We worried when Israel pulled out of Gaza.
We worried some more when Hamas won the election and formed a government.
But the Palestinians ran an election that was cleaner than some of our own (just ask John Kerry), and they are realizing some of the mixed blessings of holding free elections, namely:
Being responsible for the consequences of your actions.
And:
The truth.
The consequences are that they are forced to introspect more and blame Israel less. As Hamas spokesperson and Palestinian journalist Ghazi Hamad writes (you may need a free subscription for the link), "Gaza is suffering under the yoke of anarchy and the swords of thugs."
And the truth is, as Hamad continues, "we've all been attacked by the bacteria of stupidity. We have lost our sense of direction."
That may be because, with the removal of an enemy in their midst, the Palestinians will begin to realize that "against" is not a direction. In matters of self-governance, the veil of victimhood has begun to lift. The experiment of Palestinian democracy has begin to take root. Other Arab nations should take note.
This is not to say that the Palestinians don't still have issues with Israel, issues that make self-governance even more difficult than it ordinarily would be. But when a prominent Hamas spokesperson urges Palestinians to look to themselves, and see clearly the difficult task before them -- the task of taking responsibility for their own actions -- then perhaps real change has begun. And perhaps Democracy -- for which we argued, and the results of which we derided -- will make the Palestinians the ones who foment real and lasting change in the Arab world.
--T.A.
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