The other night I noted Bush's response to the observation that Hamas was freely elected.
In a democracy, people will not vote for a life of perpetual violence.
Today
Powerline notes
this Reuters piece.
"It's very ironic but I'm relieved the Israelis have started a bombing campaign. The gunmen killing each other on the streets were forced to go into hiding," said Mai, a Gaza housewife,
and
Jum'a said ordinary Palestinians were so fed up with the armed groups "they now wish the Israeli occupation would take over in Gaza or hope for the return of Jordanian rule in the West Bank" to get rid of them.
And (emphasis mine):
In one recent incident in the West Bank city of Nablus, gunmen told shopkeepers to close their businesses as a sign of solidarity with a Fatah leader arrested the day before in an Israeli raid.
The gunmen shot in the air, stole a bulldozer from the Nablus municipality and closed the main road with mounds of sand, dividing the city in the same way Israeli forces had during their operation.
For the first time in the city, a bastion for militants, most of the shop owners refused to close down.
"These people have caused us a lot of suffering and are not involved in national resistance," said Najah al-Jabaji, who works in an advertising agency in Nablus.
