 Crushing Hamas will isolate Israel and the United States in the international community and give birth to more Al Qaedas, said a visiting US academician on Tuesday.
| Only a visiting US academician could make a statement quite that stoopid... |
Delivering a lecture at Quaid-e-Azam University, Dr Scott Attran, professor of psychology at Michigan University, said that Hamas had the capacity and the international profile to promote peace in the region.
“Hamas has an internal and international stature and it will be counterproductive to dislodge Hamas from the government,” said Scott, adding there was an historic opportunity to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue.
| I notice he didn't mention how... |
He said that the popularity graph of Hamas had increased over the years, because the group had not compromised on the basic rights of the Palestinians. Besides, the Palestinians do not consider it (Hamas) to be corrupt like the Al-Fatah party, he said. Hamas had fifteen percent base support and occupied 56 percent seats in the Parliament, he said, adding that efforts to isolate and “starve” Hamas could be dangerous and result in the escalation of violence in the region.
| How do you "escalate" over 100 percent? |
Dr Attran, who visited Ramallah recently, said that majority of the Palestinians supported a compromise settlement with Israelis, despite the fact that 60 percent of Palestinians lived below the poverty line and 3,920 Palestinians had been killed by Israel since the start of the Intifada in September 2000.
| Not that many lived below the poverty line before they decided to have a couple intifadas, did they? And in the learned academician's view the 3,920 Paleocorpses stand in splendid isolation, unconnected with any actions of live Paleostinians, many of whom eventually become the dead Paleostinians. |
The PalestinianÂ’s support for violence would decrease when diplomacy is perceived as an effective tool for resolving their problems, and it increases when casualties resulting from Israeli attacks mount, he said.
| Funny thing, the casualties resulting from Israeli attacks mount when the Israeli corpse count goes up. Must be some sort of coincidence, huh? |
He said that support for militants decreased after the 1993 Oslo accords, while it rose sharply after 2000 and beginning of the second Intifada. He said that the Hamas government would never accept Quartet proposals regarding recognition of Israel. It (Hamas) will also not renounce violence, as no modern national liberation movement ever renounced the right to armed struggle under military occupation of a foreign power, he said. The road map for peace labeled Hamas a terrorist organisation and called for its elimination, he said.
| So how's that make Hamas the best bet for peace? Are we missing something here? |
He said that suicide bombers were aged between 15-30 and were not supported by majority of the Palestinian people. The suicide bombers carried out attacks when violence was inflicted on their community, he said. “These attacks are not for personal gains but symbolise sacred values,” he said.
| Like killing Jews. What a tiresome wanker. |
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