Editor,
Israel shouldn't force others to join in its unfair isolation of Hamas.
Hamas was elected by the free and democratic will of the Palestinian people, and their will should be accepted and respected by Israel.
In addition, Hamas has always been a nationalistic movement, and it should never have been placed on the international terrorist list.
Although I have never accepted Hamas' justification of suicide bombing as a means of gaining Palestinian rights, I am glad the party has joined the political process. It seems to me Israel should celebrate this and help Hamas along the path to democracy and give it a chance to prove itself.
I have been impressed with how Hamas has kept to the yearlong cease-fire agreement, while Israel blatantly violated it daily in the Palestinian territories. Hamas has earned my respect - and the Palestinian peoples' - with its landslide victory in January.
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Hamas ran on a platform to provide clean and effective government. How can Israel stand in the way of this and get bent out of shape about wording in an old charter? People change, and it seems to me it is in Israel's best interest to promote and encourage that change, not act against it.
Besides, who are the Israelis to point a finger at Hamas, when three of their prime ministers - Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir and Ariel Sharon - came to power as a result of their terrorist acts in groups such as the Irgun and the Stern Gang, which were also international terrorist organizations.
Still, what could be a better advertisement for promoting democracy in the Middle East and around the world than for Hamas to become a political movement?
Hamas should be given a chance to prove itself and to leave behind its old ways like Begin, Shamir and Sharon did.
And from a recent interview with its new prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, there is no reason to expect this won't happen, too. He said, "We are not lovers of blood. We are not interested in a vicious circle of violence. We are an oppressed people with rights. If peace brings us our rights, then this is good."
Shafeek Kubha
Daily Lobo reader
