Hmm. I think you'll find it's more complicated than that. The PLO won
the overall election in the Palestinian territories (West Bank plus
Gaza), but Hamas won in Gaza. There was indeed then a coup d'état of a
kind in so far as Hamas chased out (or murdered) the (yes, corrupt)
PLO leadership in Gaza, on the basis that they had a mandate, but also
because they wanted control of the cashflow arising from customs
duties etc, permits, patronage etc.
A bit like the Tories winning the election here, but Scotland having a
majority Labour or SNP representation. (Thatcher period refers...)
Presumably / hopefully without the murder and mayhem afterwards.
Tony
On 27 Jan 2009, at 15:37, Pierre Joris wrote:
> Peter,
>
> I think that what Meddeb meant by Hamas' "coup d'état" has more to
> do with the way they muscled in (&muscle in they did) and chased the
> "legit" Palestinian Authority (yes, it too is corrupt & inefficient)
> at gunpoint (& with much killing, in fact) out of Gaza. Plus their
> use of religious authoritarianism — misuse, in fact — to achieve
> their aims. What meddeb calls "its confusion of religion and
> politics, its desire to flaunt itself as expiatory victim." Meddeb
> is not only an excellent poet but one of the most knowledgeable
> people in term of Islam and Arab culture I know, so I'll go with his
> analysis.
>
> Pierre
>
>
> On Jan 17, 2009, at 11:24 AM, Peter Riley wrote:
>
>> Very good piece on Doug Oliver, Pierre. Thank you.
>>
>> That was all I wanted to say, but on a point of order: I noticed
>> somebody later on, in the "Pornography of horror" section, talking
>> about Hamas' "coup d'état". I may have got it wrong, but I thought
>> they were in fact democratically elected. A lot of commentators
>> here have been saying they were.
>>
>>
>> best wishes,
>> Peter
>>
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