can just blame Bush forever, People in the territory want some semblance of normalcy and a decent life, and so that forces Hamas to go off and try to initiate projects however it can within the constraints it faces, and of course advertise those to show it is getting things done, much, again as Obama might in going to Michigan and showing hwo the stimulus kept a plant open. Or something.
So to that end, what's happening in Gaza right this moment? The second annual Women's Film Festival, to much fanfare. Hamas is showing Islamists have culture too, and it's frankly nice to see Gazans have an opportunity to see movies for a change. Hamas has much interest in showing it can deliver the goods to its people, just like Fatah.
The problem, of course, is that the two programs are at some tension to one another. It's hard to claim that you're being strangled in a serious humanitarian crisis, and that it's all Israel's fault, and that malnutrition and disease are serious, while also spending money on the 2nd Annual Women's Film Festival. It's a tight rope to navigate, interested to see how it plays out for them.
HAH
On the one hand, it is important for them to demonstrate the severity of the sanctions that Israel has imposed on the strip. It is most effective in helping bring about international condemnation of Israel, far more effective than those counterproductive rocket attacks and even worse the unconscionable suicide bombs. The Israelis sound a lot worse when justifying their blockade as against aid flotillas than they do justifying their much more severe poundings of Gazan cities and villages which have caused far higher civilian casualties than anything that happened on those damn boats. But the poundings respond to rockets and suicide bombs, and the flotillas, the same language sounds much worse. I mean you listen to the Israelis as against the flotillas, and they sound marvelously like the Assad regime. Every protestor is a terrorist, every form of opposition existential. That works when crazed nuts are suicide bombing your cities, as Hamas has done with some frequency. It doesn't with the boats. These folks on these boats are clearly not terrorists, they're middle aged hippies, same folks who in another cause run out and get in the way of the whaling boats, a pain in the ass but not a terrorist threat. Israel feels out of its element, its vocabulary out of date and not credible. So all of that is good for Hamas.
But the problem Hamas has is that a ruling party cannot just sit on top of territory, cry sanctions, and expect those it governs to continue supporting it, any more than Obama can just blame Bush forever, People in the territory want some semblance of normalcy and a decent life, and so that forces Hamas to go off and try to initiate projects however it can within the constraints it faces, and of course advertise those to show it is getting things done, much, again as Obama might in going to Michigan and showing hwo the stimulus kept a plant open. Or something.
So to that end, what's happening in Gaza right this moment? The second annual Women's Film Festival, to much fanfare. Hamas is showing Islamists have culture too, and it's frankly nice to see Gazans have an opportunity to see movies for a change. Hamas has much interest in showing it can deliver the goods to its people, just like Fatah.
The problem, of course, is that the two programs are at some tension to one another. It's hard to claim that you're being strangled in a serious humanitarian crisis, and that it's all Israel's fault, and that malnutrition and disease are serious, while also spending money on the 2nd Annual Women's Film Festival. It's a tight rope to navigate, interested to see how it plays out for them.
HAH
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