Gaza Under Hamas

It is inevitable that attempts to establish democracy in the Muslim world will be judged according to Western standards. That this is also applied to the democratically-elected government of Hamas in the Gaza Strip is regrettable, given that it has had to operate, or try to operate, not only under a brutal military occupation but also an international blockade almost since inception. It is hard to grasp this simple fact from the book under review, at least until page 117, because that is when the author mentions the O-word for the first time. Indeed, aside from a mention in the Foreword by Magnus Ranstorp, ‘Israeli occupation’ only makes an appearance half-way through the book. This is an odd state of affairs. It is almost as if Björn Brenner is afraid of mentioning the unmentionable; that the conditions in which Hamas has been expected to govern have been imposed by the occupying power, Israel, and it must be said (and this does get a mention), the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority, which has collaborated with the occupation authorities to make the Gaza Strip ungovernable.