Hamas Bids for Legitimacy

An interesting transformation is taking place with regard to Hamas [the Palestinian-based terrorist organization]. The Daily Star reports:

We are currently witnessing the historic transformation of Hamas from a popular movement based on armed struggle and opposition to the established Palestinian order. Hamas has managed to firmly place itself within that order in a bid to confirm its position, power and legitimacy both inside Palestinian society and outside.

What is more, this emerging drive for legitimacy is in part rooted within the organization's history. Advocates for the new direction portray it as,

the unfolding of a four-point doctrine laid down by assassinated Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin some two years ago....

The four points consist of:

1) implementation of a ceasefire, whether formal or not.

2) a bid, through the ballot box, to take a share of political power on the internal Palestinian scene, while distancing itself explicitly from the Oslo Accords.

3) to challenge other Palestinian factions' - read Fateh's - dominance over Palestinian political legitimacy.

4) the implicit acknowledgement of the PLO's 1988 decision to endorse the two-state solution, i.e., a Palestinian state on all territory occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a solution to the issue of refugees to be found according to international law based on UN General Assembly Resolution 194.

Ignore the fourth point for now. What is far more important at this time is the fact that Hamas has abandoned the armed struggle for more conventional political action, and that it is seriously challenging al Fateh in the electoral arena. A normal Palestinian polity is beginning to emerge out of the welter of violence and factionalism that characterized Arafat's years of leadership and that is a welcome step, albeit a small one, in the right direction.

Read the story here.