Romeo & Romeo

At the end, my mother and I eventually watched the much-hyped movie Brokeback Mountain, which won the Golden Lion at the 2005 Venice International Film Festival, four awards (including best drama picture) at the 63rd Golden Globes and four awards (including best film) at the BAFTA on February 19. The movie has received eight nominations in the run-up to the 78th Academy Awards, which are scheduled on March 5.
Brokeback Mountain, directed by Taiwan Chinese Ang Lee (best known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), is the story of two cowboys, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal, the protagonist of sensational Donnie Darko).
In the summer of 1963, the two guys are sent to herd sheeps in the remote wilderness of Wyoming, where isolation, forced closeness and prolonged intimacy combine to forge a sexual and affective relationship. At the end of the summer, the two part ways and do not see each other for four years. After an ill-fated marriage with Alma (Michelle Williams), Ennis ends up as a "white trailer trash" type, while Jack marries a rodeo starlet (Anne Hathaway) with a rich and patronizing father. Incapable or unwilling to take more drastical choices, the two men let their lives drag on, meeting sporadically for short, passionate escapes.

Jack Twist: Tell you what, we coulda had a good life together! Fuckin' real good life! Had us a place of our own. But you didn't want it, Ennis! So what we got now is Brokeback Mountain! Everything's built on that! That’s all we got, boy, fuckin' all. So I hope you know that, even if you don't never know the rest! You count the damn few times we have been together in nearly twenty years and you measure the short fucking leash you keep me on – and then you ask me about Mexico and tell me you'll kill me for needing somethin' I don't hardly never get. You have no idea how bad it gets! I'm not you... I can't make it on a coupla high-altitude fucks once or twice a year! You are too much for me Ennis, you sonofawhore bitch! I wish I knew how to quit you.

Ennis Del Mar: [crying] Well, why don't you? Why don't you just let me be? It's because of you that I'm like this! I ain't got nothing... I ain't nowhere... Get the fuck off me! I can't stand being like this no more, Jack.

There is no happy ending: apparently, romance cannot exist without some sort of drama.

The movie is well directed and enjoys imposing vistas, a captivating soundtrack and a stunning interpretation by the whole cast. Nevertheless, both my mother and I were quite underwhelmed at the drama as a whole. Despite the slow pace of the story and a lengthy runtime (2 hours and 14 minutes), the personality of the protagonists is never really delved into with empathy. A few scenes are pleonastic or gratuitous, while the crucial ones (like the dialogue above, which is probably the core of the film) should have been much more emphasized as the climax in a flood of suppressed emotions, repressed rage, dreams and fears.
(Update: I have read a very interesting comment which described Brokeback Mountain as "American to the backbone" and not exactly a gay drama, because the main protagonist is the force of nature, not the two cowboys. The theme of the escape into the wild nature is central to a large segment of the American literature, including classics such as Henry David Thoreau's Walden, Jack London's The Call of the Wild, Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Jack Kerouac and, above all, Ernest Hemingway. The epos of the hero faced with an almost insurmountable challenge is very Hemingwayan, indeed.)

I couldn't help making a comparison between Brokeback Mountain and the 2002 Israeli movie Yossi & Jagger, directed by Eytan Fox.
In fact, there are striking similarities between the two couples of characters. In both cases, one of the guys is butch, closeted, seemingly unresponsive, while the other is slender, blue-eyed, outspoken, idealistic and doomed to a bad end. However, unlike Brokeback Mountain, Eytan Fox's Yossi & Jagger (although certainly not flawless) is brisk, very concise (only 67 minutes), vibrant, and goes directly to the point.

Allegedly based on a true story, the movie is set in a remote Israeli army base on the border with Southern Lebanon, possibly in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Yossi (Ohad Knoller) and Lior also known as "Jagger" because of his glam attitude (Yehuda Levi) are two officers who are engaged in a love story. Yossi is at ease with his role of company commander and wants to keep the affair secret. Jagger is about to be discharged at the end of his draft term and would like to bring their relation to light. A night mission where something goes wrong will be the moment of an unexpected showdown.
The final scene and the closing credits come with a resounding cover by Ivri Lider of the renowned song Bo, originally performed by Rita. The cover was included in Ivri Lider's 2001 album Ha-anashim ha-chadashim ("The new people").

