'We shall never recognize
IT IS WIDELY recognized that the Palestinians are among the most politicized and educated people in the world. When they went to the polls Jan. 25, they were well aware of what was being offered, and those who voted for Hamas knew what it stood for. They chose Hamas because of its pledge never to give up the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and its promise to embark on a program of reform.
There were voices, locally and internationally, warning them not to vote for an organization branded by the U.S. and the European Union as terrorist because such a democratically exercised right would cost them the financial aid provided by foreign donors.
The day Hamas won the Palestinian elections, the world's leading democracies failed the test of democracy. Rather than recognize the legitimacy of Hamas as a freely elected representative of the Palestinian people, seize the opportunity created by the result to support the development of good governance in Palestine and search for a means of ending the bloodshed, the U.S. and the EU threatened the Palestinian people with collective punishment.
We are being punished simply for resisting oppression and striving for justice. Those who threaten to impose sanctions on our people are the same powers that initiated our suffering and continue to support our oppressors almost unconditionally. We are being penalized while our oppressors are pampered. The U.S. and the EU could have used the success of Hamas to open a new chapter and to understand better a movement that has so far been seen largely through the eyes of the Zionist occupiers of our land.
Our message to the U.S. and EU is this: Your attempt to force us to give up our principles or our struggle is in vain. Our people who gave thousands of martyrs, the millions of refugees who have waited for nearly 60 years to return home and our 9,000 prisoners in Israeli jails have not made those sacrifices in order to settle for close to nothing. Hamas has been elected mainly because of its immovable faith in the inevitability of victory; Hamas is immune to bribery, intimidation and blackmail.
Although we are keen on having friendly relations with all nations, we shall not seek friendships at the expense of our rights. We have seen how others, including the peoples of Vietnam and South Africa, persisted in their struggle until their quest for freedom and justice was accomplished. We are no different; our cause is no less worthy; our determination is no less profound; our patience is no less abundant.
