I just said I wish they had tried. Hamas didn't actually "win" the last election in Gaza. The vote was Hamas 44.45 % 74 seats, Fatah 41.43 % 45 seats (the difference in seats had to do with differences in region in a way I'm not clear about, but I think was like the way the electoral college is different from the popular vote here). Hama…
I just said I wish they had tried. Hamas didn't actually "win" the last election in Gaza. The vote was Hamas 44.45 % 74 seats, Fatah 41.43 % 45 seats (the difference in seats had to do with differences in region in a way I'm not clear about, but I think was like the way the electoral college is different from the popular vote here). Hamas took over thereafter with a violent coup.
As I said, any hope of getting rid of Hamas by way of elections would have had to have been before everything blew up. But I think it is a mistake to look at the past history of Arab/Israeli relations as a measure of what the attitudes are now. Clearly there were negotiations going on just before 10/7. The other states have come to realize that regional instability is not good for business, even that of SiSi. As to how to ensure fair elections--I'd presume the countries insisting would have set up some sort of monitoring. But this is all oops to late by now.
It's a huge mistake NOT to look at "the past history of Arab/Israeli relations" as a guide to what's happening now -- and to conveniently gloss over 20th century Western history in the region. Negotiations take place at the top. "Trickle down" works about as well in the Middle East as it does in the U.S. and elsewhere. And do you really believe that Western-style elections, either U.S. or parliamentary style, can be exported wholesale to countries with different traditions of governance? The experience in, e.g., Iraq and Afghanistan suggests otherwise.
As far as I can tell, Egyptian public opinion before the War started was overall in favor of peace with Israel. Wish I could find the cite. There are lots of folks who aren't at the top who see stability in the region as necessary for continued growth. There weren't really true terrorist groups in the area other than Hezbollah and even they weren't coming into Israel the way Hamas did. Hamas lobbed missiles, but that isn't really what "terrorist" means. The opinion has changed drastically since Israel's response to 10/7. In that Hamas has achieved a serious win, quite possibly what they intended by the attack. And the propaganda win is spreading. Israel is losing support amongst people and even governments far beyond the radical types who yammer on about colonialism.
Palestine in fact HAD a parliamentary democracy. The leadership was corrupt, but if corrupt leadership means no democracy, then Israel isn't a democracy either. Which is clearly not true. It was the Hamas coup that stopped democracy dead--they ran on an anti-corruption platform. Hamas and Fatah were actually planning new elections in 2021 but pressure from Israel and the US over their agreed platform (a Palestinian state under the 1967 borders) had the Hamas president cancel the elections.
I just said I wish they had tried. Hamas didn't actually "win" the last election in Gaza. The vote was Hamas 44.45 % 74 seats, Fatah 41.43 % 45 seats (the difference in seats had to do with differences in region in a way I'm not clear about, but I think was like the way the electoral college is different from the popular vote here). Hamas took over thereafter with a violent coup.
As I said, any hope of getting rid of Hamas by way of elections would have had to have been before everything blew up. But I think it is a mistake to look at the past history of Arab/Israeli relations as a measure of what the attitudes are now. Clearly there were negotiations going on just before 10/7. The other states have come to realize that regional instability is not good for business, even that of SiSi. As to how to ensure fair elections--I'd presume the countries insisting would have set up some sort of monitoring. But this is all oops to late by now.
It's a huge mistake NOT to look at "the past history of Arab/Israeli relations" as a guide to what's happening now -- and to conveniently gloss over 20th century Western history in the region. Negotiations take place at the top. "Trickle down" works about as well in the Middle East as it does in the U.S. and elsewhere. And do you really believe that Western-style elections, either U.S. or parliamentary style, can be exported wholesale to countries with different traditions of governance? The experience in, e.g., Iraq and Afghanistan suggests otherwise.
As far as I can tell, Egyptian public opinion before the War started was overall in favor of peace with Israel. Wish I could find the cite. There are lots of folks who aren't at the top who see stability in the region as necessary for continued growth. There weren't really true terrorist groups in the area other than Hezbollah and even they weren't coming into Israel the way Hamas did. Hamas lobbed missiles, but that isn't really what "terrorist" means. The opinion has changed drastically since Israel's response to 10/7. In that Hamas has achieved a serious win, quite possibly what they intended by the attack. And the propaganda win is spreading. Israel is losing support amongst people and even governments far beyond the radical types who yammer on about colonialism.
Palestine in fact HAD a parliamentary democracy. The leadership was corrupt, but if corrupt leadership means no democracy, then Israel isn't a democracy either. Which is clearly not true. It was the Hamas coup that stopped democracy dead--they ran on an anti-corruption platform. Hamas and Fatah were actually planning new elections in 2021 but pressure from Israel and the US over their agreed platform (a Palestinian state under the 1967 borders) had the Hamas president cancel the elections.