A movie with a similar theme is Bosnia-Herzegovina's Go West, directed by Ahmed Imamović. It is the story of a same-sex interethnic couple (one is a Serb, the other is a Bosniak, or Bosnian Muslim) during the 1992-1995 civil war.
The movie has caused a huge controversy in Bosnia, where it has been accused of belittling the issues that were at stake in the conflict. More probably, the film is disturbing because, in a context of raging ethnic and confessional strife, it reminds that interethnic relationships were not unusual in Sarajevo.
As expectable, the theme of homosexuality per se is even more disturbing. The Mladi muslimani ("Young Muslims") association in Sarajevo has been particularly vocal against the film.

"Mladi muslimani" about the movie "Go West":
Homosexuality is not acceptable in general,
nor as a subject for a movie.

Lebanese skier at the Winter Olympics

Lebanese skier Chirine Njeim was born in Beirut on October 4, 1984. She trained in Alpine skiing in France and at the Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake City, USA, where she took part at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. She is now participating at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy in all the five Alpine skiing racing disciplines (downhill, super-G, giant, slalom, plus the "combined").

How did she fare? Well, probably Michaela Dorfmeister and Janica Kostelić were not particularly worried during the Super-G on Monday.

Lebanon, although usually associated with olive groves and palm trees, is a ski and snowboarding holiday destination with six resorts. The two most important ones are Faraya, which is best known for its sparkling après-ski society life in addition to its slopes, and Al-Arz, near the renowned cedars groove above Bsharreh.

(Update, May 30: You can have a glimpse of Lebanese slopes and jet set life in Nawal Al Zoghbi's latest video, Shou Akhbarak.)

Pathetic Italian minister steps down

Among widespread criticism, Italian minister for constitutional reforms Roberto Calderoli resigned on Saturday. Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini met senior Islamic clerics at the Great Mosque in Rome in the attempt to defuse tensions.

This is what a local Christian Conservative newspaper wrote on its front page on Saturday (A forza di scherzare col fuoco by Ettore Ongis, in "L'Eco di Bergamo", Saturday, February 18, 2006, page 1), in my own translation:

After playing with fire for so long, this time fire did flare up. Eleven dead, dozens injured, hundreds of people in revolt and a widespread rage against Italy, all because of a vulgar bravado. Calderoli accomplished his mission of inflammatory provoker. Here is the T-shirt with the Prophet Muhammad drawings, look at me, I have no fear and I slam it in the face of the whole Muslim world. It wasn’t long before the reaction came. In a few hours, the last of countless acts of defiance of an embarrassing character turned minister degenerated into tragedy. At the same time, it was able to risk the safety of Italian nationals living in Islamic countries and to force the cabinet to find a last-minute remedy, although it was already too late. Never had anyone seen so much irresponsibility in the political top ranks. In the case of Calderoli, however, all the signs were there to be recognized. A foreseen fiasco. For years, the Northern League minister had been trespassing all limits of decency with his words and his deeds. For years, the MP from Bergamo and former President of the Lombard League had been allowed to insult, offend and deride Southern Italians, then immigrants, and eventually Muslims. It was part of his political persona and, in some way, his excesses were forgiven because he was Umberto Bossi’s number two and because he somehow managed to be appreciated as Senate [deputy] chairman. Somehow, we got used to him, and on the stage of Italy’s politics such a character could have been tolerated. But domestic tolerance wasn’t enough for him: he wanted to aim higher and higher, until he decided to test the Islamic religious sensitivity, which had already been humiliated by the publication of the [Prophet Muhammad] drawings by some European newspapers. Now we are counting the dead. Among the Libyan population, today. Hoping we won’t have to count on this shore of the Mediterranean, tomorrow.
Berlusconi, for his part, at first tried to patch up this worldwide blunder distancing himself from his minister: ‘It was absolutely his own personal initiative, we totally disagree with it’, he said. Too little, too late. Later, as the events were coming to a head, he loudly demanded Calderoli’s resignation. Only in the middle of the night, the latter communicated that he could be inclined to resign, not without some ambiguity. Until then, the only reaction of the minister to the havoc made had been a disconcerting statement pronounced in the afternoon [of Friday]: ‘Regretful? Are you kidding?’. Not even after the assault to the Italian consulate in Benghazi, not even after eleven dead, he did understand that the farce was over for good.

