Young Writers Society

Here is an article I just wrote, and Im hoping to get it published in our College Newspaper, the Daily Egyptian, but I would like to see if I can get any reviews of it first. Thanks in advance, hope you enjoy. Dan

Winning means nothing

Dan Sanders

Over the past weekend, and into this week the Russian Government has met with the Palestinian group HAMAS that has recently won an overwhelming majority in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, ousting the ruling Fatah faction.

“So what?” I hear you asking me. “Its just one government talking with another. Why is this so important?” You are saying to me. Well, the answer is simply this: terrorism.

HAMAS, or the Islamic Resistance Movement was, until recently, purely a military resistance movement. Only for this election did they “reform” themselves into a political party as well, and they are still highly militarized. HAMAS has been responsible for the deaths of 377 Israelis and wounding almost 2000 additional people in the past five years, according to the Chicago Tribune from Saturday, March 4.

Some analysts think that the Western nations’ foot dragging in dealing with HAMAS is unfounded, as they are now supposedly “reforming” into a purely political movement. That would be great, were it true. However, as this weekend’s meetings in Moscow show, HAMAS is anything but “reformed”. As the HAMAS Leader Khaled Mashaal said Friday, “The question of recognition [of Israel] is a closed issue. We do not intend to recognize Israel.”

“So what? They’re fighting against Israel” you say. “That’s normal!” you tell me. Except its not. Israel is the only country in the world that has been engaged in conflict with countries or entities that do not recognize it. HAMAS is one such entity. Recognition of Israel, however, is key, as it legitimizes both sides of the conflict. Without recognition of Israel, terrorism against Israeli citizens is legitimized.

It doesn’t matter which side of the conflict you are on: whether you are pro-Palestinian, Pro-Israeli, or neutral, I think we can all agree that terrorism is bad, and killing children is bad. HAMAS has done both.

Mr. Mashaal also went on to say that “Israel has to stop the aggression. Only after that we can start talking.”

While I agree that Israel hasn’t been 100% innocent in this latest round of violence, I have trouble agreeing with that statement. Yes, Israel uses aggressive tactics in this conflict. They kill HAMAS and other terrorist leaders and their followers with missiles. They build defensive barriers and checkpoints to protect Israeli citizens from terrorists blowing them up. However, I don’t think I can say that Israel is the greater aggressive power, since just this summer Israel uprooted its own citizens from their homes in the Gaza strip unilaterally in a show of good faith with the Palestinians to show that Israel wants peace.

However, what makes all of this even worse is that Russia, while not a superpower anymore, one of the more powerful countries in the world hosted them in Moscow over the weekend, meeting with them as if they were any other government. This is a dangerous turn, not only for Israel, but for the rest of the west, if the Kremlin decides it wants to try and reassert itself in the middle east, it could prove a problem to peace in the region for a long time. Especially since it appears Mr. Putin likes to side with terrorists. What makes it even more dire, is that Russia is president of the G8 this year, and thus, has a lot of economic influence to throw around. Previously, the G8, EU, USA, and the UN had all stood as a firm united body against global terrorism, including that of the Palestinians, and thus, did not recognize a HAMAS-led Palestinian government. With Russia backing out of this unofficial agreement and doing whatever it so chooses, there is no telling what this can of worms could lead to next.

Let’s hope for peace and the overall safety of the world that the Russians come to their senses and stop “courting death” as the saying goes, and stop dealing with terrorists.

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