Taking a page out of a master’s PR strategy book, a Hamas senior political adviser to the Hamas/Gaza Palestinian’s prime minister was able to publish two Op/Ed pieces on the same day in two major newspapers–the New York Times and the Washington Post. I won’t link to the Op/Ed pieces here because, well, because I don’t feel like it. I don’t want to give Ahmed Yousef any credence or to further publicize his work. I know that my stand here is pointless because of the wide distribution of the papers and stories about the publication, but it is my small part. Mr. Yousef predictably tries to put all of the blame on America and Israel. He complains that we didn’t recognize the legitimate democratically-elected government of the Palestinians, led by Hamas. He forgets that we didn’t give aid to Fatwah either until they acknowledged Israel’s right to exist. Hamas still supports and encourages the idea of genocide–let’s face it, that is what they means when they say that Israel shouldn’t exist and that all Jews must be killed. Call me a Zionist if you want, but I’m happy to have Israel where it is and their friendship. Mr. Yousef also maintains that America and Israel armed Fatwah so that they would attack Hamas. While it is entirely possible that the US gave them some arms, I seriously doubt that Israel was arming any Palestinian. Mr. Yousef also maintains that the problem was caused by Fatwah not relinquishing control of the government to Hamas. I can partly see this too, except that Abbas is the president and that there was supposed to be a power-sharing government. It seems that power-sharing wasn’t on Hamas’s agenda, so they would take it. I call it like I see it. Hamas attempted a coup. They partly succeeded. They have Gaza now and they can exercise their policies there to their heart’s content. I hope that they hold elections soon and get themselves voted out once the residents of Gaza see the West Bank Palestinians living a much better life. What should the next steps be? I think this is a great time to do some serious negotiating with President Abbas and Fatwah. They have already recognized Israel’s right to exist. They should pledge whatever they need to and get the West Bank recognized as the Palestinian state. If Abbas and the Palestinian state continue to play nice, then they get all sorts of benefits–trade, recognition, better health care, foreign investment, etc. Right now these are barely pipe dreams, but they could be realized if Abbas plays his cards right. Here’s to you President Abbas. This is your time to shine! This is the time for the Palestinians to change course for good. Acknowledge the holocaust, apologize for past actions, teach the children not to hate but to tolerate. With just a little bit of good behavior, the rest of the world will list you to the heights and you will leave a tremendous legacy.