(Update, March 5: La Repubblica reported that former minister Roberto Calderoli tried to define his stance on the issue. These are his words, in my own translation:

I do not want to offend and I did not mean to offend the believers of Islam, or of any other faith. If anything, we should thank Muslims, because their religiousness has eventually awaken a Christian awareness that had been drowsing for too long in a materialistic and consumerist society. In fact, I hold believers, Muslims included, in high esteem, because they are individuals of principles who defend their values. It is quite a different matter, though, if you consider those who exploit religion for different purposes, like those individuals who, while being well hidden and sheltered, excite the minds of plain people, send them to massacre, and use [them] as cannon fodder for delirious attacks against the Western countries. [...] Whoever commands a slaughter of innocent civilians in a city or sends youngsters to die as suicide bombers is not a military leader, he's a terrorist. Period. With my T-shirt I did not mean to offend Muslims as a whole, I wanted to claim the right to express a different point of view. I wanted to raise my voice against the insanity of those who have other targets, under the false pretext of religion. Those who use fundamentalism as a pick in order to destroy our civilization.

Nice words. Even something one can agree with. Just a question: who is the ghost writer?)

Pathetic Italian minister stirs anger in Benghazi

The Italian consulate in Benghazi, Libya has been torched in riots on Friday afternoon. At least ten protesters are reported dead and several others injured in the clashes with police and security forces. According to Libyan sources, the demonstrators were hurling stones and bottles, and later entered the consular compound where they set fire to the building and a consular car. Police fired shots in the attempt to disperse the crowds.

The protest was possibly stirred by the irresponsible provocation of Italy's minister for constitutional reforms Roberto Calderoli, who had showed himself wearing a T-shirt with one of the Prophet Muhammad drawings.
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has invited Calderoli to resign immediately.

Il ministro Calderoli si è comportato in maniera assolutamente incompatibile con i suoi incarichi istituzionali, non solo compiendo un gesto offensivo e scioccamente provocatorio nei confronti delle popolazioni musulmane, ma anche mettendo seriamente a repentaglio gli interessi nazionali italiani nei paesi arabi e la sicurezza stessa dell'Italia. Per queste ragioni, le dimissioni di Calderoli sono il minimo che si possa pretendere.

Paradise... Now?

The Palestinian movie Paradise Now is one of the five nominees in the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 78th Academy Awards. Directed by Hani Abu Asad, the movie tells the story of two mechanics from Nablus (Khalid and Sa'id) who are offered the chance to commit a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv. The two men are observed in the preparation of the event as they experience a wide range of feelings, including fear, anger, resentment, frustration and second thoughts.

A humanized portrait of two aspiring terrorists is certainly an uneasy topic and has provoked mixed reactions in the Israeli audience. However, the Oscars organisers have denied Israeli pressures against Paradise Now, which recently won the Golden Globe Awards 2006 as Best Foreign Language Film.
The Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled on March 5.

The Italian movie Private (which had originally been chosen by Italy to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film section, and was subsequently rejected because the movie is mostly in English) has a similar approach, as it describes the Palestinian plight through the story of an educated, mildly secular, rather affluent Palestinian family whose house is occupied by the Israeli army for unspecified security reasons.
The soldiers settle down in the bedrooms on the upper floor, while the six members of the family are left with the option to either leave their house or being locked at night in the living room. In my opinion, this is a very powerful and well rendered metaphor of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Private (which was shot by Saverio Costanzo in quasi-Dogma style), however, is not intended to be a historically accurate reconstruction or a cheap tool of political propaganda. What is interesting in the movie is the psychological profile of the characters, their complexity, and how they discover and have to acknowledge the humanity of "the other".
The movie was awarded the Golden Leopard at the 57th Locarno International Film Festival.

