Truthdig: “Quick, someone bring out the smelling salts! A White House official just admitted a mistake.”

“Bring out the smelling salts”? Is Truthdig being too harsh with White House officials? After all, did Condoleezza Rice really “admit a mistake”?  Or was she merely trying to cover up the possibility that the Bush admin disregarded warnings about a likely Hamas victory?  Or perhaps she was just doing a Cheney—“It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse” could mean “ALL of us” (not just the Bush admin) made a mistake OR just that – their pulse rates are not healthy so another Crawford vacation is needed.

What was Rice quoted to have said? “I’ve asked why nobody saw it coming,” Ms. Rice said, speaking of her own staff. “It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse."… Ms. Rice’s comments seemed to reflect a certain second-guessing over how the administration had failed to foresee, or factor into its thinking, the possibility of a Hamas victory… Ms. Rice pointed out that the election results surprised just about everyone. “I don’t know anyone who wasn’t caught off guard by Hamas’s strong showing,” she said…”

Was Rice lying, again? The Saudis would have probably shared their concerns (that a Hamas victory was likely) with the Bush administration or government agencies. “A confidential Saudi report prepared just weeks before the Palestinian elections predicted a Hamas victory in Gaza and the West Bank and puts the blame on the United States: “By failing to strengthen (President Mahmoud )Abbas’s position, the U.S. has paved the way for a Hamas victory… American policies in the region, especially its unfettered support for Israel and its designation of Hamas as a terror organization, complicate the situation, and demonstrate that the Bush administration is clearly out of touch. Thus, they are unable to understand the situation from the Palestinian perspective,” states the Saudi report. However, according to unnamed Hamas officials cited in the Saudi report, “the only way that the organization can moderate its approach and still save face would be to resurrect the 2002 Abdallah peace initiative.” This is in reference to a peace proposal put forward by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, then Crown Prince, during an Arab summit in Beirut in which he was prepared to offer Israel full recognition and normal relations in return for Israeli withdrawal from all territories occupied since 1967 and return of the Palestine refugees to Israel.”
http://washtimes.com/upi/20060127-054934-1354r.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_peace_plan
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NYT: “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged Sunday that the United States had failed to understand the depth of hostility among Palestinians toward their longtime leaders. The hostility led to an election victory by the militant group Hamas … Immediately after the election, Bush administration officials said the results reflected a Palestinian desire for change and not necessarily an embrace of Hamas… Those (Bush administration) officials continue to lay most of the blame on Mr. Abbas for not offering a positive alternative to Hamas… Many experts blame the Palestinians for most of their problems, particularly the corruption and mismanagement in Mr. Abbas’s Fatah organization. Hamas, by contrast, capitalized on its image of integrity and its record of delivering services….Mr. Abbas is widely described as bitter that he failed to strengthen his hand by getting American help in persuading Israel to curb settlement growth, release prisoners and lift the checkpoints and roadblocks choking off livelihoods in the West Bank. By all accounts, Mr. Abbas’s frustration with the administration on this score was met with frustration on the American side that he was not doing enough to crack down on violence and root out corruption.”

The New York Times rarely provides unbiased context and analysis in their reporting of Israel-Palestinian issues. The blame is typically laid on the Palestinians, with Israel mentioned in passing. Imagine if the press quotes only “experts” who blame the Warsaw Ghetto Jews in WW2 for choosing militant leaders, and the press only briefly mentions the role of the Nazi Germans, attributing it to “bitter” comments by a former Jewish leader. Yup, lay all the blame on Mahmoud Abbas and the old guard Fatah leaders (and they do deserve some of the blame); after all, it’s only a bitter Palestinian who can blame Israel’s occupation policies and actions for the political choice of the occupied Palestinian people.
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/nyt-report.html
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/nyt-misrep.html
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/media/

Any impartial “expert” with a basic understanding of the Israel-Palestinian conflict would have considered the role of Israel and its chief ally, the US government, in the Hamas victory.

