Friday, January 27, 2006

Fatah wins 42 percent of Palestinian vote - Shaath - Forbes.com

Well, with a headline like that, you'd think that at least Forbes got their information from a reliable, independent source, right?

GAZA CITY (AFX) - The ruling Fatah faction won the Palestinian general election with 42 percent of the vote while Islamist party Hamas won 35 percent, Fatah campaign manager Nabil Shaath said Wednesday, citing an exit poll.


Well, at least they weren't the only propaganda outfit spreading disinformation. Bloomberg said this:

Fatah Wins Palestinian Election, Beating Hamas, Exit Polls Show

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- The ruling Fatah Party took first place in Palestinian elections today, beating the armed Islamic group Hamas, which will enter the Legislative Council for the first time with more than a third of the vote, exit polls showed.


This Indian article (switched links; original article deleted from source website) (with links added) shows just how far the U.S. wil go to deter democracy:

US using foreign aid funds to promote Fatah in polls

Ramallah, January 22 (PTI) The US was using USD two million of foreign aid money to help the ruling Fatah win the upcoming Paletinian polls in which the party faces stiff opposition from the radical Hamas movement, a report today claimed.

The funding is being done through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and is said to be more than the money any Palestinian party can spend by the election day, the Washington Post reports.

US and Palestinian officials fear there will be strong presence of Hamas, a terrorist outfit according to the US, in the election, scheduled for Wednesday.

The USAID programme for the polls is "a temporary paradigm shift" from the way the aid agency otherwise operates, an internal document said, according to the newspaper.

The programme organises street-cleaning campaigns, food and water distribution to Palestinians at border crossings, sponsoring a soccer tournament and donating computers to community centres.

It is being co-ordinated through Rafiq Husseini, chief of staff to Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president and leader of Fatah.

The programme, however do not show any evidence of US involvement, especially thorugh logos on the posters advertising the events.

"US officials say their low profile is meant to ensure that the Palestinian Authority receives public credit for a collection of small, popular projects and events to be unveiled" before the Palestinian polls, the Washington Post reports. PTI


Here, the U.S. government is admitting openly that they hate democracy and thus are willing to swing an election by contributing millions of U.S. tax dollars to the party that they want to win. Imagine if Osama bin Laden took a few million bucks and covertly threw it at Hillary's campaign, to use in beating whichever Rethug she runs against?

It is also instructive to point out that USAID is acting, in this case, as a wholly functioning branch of the U.S. government. It's primary goal in this case was to overturn the will of the people of Palestine. This is not compatible with democracy.

More articles:
* U.S. Pushing for Fatah Victory
* Various polls predict Fatah win over Hamas on national ticket
* Fatah Forecast to Win Parliament Vote
* Fatah wins 63 seats, Hamas 58: exit poll

This headline is pretty cool: Palestinians choose between peace or confrontation with Israel. So, electing Fatah means peace, whereas electing Hamas means confrontation. What is the evidence? None. What is the general theory that might lead one to believe such nonsense? Not present, sir.

Some newspapers have attempted to erase their propaganda, but I'm guessing someone has a copy of it somewhere.

And, interestingly enough, the 'militant' party, Hamas, didn't manage to murder one of their own political leaders - but Fatah did:

A leader of the ruling Fatah Party in Nablus was shot dead today in violence related to upcoming elections for the Palestinian parliament.

Despite the chaos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent months, violence related to tomorrow’s balloting has been relatively limited.

Early this month, a Hamas supporter was killed in a firefight that erupted while rival factions were hanging election posters in Gaza City. Hamas blamed the ruling Fatah Party for the shooting.

Nine gunmen, also affiliated with Fatah, pulled up in two cars to the house of 44-year-old Abu Ahmed Hassouna in the early hours of today and began firing at posters of election candidates on his house, relatives said.

Hassouna leaned out a window, shouted at them to stop, and they shot him in the head, they said. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died shortly after.

The gunmen fled, some by car and some on foot, after one of their cars broke down, relatives said.

Police wouldn’t comment on the incident, which is under investigation. Islamic tradition requires immediate burial of the dead, but relatives said they would not bury Hassouna until his killers were caught.

About 1,500 people, including Fatah candidates, activists and party-affiliated gunmen, were milling around his house this morning.


Nice guys, those 'peaceful' Fatah folks.

That the U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization is a bit of a joke. As one of the leading terrorist states in the world, you might think that the U.S. should first try to ween itself from this whole terrorism thing first, before going around and pointing fingers at others.

Lots of good info on U.S. terrorism out there. Maybe start here. Or take a look at this guy's books. Don't worry - there's enough reading on this topic to keep you busy for a few years.

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