Some thoughts and lessons from Palestine

I can't figure out why everyone seems to be so surprised that Hamas was victorious in the Palestinian parliamentary elections. The lesson to Israel and the United States should be you can't terrorize and entire population for years of decades to get a few terrorists with out alienating the entire population and simply make more terrorists. Is it any surprise that the Palestinians hate Israel and the US. I think not. This is a lesson we should be learning in Iraq as well but apparently the Bush administration is not. I have not thought there was any possibility of peace in the region for several years. This very situation was predicted by those who opposed the creation of Israel in the late 40s.

There is a second lesson for the Bush administration. Rumsfeld was right, Democracy is messy. If your policy alienates the entire world you shouldn't be too surprised if when people are given a chance to vote they won't vote the way you want. We have seen this in South America, we have seen it in the recent Iraqi elections and will probably see it in Mexico later this year.