The Palestinian Election

The Palestinian Election


President Bush told the Palestinians, “You deserve democracy and the rule of law. You deserve an open society and a thriving economy.” The hope is that decent men and women in the Palestinian world can see an alternate to rule by martyrdom, suicide bombings and terror.

Can Palestinians do better than autocracy of the Maximum Leader in the Ramallah? Pollsters tell us that 60% of the Palestinian population approves of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians. President Bush has come to the conclusion that people who approve of suicide bombing need new leadership. Palestinians are taught from kindergarten to seek the extermination of Israelis and their Western, secular allies. These are the people who would be “voting” for new leadership.

It is irrelevant that President Bush may be asking the current crop of killers to step down. Palestinians widely endorse Arafat’s bloody campaign. His opposition comes from those who believe he is not militant enough in his terrorist tactics.

If elections were held, the leading candidates to reinvent Palestinian government would be The Joker and Sauron.

You may recall The Joker. He is a character out of Tim Burton’s “Batman.” The Joker cackled and used goofy weapons, but he was a serial killer and a heretic, not a clown. The Joker didn’t want to get rich. He went to museums just to defile artwork. He didn’t want to convert Batman to a life of crime. He tried to kill Batman and as many civilians as he could just for the joy it gave him. The Joker looked and sounded cartoonish. He had a black heart.

The fullest and best depiction of evil comes from the villain, Sauron, in the “Lord of the Rings.” Sauron wants to conquer Middle Earth, enslave its inhabitants and ruin everything of beauty. To accomplish this, he pours his malice and cruelty into a ring of power, which controls and corrupts all who touch it. Sauron is not the equivalent of communism or fascism. He is a totalitarian of the first order. His think tank is evilness. Sauron’s evil is real.

Both candidates promise “on a certain day, everything will be obliterated and instantaneously reconstructed. The new inhabitants will leave as if by magic carpet. The land they despoiled will be returned to the true believers. Justice will be dispensed to the victims. On that day, the presence of God shall again make itself felt.”

These candidates show us things that are rooted in basic moral precepts. Palestinians are at a crossroads. Are they eager to embrace The Joker or Sauron and see real evil? Do they wish a starring role on the broadcasts of al-Jazeera? When the dust settles the stark choice will be, shall the Palestinians repeat the past or commence a new sober society? Will they step back from the brink and walk away from terror and war? Will they take the chance to return to the world and the work of real nations?




Henry W. Hessing