Nancy Ajram's new album is released

Nancy Ajram's new album Ya Tabtab W Dallaa has been released today. I had the opportunity to listen to Ehsas Jdid ("New feeling"), Moegaba Mughrama ("Fond and infatuated of him"), and Ya Tabtab W Dallaa ("I gurgle and spoil"). My first impression is that she is delivering an album with girlish lyrics and catchy riffs, pretty much in the wake of Ah W Noss.

You can watch the entire video of Ya Tabtab W Dallaa here.

يا طبطب و ادلع

يا يقولي انا تغيرت عليه

وانا ازعل اولع

ما هو كل همه ازاي ارضيه

قلوله ده انا برده ساعات في حالات

مرة ازعل مرة اديله عيني

مين فينا على حاله كل الاوقات

ده تاعبني اوي طلع عيني

يا طبطب و ادلع

يا يقولي انا تغيرت عليه

وانا ازعل اولع

ما هو كل همه ازاي ارضيه

لو ازعل منه و قصر

يقول باقصر في حقه و ياخذ جنب

و لو افهمه يقول باظلمه

يفضل يحسسني بميت ذنب

قلوله ده انا برده ساعات في حالات

مرة ازعل مرة اديله عيني

مين فينا على حاله كل الاوقات

ده تاعبني اوي طلع عيني

يا طبطب و ادلع

يا يقولي انا تغيرت عليه

وانا ازعل اولع

ما هو كل همه ازاي ارضيه

قال انا بتغير ولا ده عقله صغير

حير قلبي معك

و حكم القوي بموت فيه اوي

و ده اللي صبرني على هوا

قلوله ده انا برده ساعات في حالات

مرة ازعل مرة اديله عيني

مين فينا على حاله كل الاوقات

ده تاعبني اوي طلع عيني

يا طبطب و ادلع

يا يقولي انا تغيرت عليه

وانا ازعل اولع

ما هو كل همه ازاي ارضيه

Rafiq al-Hariri, in memoriam

One year after the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, the picture is still quite blurred.

I took this picture on July 28, 2005 from a hot-air balloon in Beirut. On the left side of the picture, you can easily spot the site where the explosion happened, next to the once glorious Hotel Saint-Georges. It has been speculated that the explosive had been hidden under the road surface.

The crime scene has been sealed off to allow the inquiry of the "International Independent Investigation Commission established pursuant to [UN] Security Council Resolution 1595 (2005)" and avoid the tampering of any possible evidence.

These are two close-ups of the blast site that I realized on July 12, 2005:

Rafiq al-Hariri and his "companions" (his escort) are buried under a tensile structure outside of the al-Amin mosque, which was partly funded by al-Hariri himself.

"Fino alla fine del tempo" (da "Ad sof ha-zman")

Tu ami, tu odi,
tu sogni, ma non fai nulla,
te ne vai di giorno, di notte ritorni;
stringimi e non mentire.
Ti arrabbi, piangi,
fai un casino per tutto;
urla adesso, butta tutto fuori,
gridami contro e amami.

Innalzami fino alle nuvole,
portami su una piccola isola,
fammi volare sulle stelle,
tienimi con me e amami.

Tu sei forte, tu sei grosso,
tu sei debole, tu tremi dal freddo;
mostri i muscoli, una tigre di carta,
scoprimi, non è ancora finita.
Te ne stai zitto, ridi,
vuoi farla finita
per ricominciare tutto da capo;
vieni verso di me, così come sei.

Innalzami fino alle nuvole,
portami su una piccola isola,
fammi volare sulle stelle,
tienimi con me e amami
e ci ameremo
fino alla fine del tempo.

