Will Hamas Moderate? ; History Leaves Little Room for Optimism

Summary

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Ever since Hamas's victory in Palestinian Authority elections in January, advocates of "engagement" with the terrorist group, which is responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis, have been saying that Hamas will be forced by the realities of governing to moderate its approach to Israel.

Thus far, however, there is no indication that Hamas will do any such thing. For example, following the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv one week ago, which killed 9 people, a Hamas spokesman defended the crime as "a legal and natural reaction to the Israeli crimes" and an example of Palestinians' exercising their right of self-defense. Since Hamas won the Jan. 25 PA elections, its Web sites have called for the nuclear annihilation of Israel and featured children's stories glorifying a young girl's step-by-step planning of a suicide terror attack. If Hamas shows no indication that it will moderate its current behavior, what about the longer-term prognosis? Can a revolutionary terrorist organization like Hamas transform itself into a democratic political entity that respects pluralism and the rule of law?

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Extract

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Will Hamas Moderate? ; History Leaves Little Room for Optimism

There are indeed two prominent cases in the Arab world in which radical Islamists have moderated their behavior as members of the political opposition. But in each case, the Islamists were constrained in their freed...

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