Zaki Chechub's article on the HAMAS recent political victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections titled No middle ground in the Australian Literary Review dated April 4 is more than a little revisionistic.
He begins by leveraging Condoleezza Rice's public and rhetorical lament "Why was it that nobody saw it coming?" as proof positive that all parties including Bush, Israel's Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were caught unawares.
Zaki, Condi knew it was coming, Bush knew it was coming, the Israelis knew it was coming and so did Abbas. In fact both Abbas and the Israelis had met with Bush et al in Washington well before the elections to raise their concerns about a potential HAMAS victory and Condi had also met with both Abbas, Sharon and Olmert in the Middle East prior to the elections and would have been privy to the same issues and concerns of both parties.
For the record, Israel conceded not to interfere and Abbas agreed to let the elections take place albeit after a short delay to rebuild Fatah's popularity in the electorate. They agreed to this because Bush felt that being an active part of Palestinian government would facilitate an "Ardoganised" HAMAS by shifting their activities from political agitation to the everyday problems of governing.
So, far from being a surprise, the legitimization of HAMAS had been a calculated gamble by George Bush since at least mid 2005 and HAMAS' electoral potential had been widely opined by the likes of Newsweek, Harpers and the Washington Post to name a few.
Condi's public rhetorical sleight of hand then was simply to divert attention regarding any Administration involvement in smoothing the way for HAMAS--a designated terrorist group. Your article is living proof that she succeeded.
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