I strongly object to the notion widely embraced on the left that Hamas is a liberation movement. It is just like religious Zionism. It is a religious nationalist movement which ignores the right of self-determination of ALL people living in Israel/Palestine. It engages in the murder of ordinary people just like the Israeli right. It is a…
I strongly object to the notion widely embraced on the left that Hamas is a liberation movement. It is just like religious Zionism. It is a religious nationalist movement which ignores the right of self-determination of ALL people living in Israel/Palestine. It engages in the murder of ordinary people just like the Israeli right. It is a model of nothing positive for the Palestinians. Hamas however isn't the problem. The problem is that most of the Moslem countries in the Mideast are stuck in monarchial or strongly man dictatorships whereas Israel up until the triumph of the the religious nationalist right was squarely in the advanced
capitalist present. The major contradiction in the Mideast is economic---backward Moslem countries vs modern capitalist Jewish Israel. Hamas achieved its objectives. It pointed out to the world that Gaza is a concentration camp like prison administered by Israel and led a prisoner revolt. The cost of this revolt is obvious. It isolated Israel in the Mideast and showed the West the true nature of right wing religious nationalist genocidal Zionism. However Hamas has no future in the modern world. It can't liberate the Palestinian people. Palestinian intellectuals should look elsewhere for their plan for that liberation.
I strongly object to the notion widely embraced on the left that Hamas is a liberation movement. It is just like religious Zionism. It is a religious nationalist movement which ignores the right of self-determination of ALL people living in Israel/Palestine. It engages in the murder of ordinary people just like the Israeli right. It is a model of nothing positive for the Palestinians. Hamas however isn't the problem. The problem is that most of the Moslem countries in the Mideast are stuck in monarchial or strongly man dictatorships whereas Israel up until the triumph of the the religious nationalist right was squarely in the advanced
capitalist present. The major contradiction in the Mideast is economic---backward Moslem countries vs modern capitalist Jewish Israel. Hamas achieved its objectives. It pointed out to the world that Gaza is a concentration camp like prison administered by Israel and led a prisoner revolt. The cost of this revolt is obvious. It isolated Israel in the Mideast and showed the West the true nature of right wing religious nationalist genocidal Zionism. However Hamas has no future in the modern world. It can't liberate the Palestinian people. Palestinian intellectuals should look elsewhere for their plan for that liberation.