| No. Next! |
| But he can still be helizapped. |
"Hamas did very well," says Mr. Shalabi, in a meeting at the local Hamas campaign office. According to official results announced Sunday, Hamas won five of the 13 available seats here. "It's good that the people will see that the Islamic parties can participate in democracy and can work to develop their societies."
| "And then we'll kill all the Joooos!" |
| "Nobody booms better than those guys!" |
The results in Beitunia are remarkable in several ways. Even though Fatah, led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, won the largest number of seats in about half of the 104 municipal councils that were being chosen last week, in many places, the wins were not enough for Fatah to claim leadership. What's more, Shalabi represents what could be the face of Hamas's future. At least in some camps, there's an attempt to reshape Hamas, which won 13 municipalities in the vote, as a Muslim political party and less of a guerrilla group. But the different faces of Hamas - ranging from technocrats like Shalabi to a military wing that continues to attack Israelis - may make Hamas as political party a hard sell to the rest of the world.
| The Euros have already bought it. |
Shalabi says he has no contact with the military wing of Hamas. Asked about its activities, such as the possibility of future suicide bombings, he says "God willing," there won't be. "We're not eager to have bloodshed," he says. "And if the political atmosphere goes in the right direction, I think there won't be. But don't think that a nation under occupation will always go in the right direction."
He says that frustration with corruption has been wearing down support for Fatah, while Hamas is seen as a party full of people who, because they are religious, are less given to graft.
| Suckers. |
The organization's seesawing between democracy and violence resemble the identity crisis that other Islamic militant organizations have undergone. From Hizbullah in Lebanon to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, several groups with militant backgrounds have, in recent years, managed to steer themselves from combat to campaigns.
Here, as in other countries, the domestic image of Hamas is not nearly so tainted as its international one. Recognizing that, one of the winning independent candidates in the election here, Shaker Othman, says he is concerned that if Hamas is seen to be "running" Beitunia, it will have a hard time getting foreign donors to support development projects here.
Still, says Mr. Othman, a real estate developer who was once active in Fatah, he found the local Hamas leaders to be straight shooters, so to speak, and that he now prefers to deal with them over Fatah. "If Hamas does anything, they do it right," he says. "I chose work with them because they are more honest." Othman, who isn't a particularly ideological person, says that Hamas will eventually deal peaceably with Israel - and Israel with Hamas - "because Hamas is simply a fact of life here."
Local Fatah leader Arafat Khalaf, also known as Abu Ali admits they had hoped to get far more seats on the council here, which, as an area so close to Ramallah, is not considered to be "Hamas territory." "Hamas has used the Islamic religion to lobby voters. They visit them at home and lecture them in the mosques," he says. Most people in Fatah are honest, he says, but a few people with poor reputations are making Hamas a powerful challenger. "For sure, Fatah is paying a heavy price for some individual Fatah members," he says. "There are a few who are corrupt, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand."
| Starting with Fearless Leader's cement contract with the Israelis. |