It Takes a Lucky Bear to Find Hope In Middle East

Talking of teeth there is currently much gnashing going on in the Middle East – not over violence this time, but over democracy!

Hamas has won a clear majority in the Palestinian elections. Hamas renowned for its militant actions and suicide bombers has opted to work within a democratic government.

Both Israel and United States are appalled. They will not talk with any organisation committed to the destruction of Israel. Not that they've been talking anyway - the Middle East peace talks have been frozen since 2000!

For years Israel, with its eye and tooth policy, has tried to destroy Hamas. The strategy hasn't worked. Surprise, surprise, they're still around, and now more popular than the moderate Fatah party. Violence alone never destroys violence.

So, Palestine went to the polls, and this time the militants decided not to boycott. Instead they voted and were voted in.

Isn't this a hopeful sign? Isn’t this the hope of democracy? People who think they can only communicate by killing are now going to sit round a table and find solutions by talking and listening. Palestinian democracy has become more participatory, more fraught, and more capable of building a lasting peace.

Isn't this similar to the IRA and its political wing Sinn Fein? Remember years ago when the so-called 'terrorist' party, supported significantly by the Catholic populace, decided that their aims would be better achieved not through killing but by negotiating. By talking and listening across difference, slowly… two steps forward and one back… they're getting there.

I say so-called 'terrorist' because to their supporters they were freedom fighters, just as Hamas are seen likewise by the majority of Palestinians. As Israel and the USA may one day learn you can’t build peace by labelling those you don’t like and refusing to talk to them.

Hamas, on the other hand, see Israel as a terrorist state and the USA likewise. As the recent movie Munich points out, when it comes to terror none of the players are innocent. The innocent are those caught in the cross-fire. Hamas too need to learn the skills of shelving the rhetoric and instead talking and listening for peace.

American foreign policy once again reveals its hypocrisy. Trumpeting the virtues of democracy, the Americans seem to only like it if the outcome is a government that favours them. When it isn’t, any old despot seems to do.

Another sign of hope is that an opinion poll in Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper showed 48 per cent of Israelis favoured talking to a Hamas-led Palestinian government, while 43 per cent were opposed. Despite the rhetoric of their government, and their chief sponsor the USA, the average Israeli seems to favour a negotiated peace with ‘terrorists’.

Lucky Bear has his fingers crossed that maybe some progress will be made towards peace.