The Other Election, Lest it be Lost in the Shuffle

Thunder on the horizon, from the American Spectator:

Last week in Gaza, Hamas won 77 out of 118 seats in municipal elections for ten towns. Hamas, when not engaging in suicide bombings and other terrorist activity, doubles as a social agency in Gaza and the West Bank that runs schools, kindergartens, and clinics. Indeed, last month Hamas scored a big win in West Bank municipal elections as well.

These results are seen by some as a blow to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas's comparatively secular-nationalist Fatah movement. As loudspeakers blared in Gaza while thousands of Hamas supporters celebrated in the streets, "The Hamas victory proves that Islam is the only solution."

Under Yasser Arafat's corrupt oligarchy, Hamas gained popularity for its "clean" image as a strictly Islamic movement dedicated to the people's welfare. But its terror activities endeared it to the public as well. Indeed, in Beit Hanoun, a town in northern Gaza that Hamas members had been using to fire Kassam rockets into Israel, Hamas won 11 of the 13 seats. As Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said of the elections, "This means that the people believe in the armed resistance as the only option."

It is an enduring mystery why President Bush continues to support the oxymoronic peace process in the Middle East. As Iraq and Afghanistan amply demonstrate, victory is the best guarantor of peace. Egypt does not attack Israel because the Egyptian Army was nearly obliterated by the Israelis in 1973 and the top Egyptian officers have no desire for a reprise.

Annihilate Hamas to ensure peace. No one wants to see a rocket fly in their bathroom window during their morning constitutional. It's a great disincentive to joining terrorist brigades.