la Repubblica: "And This Nightmare Called Hamastan"

La Repubblica is a moderate liberal newspaper in Italy, second in circulation to Corriere della Sera. This past Monday, it published this piece by Fabio Scut, entitled We, the Hamas prisoners without work and power. Uncommon for a liberal paper, this article blasts Hamas--without letting Israel off the hook. The original article is in Italian; the excerpts below are translated via Google and some changes I made to improve readibility:

Five years ago the 'last of the 8 thousand settlers in the Strip, in an atmosphere of collective psychodrama in Israel, left this land. That withdrawal, 'disengagement' in the lexicon adopted by 'then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, had aroused great expectations in the Palestinian people but also many concerns. Those concerns have become facts.

While La Repubblica holds Israel responsible for the results of Operation Cast Lead and blockade, this does not leave Hamas and blameless:

The air and sea blockade by Israel - eased only in recent weeks - and the destruction of the 2006 war, those of 'Operation Lead Zone in December 2008, have affected the structures, a disjointed urban area, destroyed the economy. The inability of Hamas to be part of government then did the rest: the unemployment rate now exceeds 50 percent and then the UN -- a million people depend on international food aid to survive. They have lost their jobs--even those who worked in food trade through smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. Bombed by Israeli planes and blown up by the army of Mubarak, the tunnels have stopped feeding the black market, which - on top of all this - Hamas demanded a tithe.

And the the threat of Hamas to Gaza goes far beyond just mismanagement:

Democracy does not live here, here Hamas  imposes its vision of the world with an iron fist , suppressing all opposition even in the blood, restricting all freedom of expression that is not compliant with the regime. The car is carried by the sea where there is some hotel that has seen better days; later it is the residence of the President 's PNA, Hamas has turned into a prison. The crimes are not uncommon in Gaza but almost always remain unpunished; the cells are filled with men of the Fatah party of President crushed in the Islamist coup of 2007. It is pure hatred that passes between the two major Palestinian parties. The forced Islamization Strip goes on without laws but shots of threats, intimidation, large and small revenge.

Scut concludes:

But even in this sector Hamas launches imaginative projects. 'The last year we planted 150 thousand olive trees and fruit trees," says the Minister of' Agriculture Mohammed al-Agha, "and we hope to achieve an 80 percent of agricultural self-sufficiency over the next five years." Five years of this life are not a future; no hope, are a nightmare. And this nightmare called Hamastan.

Maybe other newspapers--liberal and otherwise--can take a cue from la Repubblica and write about what is going on in Gaza. More are writing about the hotels, restaurants and resorts in Gaza. The next step is to address the mismanagement and the iron fist of Hamas that is driving Gazans toward ruin.

Technorati Tag: Gaza and Hamas.