As the author and columnist Thomas Friedman wrote in his famous book "From Beirut to Jerusalem" (Random House, 1989), the Islamic fundamentalists "sort of crept up on Israeli society." Unlike the sophisticated, secular men of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, "they didn't hold court at the American Colony bar [in Jerusalem] or dine with the Western press. They were the sort of people who blew you up in the middle of the night and then went home."
But in the democratic elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza in 2006, Hamas won overwhelmingly, mainly because of popular disgust with widespread corruption among Fatah officials. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip completely in 2007 after a virtual civil war between the two movements.
No and, maybe, yes. The Hamas Charter states that "there is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Holy War." But Hamas spokesmen have in the past declared their readiness to negotiate "a long-term cease-fire with the Jewish state within its pre-67 borders, for 20, 30, or even 50 years."
That will depend entirely on the kind of leadership shown by each side. Israel's president Shimon Peres (one of the architects of the ill-fated Oslo peace accords) once said, referring to the larger Arab world, "In 20 years there will be 500 million Arabs and 2 billion Muslims. There is no way to defend ourselves unless we overcome the hostility."
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
