How Hamas Won

Despite the claims by some commentators that Hamas was elected on a platform of imposing Islamic law and the destruction of the state of Israel, Hamas’ campaign for the Palestinian parliament was in many ways quite similar to the successful Conservative Party campaign here in Canada. Hamas campaigned on two main promises: ending corruption and improving social programs. Fatah, which has controlled the Palestinian Authority since it was established following the Oslo peace process, has been linked with the disappearance of foreign aid and the use of power to reward friends and family members of Fatah officials. Hamas promised it would end this corruption.

Hamas, which has operated schools, hospitals, communal kitchens and other community institutions in the occupied territories since its founding 20 years ago, was able to argue that it would do a better job than Fatah in establishing meaningful social programs. For Palestinians, the majority of whom live in poverty, this was critical. Hamas was also able to link the question of providing social programs to corruption, arguing that Fatah was under-funding healthcare and education because officials were using funds intended to improve peoples’ lives to line their own pockets.

Some Palestinian commentators have argued that a third factor contributed to the scale of the Hamas victory: Israel’s separation wall. After making numerous concessions to Israel on almost every outstanding issue in peace talks, the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority was not able to deliver any tangible results for Palestinians in terms of creating a viable Palestinian state. Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and its construction of a separation wall which incorporates parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem into Israel, has been widely seen as a redefinition of the future borders of a Palestinian state that will be anything but viable – small, scattered pockets of people cut off from each other by their former occupier. Voting for Hamas in parliamentary elections, these commentators have argued, was a way for Palestinians to declare to Israel: We have not surrendered.

Back to Modern Communism