Israel praises Hamas-free cabinet

It's the final piece of proof that George Bush's administration is merely using democracy as an excuse for it's own ends, rather than it being a method of governance that they genuinely want to export, when we see Israel and the US's reaction to the unelected Abbas declaring that he has fired the Hamas members of the Palestinian coalition government.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says prospects for peace could be boosted by the creation of a new Palestinian government without the Hamas party.

Israel would regard such a cabinet as a partner, he said, adding that Hamas' exclusion "creates opportunities".

The US says it will lift an aid embargo once the new cabinet takes over.

The US consul-general in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, said there were no obstacles to re-engaging with the new government, which would have full US support.

We should not forget that the aid embargo came into force to punish the Palestinians for daring to elect Hamas, and now we see it lifted because the Fatah Party, which Bush and Olmert armed with a private militia, have now seized power in a military coup. It's strange to even write that as militarily they have been defeated in Gaza by Hamas, but nevertheless they have fired Hamas from the government and have been recognised as legitimate by the US and the Israelis, so who is going to care who won what battle?

So Israel and the US are now celebrating the fact that the democratic will of the Palestinian people is being ignored, and are about to heap rewards on to Abbas' renegade government - or rather lift the punishments they had heaped upon the people of Palestine - for having the "courage" to do Israel and the US's bidding.

Mr Olmert said on Saturday that the planned formation of a new government could boost chances for peace and could be "advantageous" for the Palestinians.

Recent changes had made the situation "clearer", he said.

The new cabinet, he said, "presents an opportunity that has not existed for a long time".

"A Palestinian government which is not a Hamas government is a partner and we will co-operate with it."

So now Israel have decided that Abbas - the man who wrote an 800 page book about Oslo without ever mentioning the word "Occupation" - is a man of "moderation" and the perfect man to represent the interests of the Palestinians, even if this is not a view shared by the Palestinians themselves.

The only people whose interests are being served here are Israel and her US backers. They have long sung the praises of newly appointed Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, to anyone who would listen.

Let us remind ourselves of the democratic credentials of Fayyad, an intelligent and impressive economist, generally regarded as untouched by corruption. In any other circumstances he might be ideal. But in last year's elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council - the election Hamas won - Fayyad's list secured just 2.4 per cent of votes. Not exactly a popular guy to lead a society in collapse. That is not his only problem. Analysts of the Palestinian political scene don't rate Fayyad's lack of democratic credentials simply on his feeble showing in the elections.

They'll tell you he is largely unknown to most Palestinians; that he has no party machinery to support him; and that his running mate Hanan Ashrawi is unpopular with many Palestinians.

So the Quartet has got what it wanted, and fuck the Palestinians and whatever they wanted, after all, we believe in democracy but they simply took things too far.

I heard a caller yesterday to Radio Four's "Any Answers" programme insist that this was all the fault of the Palestinians. His logic was that they "had made their bed and now they had to lie in it". As if sanctions against the Palestinians for choosing a form of government that we did not agree with was the most normal thing in the world, an almost foreseeable consequence that the Palestinians must have been aware of.

Make no mistake, what we have witnessed here is a coup. A coup supported by the US, EU and Israel to overturn an electoral result that they disagreed with.

Any pretence that George Bush is exporting democracy to the Middle East ended with Abbas' proclamation that he was firing Hamas and the West's eager acceptance of that undemocratic pronouncement.

Anyone who wonders "Why do they hate us?" need only look at what we have done to the Palestinians since their election to find the answer. We have starved them whilst arming the Fatah gangsters, we have watched silently as Israel has turned the screw, closing check points and making all trading within the Occupied Territories impossible, and now we will lift all sanctions because our puppet is back in charge.

The whole world can see what we are doing. It's not even subtle.

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Tags: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Fatah, Bush, Olmert, Abbas, West Bank, Gaza, Occupied territories