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April 22, 2005/Nisan 13 5765, Volume 57, No. 34
Hamas' role growing as elections near
GIL SEDAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Hamas, the Muslim fundamentalist movement and Palestinian terrorist organization, may soon become a decisive force not only in the struggle against Israel but also in the Palestinian political establishment.
For the first time in Palestinian political history, Hamas will participate in parliamentary elections, scheduled for July 17. Political analysts predict the party will make an impressive show of force.
Hamas candidates may win between 30 percent and 50 percent of the seats in the next Palestinian parliament, predicts Matti Steinberg, a former adviser on Palestinian affairs to two heads of Israel's General Security Service.
If Steinberg is right, it would amount to a political revolution.
Hamas is heading toward electoral success using tactics that demonstrate its ability to act both as a terrorist organization and as a political party seeking to influence the Palestinian political agenda. On the one hand it flexes its muscles toward Israel, warning that the present "calming-down" period could end at any time; on the other, it maintains the cease-fire for now, realizing that this is what the street wants.
In the last two weeks, Hamas has proudly raised both the militant and pragmatic flags.
Hamas was a major player in last week's Temple Mount demonstration protesting the desire of devout Jews to visit the site, which is the holiest site in Judaism and also an important Muslim shrine. Hamas also took part in a barrage of mortar fire aimed at Jewish settlements in Gaza, reacting to Israel's killing of three Palestinian youths involved in arms smuggling across the border with Egypt.
Though Israel killed many of its leaders during the intifada, Hamas has retained its popularity - primarily because of the ineptitude of the ruling Palestinian Authority and corruption and infighting in the dominant Fatah party - and wants to use that momentum to propel itself forward.
Several weeks ago, Hamas candidates scored landslide victories in municipal elections in several Gaza towns.
"On the one hand, people want a political process headed by" Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, "as was indicated in the presidential elections" in January, Steinberg said in an interview with Bitterlemons.org, a Middle East Web site. "But on the other hand, people want clean stables, the end of corruption, and personal security, and these are connected with Hamas."
The July elections would be the first for parliament in the Palestinian territories since 1996, and the first since Abbas succeeded the late Yasser Arafat as Palestinian Authority president in January. Arafat postponed elections that had been set for 2000.
Fatah, Abbas' party, now controls most of the 88-member Palestinian parliament. There is growing concern among Palestinian opposition forces that Fatah will defer the elections, as Fatah seems likely to lose many seats.
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