"Ad sof ha-zman", Dana International

Ad sof ha-zman, Dana International.
(Lyrics: Eytan Nachmias Galas; Music: Eli Avramov)

אתה אוהב אתה שׂונא
אתה חולם וכלום לא עושׂה
עוזב ביום בלילה חוזר
חבק אותי ואל תשקר
אתה כועס אתה בוכה
אתה עושׂה סיפור מזה
תצעק עכשיו הכל תוציא
תצרח עליי ותאהב אותי

תרים אותי עד לענן
תיקח אותי לאי קטן
תטיס אותי עד לכוכב
ותשמור עליי ותאהב

אתה חזק אתה גדול
אתה חלש רועד מקור
עושׂה שרירים נמר מנייר
גלה אותי זה לא נגמר
אתה שותק אתה צוחק
אתה רוצה להיפרד
להתחיל מהתחלה
תבוא אליי כמו שאתה

תרים אותי עד לענן
תיקח אותי לאי קטן
תטיס אותי עד לכוכב
ותשמר עליי ותאהב
ונאהב
עד סוף הזמן

Ata ohev ata sone
Ata cholem we-klum lo ose
Ozev ba-yom, ba-layla chozer
Haveq oti we-al teshaqer
Ata ko'es ata bokeh
Ata ose sipur mi-zeh
Titz'aq akshau ha-kol tozi
Titzrah 'alay we-tohav oti

Tarim oti ad le-anan
Tiqach oti le-i qatan
Tatis oti ad le-kokav
We-tishmor 'alay we-tohav

Ata hazaq ata gadol
Ata chalash ro'ed mi-qor
Ose shririm namer mi-niyyar
Galeh oti ze lo nigmar
Ata shoteq ata tzocheq
Ata rotzeh le-hipared
Le-hitchil me-hatchalah
Tavo elay kmo she-ata

Tarim oti ad le-anan
Tiqach oti le-i qatan
Tatis oti ad le-kokav
We-tishmor 'alay we-tohav
We-nohav
Ad sof ha-zman.

Israeli T* diva Dana International

Israeli transgender diva Dana International was born Yaron Cohen in Tel Aviv on February 2, 1972. In 1993, she underwent a sex reassignment surgery and had her first name changed into Sharon.
She began her career as a drag queen in the gay scene of Tel Aviv, where she was discovered by the Israeli DJ, producer and talent scout Ofer Nissim.

Dana International made her debut in 1993 with the album Danna International. It was followed by Umpatampa (1994), E.P. Tampa (1995), Maganuna ("Crazy", 1996) and Diva Ha-osef ("Diva - The Collection", 1998).
In 1998, Dana International represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham, where she won with the song Diva. In 1999, she opened the Eurovision contest in Jerusalem performing the songs Dror yikra and Free.
Her latest albums are Free (1999, European edition; 2000, Israeli edition), Yoter we-yoter ("More and more", 2001), and Ha-chalom ha-efshari ("The possible dream", 2002), where she expressed her pacifist stance on the Palestinian issue.

An intentionally over-the-top singer such as Dana International couldn't have gone unnoticed in an area like the Middle East, where religious persuasions, cultural identities and gender roles are clearly demarcated, and where a certain degree of social conformism is generally prized.
The lyrics of her songs (whether in Hebrew, Egyptian Arabic, English or a mix of the three) might sound slightly more than nursery rhymes to the European audience, but contain some sexual contents (including homosexuality and the concept of masculinity) that are unusually candid in the Middle Eastern context.

In Israel, where the divide between secularists and religious conservatives is increasingly evident, Dana International has become a standard-bearer not only of gay rights, but also of a more liberal, inclusive society:

I am representing a liberal Israel, an Israel which accepts the human being no matter how you are, no matter how you look like and no matter what sex or race you are.

Dana International has also been accused by some Islamic groups to be part of a Zionist conspiracy to "deviate" Muslim youth through her indecent behaviour and her "lousy" lyrics. In fact, her Arabic songs (in particular Samar mar, Maganuna, and above all Sa'ida Sultana, which recalls Whitney Houston's My Name is Not Susan) have gained enormous popolarity in Egypt and, to a lesser extent, in Jordan and Lebanon.
For sure, I can testify that a notorious club in the outskirts of Beirut was playing Maganuna (a very camp song and one of the queerest things I've ever heard) no later than August 4, 2005.

Egypt wins the Africa Cup of Nations 2006

Egypt won the Africa Cup of Nations 2006 on Friday by beating Ivory Coast 4-2 on penalties after regulation time had ended with a goalless draw.


