Posted by David on June 26, 2007, 10:43 am, in reply to "Radicals, Islamists, extremists and moderates" --Previous Message--
194.72.54.34
Dear David,
Thank you for your email. I'll respond more fully when I get back to Dublin but I'm wondering if you are serious in questioning my description of Hamas as a 'radical Islamist' organisation. I lost count of the number of times Hamas officials in Gaza described their party as the true 'radical party' committed to creating a strict 'Islamic state' in Gaza. That, of course, was some of the milder stuff.
Richard
: Richard.Downes@rte.ie
: complaints@rte.ie
:
:
: Dear Richard Downes,
:
: Hope you are well.
:
: I write to ask a few questions of your
: report yesterday from Gaza (RTE 9 News
: 25/06/07). In an interview with Dr. Ahmed
: Yousef, you put to him the worries of the
: International community: "They are
: worried you are an extremist
: organisation." Yet you had already and
: continue to describe Hamas as "the
: radical Islamist party." If you first
: assert that Hamas are 'radical Islamists'
: (another way of saying 'extremists') then
: does that not negate the point of asking Dr.
: Yousef whether they are or not? [1]
:
: Who decides whether Hamas are 'radical
: Islamists/extremists' and Fatah
: 'moderates/mainstream'? By accepting these
: labels are you simply accepting the
: contrived frames set by the 'international
: community'?
:
: You also stated that "since the blood
: shed Arab leaders and the mainstream
: president Mahmoud Abbas have turned against
: Hamas." Is it not the case that Mahmoud
: Abbas had turned against Hamas prior to the
: blood shed?
:
: Reuters reported earlier this month:
: "The U.S. government began to lay the
: ground for President Mahmoud Abbas to
: dismiss the Hamas-led Palestinian government
: at least a year before the Islamist group's
: violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last
: week." [2]
:
: Which is no surprise given that
: "[s]ince the election victory of Hamas
: in January 2006, the United States and
: Israel have worked to isolate and damage
: Hamas and build up Fatah with recognition
: and weaponry." Not to mention the fact
: numerous Hamas officials have been kidnapped
: over the last year. [3]
:
: Yours sincerely,
:
: David Manning
:
: 1. http://www.rte.ie/news/9news/
: 2.
: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L17443574.htm
: 3.
: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/world/middleeast/14mideast.html?partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print
:
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