Why Sharon shouldn't give Hamas any breathing room in Palestinian elections

Israeli PM Sharon has announced that Israel would attempt to “obstruct” the upcoming Palestinian elections if the terrorist organization Hamas is on the ballet. Quite predictably, the usual defenders/apologists of Palestinian terrorism are attempting to portray this as a brazen attempt to torpedo a fair and democratic process from taking place. Nothing could be further from the truth.

First and foremost, Hamas is designated by the U.S. Department of State as a terrorist organization. Secondly, their manifesto openly calls for the destruction of Israel. Thirdly, the Hamas organization is responsible for the murder of hundreds of Israeli civilians (in the eyes of Hamas, all Israelis are legitimate targets, including babies and grandmothers).

With that said, what would the United States do if Al-Quada said they were going to start putting their members on the ballot in Mexico? What would be the logical consequence if Al-Quada won in Mexico? The USA would put pressure on the Mexican government to not let Al-Quada run, with the understanding that if they did run – and won, it would be tantamount to a declaration of war that was democratically endorsed by the people of Mexico. All of a sudden, we would find ourselves in border skirmishes and eventually an all out war.

If the Palestinians are allowed to vote for Hamas and they won, any pretense of Palestinian political moderation would be declared DOA, and Israeli would have no choice but to view the general Palestinian population as endorsing the Hamas call for Israel’s total destruction - and that could easily send the conflict into another frenzy of violence. There are those who defend Hamas by making a distinction between its military wing and it’s political/humanitarian wing. I don’t remember anyone making a distinction between the Nazi’s humanitarian organizations that ran their hospitals, or the political Nazis that held power over the military wing that actually did the murdering.

In order for peace to have a chance, both parties have to at least give lip service that they want peace. Electing Hamas kills that chance.