Ivorian captain (and Chelsea FC player) Didier Drogba missed a golden chance after 76 minutes, while Egyptian captain Ahmad Hassan failed to score a controversial penalty in the extra time.
The penalty shoot-out saw Egyptian goalkeeper Issam al-Hadari saving two kicks.
Thousands of fans took to the streets of Cairo to celebrate.

Double standards

I couldn't elaborate any better than this sketch by Mahjoob:

(Update: According to The Guardian, in 2003 Jyllands-Posten refused to publish cartoons lampooning Jesus Christ, on the grounds that they could be offensive to the readers and not funny.)

The victory of Hamas and its repercussions

A significant success of Hamas in the Palestinian general election of January 25 had been predicted by many observers, even if the outright majority obtained by the group in the new Palestinian Legislative Council has gone beyond all expectations.
However, nearly all Western mainstream media have started a frenzy of agitated comments as soon as the scale of Hamas landslide victory has become clear. It doesn’t matter that the election were substantially free and fair: those people voted “badly”.
Rigged elections à la Mubarak, with frauds, intimidations and a five-year jail term verdict for the opposition exponent Ayman Nour (under forgery charges that are believed to be trumped up) are evidently closer to the kind of “democracy” that should be exported in the Arab world.

First of all, what is Hamas?
Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic radical movement founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna. The August 18, 1988 Statute describe Hamas as an “Islamic resistence movement” which fights for the liberation of Palestine. The name ﺤﻤﺎﺱ means “fervor” but it also the acronym of Harakat al-muqawwamah al-islamiyyah (literally “Movement of Islamic resistence”).

With a certain degree of simplification, two different trends can be outlined within the group: a “military wing” engaged in paramilitary violent actions (including suicide bombings against civilian targets in Israel) and a “social wing” more keen on charitable activities. This distinction is sometimes read as a cleavage between a “radical current”, which supports the armed seizure of power, and a “neo-traditionalist current”, which is faithful to the view of Antonio Gramsci and tries to pursue Islamization at the grass roots, establishing a network of mosques, schools, labor unions, healthcare units and benevolent foundations in any village and neighborhood.

Religion is a determinant element in the development of Hamas, although complex economic, social and political motives are intertwined.

When enemies usurp a part of Muslim land, jihad becomes an individual duty for each Muslim. In face of the usurpation of Palestine by means of the Jews, we shall raise the banner of jihad. This requires the propagation of an Islamic consciousness among the people at a local, Arab and Islamic level. It is necessary to instill the spirit of jihad within the ummah, confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.

The aim of the movement seems to be the transformation of the whole of Palestine into an Islamic state ruled by shari’ah.

The Movement of Islamic Resistence is a unique Palestinian movement. It offers its allegiance to God, stems its lifestyle from Islam, and strives to raise the banner of God over every inch of the land of Palestine, for under Islam it is possible to the followers of all religions to coexist in safety: safety for their lives, their properties and their rights. It is in the absence of Islam that strife is rife, oppression and destruction spread, wars and fights break out.

However, Hamas is not a monolith and contains more pragmatic currents, in particular in the West Bank. It has also been able to match “the poetry of rhetoric with the prose of reality” in the past and it may try to portray a softer version of itself, even through the attempt at an image makeover.
(Update: Nashat Afqash later remarked that he received a payment of 180,000 NIS shekels, not US dollars as stated in the article.)

Of course, there’s more than a matter for spin doctors. One of the most controversial points raised by the Western media is that, even if Hamas restrained from violent actions over a prolonged period of time, it wouldn’t be possible to legitimize a movement which does not intend to acknowledge the existence of Israel.
Moshir al-Masri, the spokesman of Hamas in Gaza, responds to this (but skates over hitting civilian targets) in an interview given to Silvia Cattori of Réseau Voltaire shortly before the election.
On mutual recognition and propensity towards a peaceful deal, it is worth to remember how the Likud platform looked like, at least before Ariel Sharon restyled himself as “a man of peace”:

The Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza are the realization of Zionist values. Settlement of the land is a clear expression of the unassailable right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel and constitutes an important asset in the defense of the vital interests of the State of Israel.

The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state.

