Israelis despair over Hamas election victory

[ECH1969]

Israeli Avi Zana listened with horror on Thursday to news that the Hamas militant group that killed his son had won Palestinian elections.

“The Palestinians have shown their true face by electing Hamas,” said Zana, 46. “The group does not want control of the Palestinian Authority, it wants control of all Israel.”

“It is hard not to be even more pessimistic now about peacemaking prospects here,” said Shimi Breutman, 22, a travel guide.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11042257/

[DemInDistress]

1. I have mixed feelings...nt

[DELUSIONAL]

2. Israel are linked -- Israel "aided Hamas directly . . . . "

Israel and Hamas may currently be locked in deadly combat, but, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials, beginning in the late 1970s, Tel Aviv gave direct and indirect financial aid to Hamas over a period of years.

Israel "aided Hamas directly -- the Israelis wanted to use it as a counterbalance to the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization)," said Tony Cordesman, Middle East analyst for the Center for Strategic Studies.

Israel's support for Hamas "was a direct attempt to divide and dilute support for a strong, secular PLO by using a competing religious alternative," said a former senior CIA official.

According to documents United Press International obtained from the Israel-based Institute for Counter Terrorism, Hamas evolved from cells of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928. Islamic movements in Israel and Palestine were "weak and dormant" until after the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel scored a stunning victory over its Arab enemies.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/news_alert_hamas2.html

original link = http://www.upi.com/print.cfm?StoryID=18062002-051845-8272r

[eyl]

3. Ah, this story rears its head again

It's true that Israel gave some support to the organization which would later (in 1987) become Hamas in the 1970s - what most people who bring it up don't bother to mention is that at that time, Hamas were considered the moderates; unlike the PLO, they were largely nonviolent and focused mainly on social issue. Bu the time the hardliners took over, Israel wasn't supporting the group.