hamas being elected in a democracy way don't you think they need to be supported by the world?
409128
Hamas has so far refused to recognize Israel's right to exist. No matter how you feel about the conflict in Palestine, you must admit that Israel isn't going anywhere. It's time the Arabs realized that and try to find a way to make peace. Unfortunately many of these people are extremely hard-headed. Once Hamas start running the affairs of the Palestinian people in a responsible way and enter diplomatic relations with Israel, then and only then should we support them.
680103
It is still supporting Hamas.  The goal is to not have peace with the Palestinians and to steal thier land, having a reactionary government that Israel can falt out reject and ignore diplomatically is exactly why Israel supported Hamas in the first place.  It is ideal if the goal is to ignore efforts such as the Road Map, because of course, they "don't recognize Israel".  The fact is that Hamas could be brought to the table and would recognize Israel, but a long pattern of negotiations where Palestinaisn offered all and Israel offered ntohing reasonable by far (camp david) has made the Hamas line hard.  Palestinaians elected Hamas because they are tired of leadership that acts in accord with Israels rejection of peace and in doing so capitulates to the oppressor.  But Israel is in control (because the US allows it) and can only be brought to justice if the American people put pressure on them to do so, it is in our hands, make a call, write a letter, it is the least we can do.
821512
No they are not. The Palestinians are just a band of displaced Arabs of different tribes having a go at Israel. If they left Israel alone there would be no trouble. The Palestinians are egged on by Syria. The British and Americans should support Israel and not a stupid bunch of Arabs that deserve all they get! The trouble is that the lefties and poofters and dregs of our own society support Palestinians to take the heat off themselves.
259411
I think the governments of the West have made it very clear what the barrier is.  Hamas was renounce terrorism and its call for the destruction of Israel.  I think you call it a "Jew lobby" in our senate, but it's not because it's a Jewish state or Israel, it's because Hamas is calling for the destruction of another country.  That does not ever sit well with the United States.  If Hamas will renounce its former violence and become a legitimate POLITICAL party that will seek change through PEACEFUL and POLITICAL methods, then it will be recognized by the West as a legitimate government.  It will finally get the recognition by the world that it has craved.   Surely the leaders of Hamas are intelligent enough to see that.  Your prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, taught peace, not violence.  I see the election of Hamas in Palestine to be a golden opportunity for the leadership of Hamas.  I hope they do not do anything foolish that would ruin their chances of establishing a legitimate government.
17487
The true irony is that it's inherantly illiberal and undemocratic to forcefully establish a democracy within a country outside of your own.  All democracies have been born from within.  So in the case of the Middle East, liberals are not opposing the spread of democracy, they are opposing the method in which it is spread.  Progressive and liberal theories depend on freedom and personal rights.  Installing a form of government upon a foreign society violates both of these factors.
848004
Not practical. There are too many Palestinians who would give the non-Jewish a majority. No sane country would do that to itself - it would be suicidal.
865490
No ... How can someone force democracy on someone else? If it's forced, then is it really a democracy? If there is ever to be democracy or peace over there, then they will have to resolve it themselves.
3704
I think Ehud Olmert would, but it would be temporary. In any case, elections are right around the corner, so I don't know how important it would be.
41543
Hamas is playing the hardliner approach and they play on the long furstration of the Palestinians. They also have a policy of growing their followers from when they are infants. It is propably not hard to imagine that if you are told since you are 1 month old that blowing yourself up will send you in heaven then when you are 21 you actually believe it will happen. \n\nI think that over the long run it will be good that they transition from a arms/violence related organization to a political force. Time will tell.
121551
I am surprised that the U.S. was giving any aid to the Palistine Authority as we do not support terrorism and Yassir Afrifat was considered one of the foremost terrorist leaders in the world 40 years ago.  The Palistine Autority has agreed to return the Money.  You say shame on the U.S. for asking for this money back, yet Hamas wants Israel driven into the sea, which is against the policy of the U.S. foreign policy.  Hamas has said they do not want to change their belief's that Israel should not exist and the U.S. asked for the return of our money.  Fundimentalist Muslims want the destruction of the U.S. because we support Israels right to exist.  Does it make sense to you that we should support those who are against our policy?  Foreign Aid is for those countries that support our policies in principal.  The Palistine Authority understands this and has agreed to return the money.  Everybody says it is Allah's will that the U.S. must be destroyed, however in the meantime they all want to spend our money.  Do you see a conflict here?
775010
hey if Iran can be considered a democracy why can't Israel?
739662
M. Abbas is the president of the P.A. He belongs to the Fatah party. Hamas is another party that was elected to represent the Palestinians.\n\nThe main point is that all these groups and even the so-called moderate M. Abbas are against Israel and would be very happy to destroy Israel. In other words, all the groups and parties are terrorists and the Palestinian people have elected these terrorists to represent them. Therefore, the Palestinians support and agree with terrorism as a means to destroy Israel rather than compromise with Israel to have their homeland.
304146
Because Hamas wants to destroy Israel.  America wants to support democracy because democracies usually don't support terrorism.  The Palestinians proved to be the exception here.  Just because Hamas wants to destroy Israel does not mean that the United States has to give Hamas money to do so.
498454
There is no way for democracy to exist in a religiously centered regime.  The religious regime will require that certain rules have to be followed no matter how much the people may oppose those rules.  Since the people can't reverse the religious rules, there isn't a democracy.  I would doubt that democracy can really thrive in arab nations as long as they are Islamic regimes.
541874
iraq has a chance if they let their government run the country without interference fron the religious zealots...by the way..we are not trying to impose democracy on them, we are trying to bring freedom from a tyrant to them..if you think about it..we would have allready been out of there if it wasnt for the fascist terrorists the liberals love making excuses for and trying to appease\niraq has a better educated class of people than most middle east countries and intelligence is a prerequisite for wanting to be free...its only when the religious leaders and civilian leaders and family leaders work in concert to keep their citizens oppressed and out of the loop of information that a society stays behind the world that is succeeding...\nif iraq wqants to come into the 21st century and use information the right way instead of stifling it, then it will eventually become successful
71135
'EVER'  - sure.\n\nWhile Hamas is in charge.... NO, absolutely not.\n\nThis is rather discouraging, especially considering the progress that has been made recently, and the sacrafices on both sides to get where they were in the peace process.\n\nSo unless Hamas is kicked out...\n\nBest case scenerio, Hamas becomes a legitimate political organization (as opposed to a terrorist organization) and, maybe in 20 years, peace becomes possible again.\n\nWorst case scenerio, Hammas promotes more attacks on Israel some more and Israel eventually gets mad and destorys Palestine, enciting Iran to attack Israel, probobly with Syria's help.  America would get involved to help Israel, which would draw in Great Brittian, Russia, Poland (maybe France) on our side and set up WWIII. \nUS, England, Russia, Israel Vs. Palestine, Iran, Syria
127941
Yes it is hypocritical of the U.S to refuse diplomatic relations with Hamas! Why? Did you know that before we gained our independence from England we were considered terrorists by much of the world? Who are we to refuse relations with a democraticly elected government? You can't have it both ways.....you are either for democracy or you are not. If we are willing to go to war to impose democracy on others, we MUST be willing to accept their democratic choices.........However, we do not have to give aid to them. A gift is just that, a voluntary giving. We get to choose who we give to.