Writing on Comment is Free last weekend, the Guardian's Jonathan Steele had this to say:
[Joe] Biden advocated an international reconstruction effort for Gaza that strengthened the Palestinian Authority, "not Hamas". This is as unrealistic as it is undemocratic. Hamas is the elected government in Gaza. Trying to wish that fact away runs against Obama's stated aim of reviving US credibility in the Middle East.
Just to focus on that 'undemocratic' of his: Steele seems oblivious to the consideration that 'democratic' depends not only on winning elections but also on respecting the conditions that make it possible to lose them. Here now, further to this post, is an Amnesty International Media Briefing:
For the rest of the Amnesty briefing, and some of the details behind the charges it contains, see here and here. 'Israel must lose' was the opinion of the many academics who signed up to a letter to the Guardian last month. Had Israel lost, Hamas would have been the organization to enjoy the victory that would have been the complement of Israel's defeat. In which connection I refer readers to Part 4, paragraph (ii), of this post. (Thanks: DJ.)Since the end of December 2008, during and after the Israeli military offensive which killed some 1,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians, Hamas forces and militias in the Gaza Strip have engaged in a campaign of abductions, deliberate and unlawful killings, torture and death threats against those they accuse of "collaborating" with Israel, as well as opponents and critics.
At least two dozen men have been shot dead by Hamas gunmen in this period. Scores of others have been shot in the legs, kneecapped or inflicted with other injuries intended to cause permanent disability, subjected to severe beatings which have caused multiple fractures and other injuries, or otherwise tortured or ill-treated.
The targets of Hamas' deadly campaign include former detainees accused of "collaborating" with the Israeli army who escaped from Gaza's Central Prison when it was bombed by Israeli forces on 28 December 2008, as well as former members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces and other activists of PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
The campaign began shortly after the beginning of the three-week Israeli military offensive against the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008 and continued after a ceasefire took effect on 18 January 2009.
Most of the victims were abducted from their homes; they were later dumped - dead or injured - in isolated areas, or were found dead in the morgue of one of Gaza's hospitals. Some were shot dead in the hospitals where they were receiving treatment for injuries they sustained in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza's Central Prison. The perpetrators of these attacks did not conceal their weapons or keep a low profile, but, on the contrary, behaved in a carefree and confident - almost ostentatious - manner.
.....
Scores of other victims of abductions and other attacks by Hamas forces and armed militias all over the Gaza Strip are too afraid to speak publicly for fear of further endangering their lives. Amnesty International has collected the testimony of a number of these victims, whose names and details are being withheld for their protection. Most of them are former members of PA security forces.