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Palestinian Arabs

'Palestinian' public is ally of terror

Those who voted in Hamas should not be excused from consequences


By Ryan Jones
February 21, 2006

Amid Hamas' rise to power are concerted efforts to differentiate between the Palestinian Authority's new terrorist overlords and the general Palestinian Arab public, despite the fact the latter overwhelmingly chose Hamas and, according to a new poll, knew exactly what they were voting for.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, writing in The Washington Post Monday, warned:

?Punishing the Palestinian people could be counterproductive and have devastating consequences... the likely results will be to alienate the already oppressed and innocent Palestinians.?

Innocent?!

Earlier this month, United Nations Middle East Envoy Alvaro De Soto, speaking at a Cairo press conference, similarly said that the international community, which respects the results of democratic elections, should not punish the Palestinian Arabs for their choice.

On Sunday Israel's Cabinet declared its intention too was not to harm the ?Palestinian? public, even as it works to isolate Hamas, and as such voted down several of the more restrictive measures recommended by the defense establishment.

But the results of a public opinion poll published this week show that the majority of Palestinian Arabs are fully supportive of the policies and brutal tactics of what Israel has termed a terrorist entity and enemy regime.

Conducted by the Jerusalem Media & Communication Center, some of the survey's more pertinent numbers revealed that:

  • 79.8 percent of ?Palestinians? are optimistic about the future following the installation of Hamas as their new rulers;

    </li><li><p>Hamas' hate-filled platform
represents the views of 68 percent of Israel's ?peace? partners;</p>
</li><li><p>The ?Palestinians? are split
on whether Hamas should even bother with the Oslo Accords;</p>
</li><li><p>While 66.3 percent believe Hamas
must engage Israel in diplomatic talks, a 40.3 percent majority says
ongoing terrorist violence should compliment negotiations (17.9
percent say terrorism alone should be used to achieve their goals);
and</p>
</li><li><p>Continuing the trend set by
previous polls over the past several years, a full 56.2 percent of
Palestinian Arabs say they support ?suicide? bomb attacks
against Israeli men, women and children.</p>

In his 2004 State of the Union address, US President George W. Bush stated:

?We will...confront the allies of terror.?

By that standard it is difficult to justify separating the Palestinian Arabs from the Hamas Authority, of which they see themselves as loyal and supportive citizens.

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