The good guys and the bad guys.

The human brain has a tendency to make adjustments to what we see and hear around us so that it can easier fit with what we already think we know. We like to organize information in “black” and “white” categories and we often relate to groups of people as either “good” or “bad”.
We educate our children from an early age to understand the world around us in a certain manner. It may differ from group to group what goes into which category but the principal of it is the same.
Lots of children’s programs are made around the idea of “the good” fighting “the bad”. I have been amazed to see how evil “the good” are allowed to be in their efforts to do so.
The reason for this introduction has to do with what’s going on right now. The world has decided that Hamas represents “the bad guys” and Fatah “the good guys”. I can easily agree to the first one, because they have a religious aspect to their fighting which makes them shun nothing that stands in their way. On the other hand, however, Hamas has offered practical help to many families.
Fatah, on the other hand, has “dirty wings” as well.
The reasons why the Palestinians voted for Hamas and caused them to win the election in 2006 have to do with the fact that Hamas helped people get food on the table and that Fatah was known for being corrupt. The best there is to say about Fatah is that the organization is run by secular Moslems and that they have nationalistic motives for their actions and are not driven by fundamental Islamic ideas.
But it should be known to everyone that also Fatah consists of militant groups, some of which support terror and suicide attacks. “Force 17”, “Tanzim” and “the El Aqsa Martyrs Brigade” all exist under the umbrella of Fatah.
When Israel started Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Fatah members were celebrating. One of the ways they did so was by arresting hundreds of Hamas activists and sympathizers. One can just imagine how they were being treated once they were brought in …
They threatened journalists or prevented them from reporting if they had reason to believe that what they wrote would be in favor of Hamas. They made sure to enforce full control of the media.
Fatah has lots of reasons not to deal with Hamas in a soft way. They claim Hamas to have killed at least 700 of their people since the beginning of the Second Intifada (Arab uprising) in 2000. (The foreign media simply decides to skip these “details’ as they report from this part of the world.)
So what do we have here ?
We have two organizations claiming that they represent the Palestinian people. Hamas was chosen by the people through a democratic, legal election to be their voice to the world. The world decided to neglect their choice.
Fatah lost to Hamas but was put in position to govern by state leaders who claim to represent the world’s democracies.
Not too simple, is it ???

Elin Elkouby