Talk:Hamas takes victory in Gaza elections

Sorry i only wrote one paragraph, but i gtg. I will add some more as soon as i get back. The bellman 05:49, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)

American Double Standard

I write this as a proud Irish-American who strongly believes that the partisan of Ireland in 1922 was illegal. The British and Ulster Unionists gerrymandered a border to artificially create a rump-Ulster that would have a majority of Unionists. That having been said, there is a double standard being applied to Hamas by Western media and many Americans in general. The IRA and its political wing, Sein Fein, ran a terrorist organization and stood for political office. While the vast majority of the IRA and Sein Fein have since renounced violence, that was not so from the 1960s to the mid-1990s. During that time, many Americans donated money to support the IRA, Sein Fein, and like-minded pro-IRA organizations. It has only been now, since 9/11, that Democrats like Ted Kennedy and Republicans like Peter King have distanced themselves from Gerry Adams.

My point is this: a lot is being made about Hamas pre-election polls. Americans and Israelis are complaining that Hamas can not be part of the Palestinians government because they are, and support, terrorism. While no one would criticize Israel for not wanting to sit down with terrorists, Americans of both parties did force the British to sit down with terrorists. In addition, the PLO and Yasser Arafat were terrorists and/or supporting terrorists when the Americans of both parties made Israel sit down at the Madrid Conference and Oslo Accords. So what is the difference between the IRA, the PLO, and Hamas? All are terrorist organizations. All want to be part of the political process. We’ve said yes to two and now we’re criticizing Hamas?