The Changing role of Hamas

I would like to expand a little upon what I said near the end of class of Thursday. I believe that after having won the Palestinian elections Hamas is in a very interesting position. They are no longer just a rogue, islamofacist, extremist, (insert other buzzwords here) terrorist group. Now they are a government. This changes all the rules.

Fighting terrorist or guerilla groups has always been difficult. The US in Vietnam or the USSR in Afghanistan shows this. Even in the current War on Terrorism one of the biggest problems we have faced is trying to figure out how exactly to fight terrorism. I remember a SNL skit from a few years ago where Will Ferrell as George W. Bush asked Osama Bin Laden to create a state so that he could invade it. This seems funny but it has a lot of relevance to IR. How exactly do you fight terrorists? You can try to arrest them and break up their cells and hiding spots, but ultimately they are an idea and it is very difficult to destroy an idea short of killing all the people who believe it, or by proving it completely wrong. You can’t fight terrorist like you can a state by invading their land and taking their capitol and killing their leader. That just doesn’t work. And that is one of the biggest problems when you are fighting terrorists.

But now Hamas isn’t just a terrorist group, they are a government. They have borders (kind of), they have people that they have to protect, they have an economy (once again kind of), and they have to run the Palestinian government. Now the US, Israel, the European Nations and Russia can deal with them on a state to state basis. This is the way that all governments are used to interacting. State to state. Hamas has become something, and is no longer just an idea floating around. They exist inside of the international system. This is important.

Now all of the rules have changed. This could prove to be a real break through for the peace process in the Middle East. Or this could turn back the peace process by years. I don’t know what is going to happen and I don’t think my making uneducated guesses about what will happen is very important. But if you want to hear them please by all means ask me and I will prepare the Magic 8 Ball.

Matt Bank