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2 Key differences between Hamas and PLO

Reader comment on item: No Pipe Dream

Submitted by Charles Martel (United States), Oct 22, 2007 at 13:47

I don't agree with Dr Pipes in being indifferent between PLO and Hamas. I agree with every Israeli government in preferring the PLO.

There are two important differences between secular nationalists like the PLO and Hamas:

1. As secular nationalists (albeit with an Islamist veneer and some reality) the PLO are more rational that Hamas -- which is why Israel prefers the PLO of the two.

2. The PLO is more like Algeria's FLN, or Nasserists or Baathists -- they have a specific but limited agenda of getting Westerners out of their land. When the FLN threw the French out of Algeria, that was absolutely, cold turkey, the end of the FLN as a terrorism issue (for France or anyone else.) Algeria has been a model third-world country, and a bulwark against Islamic radicalism.

I hope Israel survives, but I'm not optimistic (demographics are destiny and they're not pretty for Israel).

If Israel survives, great, but if Israel doesn't survive, I as an American would much rather deal with a PLO Palestine (ala FLN Algeria, Nasserist Egypt, Baathist Syria or Iraq) rather than a Hamas Palestine (ala Taliban, Saudi, Pakistan).

Unless we have been taken over by Moslems in the meantime (due to the good work of our current and future Idiots-in-Chief) we will certainly let Israelis come here, and although a defeat and disappointment, it won't be a second Holocaust.

[I (apparently like all Israeli governments so far) would rather deal with a (at least semi-) rational materialist like a Communist or a Nazi than someone who may genuinely believe Allah is whispering in their ear commanding them to destroy me.]

Hitler and Ahmedinijad might be equally dedicated to killing Jews, but only Ahmedinijad could possibly consider killing Jews more important than protecting Iranians. (Hitler didn't value German lives compared to his own as he was losing the war, but he would not have accepted a nuclear strike from Israel on Germany just to be killing Jews.)

Nazis or Communists (and the secular Arab nationalists are somewhere on that continuum) are materialists who may be deterred more reliably than the meta-rational Moslem.

Therefore, I strongly prefer the secular nationalist as the lesser of two evils.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (18) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
MURDERERS OF THE PROPHETS? [139 words]JON PURIZHANSKYOct 31, 2007 02:57112694
Some people do realize [81 words]Yuval Brandstetter MDOct 27, 2007 16:03112439
If Israel falls, the blame goes to . . . [57 words]Phil GreendOct 24, 2007 17:21112264
History is repeating itself [1391 words]Johnny S.Oct 23, 2007 17:52112207
Psalm 2 - a Collective Thought About the History of Israel [337 words]M. ToveyOct 23, 2007 23:40112207
Fighting the islamic scourge [72 words]G.VishvasOct 23, 2007 15:06112198
It is of no use to deal with the Arab-Israeli conflict [114 words]Alain Jean-MairetOct 23, 2007 13:21112195
We win, they lose [125 words]David W. LincolnOct 22, 2007 22:06112167
when cons outweigh pros [272 words]jennifer solisOct 22, 2007 18:57112150
The History of Israel is Written by the Hand of Almighty God - Not the Debates of Men [713 words]M. ToveyOct 22, 2007 15:59112146
What of hindus? [63 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
G.VishvasOct 22, 2007 14:46112143
2 Key differences between Hamas and PLO [366 words]Charles MartelOct 22, 2007 13:47112140
Totalitarian faith [133 words]infidelOct 22, 2007 02:55112126
PANDEMIC.. [138 words]donvanOct 24, 2007 10:06112126
Red Flag [147 words]YnnatchkahOct 21, 2007 11:29112085
Come ... let us reason together. [245 words]Susan BrowneOct 21, 2007 06:50112073
Islam, Radical Islam and Islamism - Semantics [239 words]SinghaOct 20, 2007 23:09112046
I think Daniel is too smart to believe in the distinction... [107 words]Charles MartelOct 22, 2007 13:06112046

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