JS Online: Palestinians: Welcome to the consequences of your vote

JS Online: Palestinians: Welcome to the consequences of your vote

Palestinians: Welcome to the consequences of your vote
By FRIDA GHITIS
Sunday Feb 5, 2006

The world's reaction to the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian election provides more evidence of the hypocrisy of Western leaders when they claim to support the spread of democracy. That's the curious view making its way through the streets of the Arab world and the electronic alleys of the Internet.

The argument goes something like this: Since Hamas won the election through a democratic vote, the United States, Europe and the entire democratic world owe it a warm embrace.
An article in the Saudi Arab News charges that the West is being vindictive in demanding fundamental changes in Hamas as a condition for aid, simply because it did not like the results of the election.

A leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood calls Western reaction to the elections an "unacceptable double standard."

Aid to the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people, according to this view, should continue unimpeded, and a Hamas-led Palestinian government must be welcomed into the community of nations.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Palestinian elections earned high marks from many quarters - including from President Bush - for producing a result that the world can recognize as reflecting the wishes of the Palestinian people.

Palestinians deserve recognition for conducting free elections. That is all their fledgling democratic process earns them from the international community.

World leaders, from the American president and European leaders to the secretary-general of the United Nations, agree that Hamas cannot expect support from the democratic community of nations unless it plays by the rules and principles of civilized society.

You don't vow to obliterate your neighbor and then receive hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the West. The world simply doesn't work that way. (Or, at least it shouldn't.)
Since the Arab world has minimal experience with democracy, it can be forgiven from not having learned one of the key lessons of democracy: Elections have consequences.

Palestinian voters: Welcome to the consequences of your vote.

Since a majority of Palestinian voters cast their ballot for an organization devoted to the destruction of another country, the rest of the world now must decide how to deal with that. The world has no duty to give it financial or political support.

When voters in Serbia elected Slobodan Milosevic, the world did not exactly embrace their choice, either. Milosevic's commitment to criminal violence, militant racism and "ethnic cleansing" led to bombing of his forces by NATO's military. The people who elected Milosevic eventually saw the error of their ways.

Pollsters tell us many Palestinians turned to Hamas as a protest against the corruption of Fatah. If true, their protest appears to have backfired disastrously.

Forget about Israel for a moment. If Hamas achieves its aims within Palestinian society, the future looks bleak for those who elected them, especially women and minorities.

Hamas comes from the extremes of Islamism. In the West, we have seen the handiwork of Hamas in the carnage of their suicide bombings against passenger buses, nightclubs and restaurants inside Israel.

But this organization that claims its religious beliefs justify targeting and murdering civilians in the name of resistance has other ideas beyond its stated wish of obliterating Israel.

Hamas has openly declared it wants to rule by the strictest guidance of the Qur'an. That does not bode well for personal freedoms, for the lives of women and for the status of minorities.
We have seen what Islamic law has meant for quality of life in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The lifestyle choices of most Palestinians, believe it or not, run closer to those of Israel than those of Saudi Arabia.

Hamas officials have already spoken of imposing a special tax on non-Muslims, a throwback to ancient Islamic times, and an affront against the once-large Palestinian Christian community.

And if Hamas has its way, this election could end up marking the beginning and the end of democratic voting. Radical Islamists are not great supporters of democratic politics.
Palestinian voters knew exactly what Hamas stood for when they went to the polls. They knew voting for Hamas risked turning their back on the international community.
Like voters in other places, including many in the U.S., Palestinians may start having second thoughts about their choice at the ballot.

Unfortunately, they will have to live with the consequences of their decision. That's not a Western double standard. That's what happens when you elect a government.

Their best option now for Palestinians is to exert as much pressure as they can to force Hamas to change. If that does not happen - and if they see their own elected government turning into an oppressive one - they may have to consider redirecting that famous Palestinian resistance.

Frida Ghitis writes about world affairs. She is the author of "The End of Revolution: a Changing World in the Age of Live Television."