By Caesar Zvayi
Zimbabwe Herald

GOVERNMENT has hailed the election of the Islamic Resistance
Movement (Hamas), after it recently posted a landslide
victory in the Palestinian election, saying the victory
exposed Western double standards on democracy.

Hamas, which has political and militant wings, won a decisive
majority in last Wednesday’s Palestinian legislative
elections, garnering 74 of the 132 parliamentary seats
defeating the moderate Fatah party of outgoing leader,
Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas will now form the next Palestinian government, whose
composition is not yet clear.

The Minister of Information and Publicity, Ambassador
Tichaona Jokonya, said Palestinians had freely expressed
their will.

"It is a victory that exposes Western duplicity because
nobody there (Palestine), from observers to monitors, has
raised a finger about the elections. They were held freely
and credibly.

"In other words, democracy for them (Westerners) is victory
for those who sing their tune. Anybody else with a different
opinion to them is not supposed to win," Ambassador Jokonya
said.

He added that it was ironic that no matter what Hamas does
Western nations were always in opposition.

"For years, Hamas was not prepared to play the politics of
elections and they were considered terrorists. However, when
they put themselves up for election and won, what do we get
from the so-called citadels of democracy, the EU and so on?
They say they want to reconsider relations with Palestine,"
he added, saying it was Western and Israeli policies that
gave Hamas the victory they did not want to stomach.

The Hamas’ charter is considered hostile to Israel as it
seeks to establish an Islamic theocracy in areas that
currently constitute Israel — the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
To achieve this, Hamas affirms its right to engage in armed
struggle and for years, Hamas militants carried out suicide
bombings in Israeli territories.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on Sunday quoted
saying the Bush administration was reviewing all assistance
programmes to Palestine and called on other nations to cut
aid to the Hamas government. The EU, which does not recognise
Hamas, was expected to oblige.

Rice said humanitarian assistance to Palestinians was likely
to be on a "case-by-case basis," a statement many took as
euphemism for sponsoring subversive groups to unseat Hamas.

Both the US and EU said they would keep diplomatic channels
open with the defeated Abbas and in so doing put themselves
above Palestinians who freely chose their preferred leaders.

As was expected, Israel echoed similar sentiments saying it
would not co-operate with a Hamas government.

The Hamas scenario is strikingly similar to Zimbabwe where
Western nations have always refused to accept the ruling Zanu-
PF’s victory at the polls preferring the opposition MDC,
which they sponsor, to win.