The Guardian of London just published two shameful articles. One by Jonathan Steele proclaims "we must respect the choice of the Palestinian people" in electing of Hamas. No doubt Steele's forerunners at the Guardian said exactly the same thing about Herr Hitler in 1932, before Hitler invaded Stalin's Russia.

The second piece, by Jewish self—hater Gerald Kaufman, draws the usual moral equivalence between the fire and the fire brigade in the Middle East, the aggressors and the defenders. These blind and terribly arrogant leftists are now all in favor of  democratic elections, thought they were sneering about the Iraqi elections only a month ago.

Significantly, Johathan Steele's wet Guardian smooch to Islamofascism was picked up within 24 hours by Al Jazeera (now removed from their site with no explanation, however).

But elections are a means to an end: And if that end is genocidal warfare, it is hard to see why we must respect it. Voters make foolish and sometimes malevolent choices, especially after decades of non—stop hate indoctrination. Democracy is not a one—shot ritual but a  process, an open encounter with those who disagree. Will Hamas allow such an encounter?  It is impossible to imagine. Allah would forbid it.

The real test of a functioning democracy is the second and third
election: Once power is achieved, will the powerful allow free and fair elections again? Arafat, too, was elected ——— once; after that, he never bothered again. Real democracies can fire elected politicians, the only way to ensure their responsiveness to the voters.

A second major question is whether Hamas will stop endless hate indoctrination of its people. With newly elected representatives like the man named  "Hitler" (a proud nom de guerre) and the bitterly boastful mother of three suicide—bombing teenagers, it's pretty clear that peace in our time is not in the cards.

In the words of Natan Sharansky, will the PA be a "fear state" or a "free state?" Will open debate be allowed in the public square? Or will Sharia law be imposed, to mandate honor killing of women and stoning of homosexuals?

A final question is money. Hamas insists it is owed an endless flow of welfare support from the UN, the EU, and the United States, the same flow of money that has kept the Palestinian "refugees," their children, grandchildren and now great—grandchildren on fire with resentment and hatred for sixty years. If US welfare encouraged dependency and social pathology in our poor neighborhoods, that is even more true of the Palestinians. Arafat stole billions of dollars for his own use, as did his cronies. The rest of the money was used to train bombers and indoctrinate children and young people, so that hatred is now the sole meaning of their lives. For six decades we have subsidized a hate cult, and now we complain about the bloody results.

At the same time, Hamas insists that the Israeli protection fence must come down  to allow Palestinians to work in Israel — and to bomb it at will. This is a bizarre, pathological, hostile—dependent attitude. The United States should take the lead in reducing perverse incentives for Palestinian behavior, over time, until small capitalist enterprises begin to take root in the PA territories. We might experiment with small—scale loans — but real ones, which teach responsibility. Let the Palestinian territories become economically independent and self—sufficient. It would be a move toward health for a very sick culture.