Israeli historian Avi Shlaim once wrote:

Pope John Paul II is said to have described two solutions to the problems of the Middle East, one realistic, the other miraculous. The realistic solution would involve divine intervention, while the miraculous calls for the Arabs and Jews to resolve their differences.

The most striking mystifications are made by some commentators who lump everything together: Hamas, al-Qa’idah, the Iraqi insurgency and the multiform galaxy of militant, radical Islamic groups.
In fact, the term “militant Islamic” (or the very disputable “Islamist”) is so broad that it ends up encompassing any kind of subversive movement in the Muslim world, despite the variety of histories, contexts and resources. The only things these formations have in common is a discourse (based on the rhetoric of jihad as warfare) which may justify the use of force or violence in order to establish a political system based on the implementation of shari’ah. These groups can differ strongly in tactics and strategies.

Reuven Paz of GLORIA (a research center based in Herzliya, Israel) has written an interesting article entitled The Islamic Debate Over Democracy: Jihadi-Salafi Responses to Hamas’ Victory in the Palestinian Elections in which he introduces a number of interesting remarks about how other militant Islamic groups have reacted to the victory of Hamas and its possible future leadership of the Palestinian Authority.

According to Paz as well as other scholars, militant Islamic groups usually scorn the concept of democracy (in its Western interpretation, at least) and reject human-made laws as a form of heresy that deviates from the divine law. The legitimacy of elections and parliamentary representation remains therefore highly controversial and has been ruled out in a series of Salafi-oriented fatwas (edicts). Paz reminds, for instance, that a list of clerics who condemn the electoral process has been posted in a forum of the radical site Al-Hisbah. The Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, seems to have a strong tendency to support democratic processes in countries where the prospect of a favourable electoral result is more likely.
Another unsettled account concerns the “national” character of Hamas. The 1988 covenant tries to link the Palestinian national cause to a broader Islamic one:

According to the Movement of Islamic Resistence, nationalism is a legitimate part of its religious creed. Nothing in nationalism is more significant or deeper than fighting a jihad against the enemy and face him openly when he sets foot on Muslim land.

Given this contex, the liberation of Palestine is an individual, inderogable duty for every Muslim, wherever he may be. It is upon these bases that the Palestinian question should be viewed, and every Muslim should realize this.

However, Paz remembers that many militant groups have considered Hamas as a Palestinian nationalist formation which has waged a “jihad for the homeland” rather than a jihad fi sabilAllah (a struggle for the sake of God), isolating its case from rest of the ummah. Because of its national focus, Hamas also does not disdain to cooperate with Iran and Lebanese Shi’a HizbAllah, which are generally viewed at with disgust by Salafi groups. The movement also expressed support for Yasser Arafat, who was labelled murtadd (apostate) by some Salafi groups.

After the election, these groups remain in a watchful wait. On one hand, they intend to offer their “advice and guidance” to Hamas. On the other hand, they harshly criticize the movement for it finds itself in an almost irresolvable dilemma: either step up the level of confrontation with Israel, the United States and the Western community, or soften (and possibly contradict) its prior positions in order to reach a compromise.
The more aggressive Salafi groups might try to step in and take advantage of the shortcomings of Hamas. I think it’s worth to quote Paz verbatim:

The Jihadi-Salafis would certainly try to push Hamas into more hard-line positions, through a slow infiltration into the Palestinian public. In case Hamas would gradually change its policy towards Israel and even abandon terrorism for a long temporary period, the global Jihadi groups such as al-Qaeda or affiliated elements may try to take the ‘torch of Jihad’ and establish affiliated groups in the Palestinian territories. We should bear in mind that the new situation in the Palestinian Authority could dismantle the Fatah, institute much change in the Palestinian security forces, and create new political, military, or family alliances, not to mention an interim period of chaos, more unemployment and financial difficulties, and an altogether unstable situation. Such conditions may be a golden opportunity for the Jihadi-Salafiyyah to find supporting elements among the Palestinians in the Palestinian Authority, as they slowly but surely currently do in some of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.

This should ring as an alarm bell in Israel and elsewhere. By discreting Arafat, Hamas took the lead. Now, by discreting Hamas, it could be the turn of al-Zarqawi and his acolytes.