A professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges says most of the blame for the Hamas election victory last month in Palestinian should fall on Israel and the United States.
Prof Daniel McGowan, who is also executive director of Deir Yassin Remembered, a non-profit organization "committed to justice for the Palestinian people," pointed the finger of blame in an interview with FinalCall.com.
When asked about his thoughts on last month’s landslide victory by Hamas, the Professor said:
"It is not a surprise given the corruption and ineptitude of the Palestinian Authority and the weak leadership of Mahmoud Abbas. But Israel and the United States are mostly to blame because they refused to accept Abbas as a leader and work with him to establish a viable Palestinian state." McGowan went on to say, "…although the U.S. claims to want democracy and fair elections, it spent over $2 million to improve the image of the Palestinian Authority and hurt the image of Hamas in the weeks just prior to the election. While most Americans are unaware of this, most Palestinians were not and they saw it as unfair and biased. They resisted this outside pressure by overwhelmingly voting for Hamas. As a footnote, it is ironic that the United States objects to a fundamentalist party coming out ahead when it was the fundamentalist Christians who tipped the vote here for [George W.] Bush."
Contrary to Professor McGowan’s views, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a Senate committee Wednesday she does not think the United States of America is responsible for the election of Hamas, and the US will not give money to a Palestinian government led by Hamas.