For 58 years, the Palestinian people’s basic aspiration has been frustrated—to live in a Palestinian nation free from Israeli colonization, occupation and/or subjugation. The combination of Israel’s colonial policies, actions and rejectionism and Arafat/Abbas’s inability to get Israel/US to budge have motivated the Palestinians to seek a more radical, fundamentalist alternative to Fatah. Israel has undermined the Fatah-based Palestinian Authority for over 10 years, especially since 2000 when first Barak and then Sharon brutally oppressed the Palestinians. When Sharon and Bush demonized and refused to deal with Arafat, and when Sharon fed scraps to Arafat’s successor Mahmoud Abbas, Israel increased the possibility that one day it would have a Hamas government leading the Palestinians. “The Astal family is politically divided. Aya’s mother voted for Hamas. The child’s aunt, Samir al-Astal, backed the losing party, Fatah. But there is little difference in their belief that there is a double standard at work in the foreign demands of Israel and of Palestinians. “The Americans always give excuses for Israel,” said Samir. “Israel is like a spoilt son. They never pressure them. They kill our children and no one says anything. If there is a reaction by Palestinians to these incidents they call us terrorists.” ”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1696732,00.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0130-04.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0127-34.htm

Thus it is not surprising that “(Palestinian) Christians who voted for the radical Muslims (Hamas) say they hope Hamas resists Israel - but also resists imposing Islamic values…a surprising number of Christians - including boutique owner Siaman and her husband - voted for Hamas on the premise all Palestinians are united in the struggle against Israel. “When Israel targeted us with missiles, it didn’t differentiate between Christians and Muslims,” said Johnny Siaman, whose family had to move to a hotel after their home was hit three years ago."Hamas is part of the Palestinian nation, and they are resisting what Israel did to us.” … in Bethlehem and other cities in the more secular West Bank, the size of the Hamas victory came as a shock. Known as the birthplace of Christ, Bethlehem depends on tourism to support the area’s 150,000 residents, about 10 percent of them Christian. The city’s economy took a dive in 2002, when Israel retaliated for a Hamas suicide bombing by invading the West Bank and imposing a weekslong curfew. Although Bethlehem has been quiet for months, Israel’s massive security wall now cuts through part of the city and visitors must clear an Israeli checkpoint manned by soldiers with M-16s. In what Bethlehem residents consider a twisted joke, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism put up a huge banner at the heavily fortified entrance that says: “Peace Be With You."… Odeh Bishara, whose family has sold liquor at a small neighborhood store since 1939. “Muslims look at us Christians as Palestinians. We have our history and struggle as Palestinians and the relationship (with Hamas) will be good, I think.” “
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/01/28/Worldandnation/Hamas __yes__Islamic_l.shtml
http://www.bethlehem-city.org/news/BM-Xmas Message.htm

In any case, Israel gave Hamas financial aid and other assistance beginning in the late 1970s, and Hamas was even officially registered and recognized within Israel at this time.  Israel was “dividing and conquering” by using Hamas as an Islamic fundamentalist counterweight in Palestine to the more secular PLO led by Yasser Arafat and other exiles operating outside Palestine.  A U.S. government official said: “The thinking on the part of some in the right-wing Israeli establishment was that Hamas and the others, if they gained control, would refuse to have any part of the peace process and would torpedo any agreements put in place.” British journalist Robert Fisk: “Back in 1983, Hamas talked to the Israelis. They spoke directly to them about the spread of mosques and religious teaching. The Israeli army boasted about this on the front page of the Jerusalem Post. At that time, it looked like the PLO was not going to abide by the Oslo resolutions. There seemed nothing wrong, therefore, with continuing talks with Hamas. So how come talks with Hamas now seem so impossible? Not long after the Hamas leadership had been hurled into southern Lebanon, a leading member of its organization heard me say that I was en route to Israel. “You’d better call Shimon Peres,” he told me. “Here’s his home number.” The phone number was correct. Here was proof that members of the hierarchy of the most extremist movements among the Palestinians were talking to senior Israeli politicians. The Israelis know well the Hamas leadership. And the Hamas leadership know well the Israelis. There is no point in journalists like us suggesting otherwise.”
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012806I.shtml

Israel finally got what it originally wished for: Hamas as the dominant force in Palestinian politics, instead of the PLO.
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Some links:

The Good News About Hamas’ Victory
http://www.counterpunch.org/levy01302006.html

Hamas win is ‘savage indictment’ of U.S., Israeli policy
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10& categ_id=2&article_id=21806

Hamas: The Reality of Democracy
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0130-29.htm

Ash: Abbas and Hamas
http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm