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Last week the new Palestinian Minister of Information offered this little bit of political philosophy:

Barghouti, called on Israel to reconsider its stance on the new Palestinian government and argued that a boycott of the government is a boycott of all Palestinians. Barghouti said Israel should attentively read the government’s political platform, which he says emphasizes the right of the Palestinian people to resist Israel’s occupation without targeting civilians. He also stressed that the new government represents 96 percent of all Palestinians and therefore, “whoever boycotts it also boycotts the entire Palestinian people.”

We basically agree: this rejectionist, terrorist government reflects the genuine beliefs and goals of most of the Arabs living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (plus, we love the Orwellian dash of having a Minister of Information dispensing obscurist philosophy). Then there’s the even more elegant Orwellian doublethink of PA terrorist shill Razi Hamad:

Meanwhile Hamas is laboring to persuade the world to lift the economic boycott of the PA. PA cabinet spokesman Razi Hamad said, “the new cabinet would not be Hamas’ but the Palestinian people’s, which means it will also have a new policy.”

There’s actually some interesting philosophical questions underlying this statement. Who gets to speak for “the people”, how are those people positioned in relation to the actually existing ruling party, etc. But we doubt Hamad was actually thinking about any of those things. We get the sense he was more just making the dumbest excuse for terrorism he could imagine, and chuckling while he got away with it.

What kind of “people” are being spoken for by the burgeoning Palestinian Islamist movement? These people:

A note stuck to the door of his tiny music shop warned Mohammed al-Shaer several months ago that selling tapes and CDs of popular Arabic music was haram, or forbidden by Islam. Al-Shaer paid no heed until a bomb went off outside his business this week – apparently the work of what Palestinian security officials now suspect may be a secret vice squad of Muslim militants. In recent months, about three dozen Internet cafes, music shops and even pharmacies have been attacked, with assailants detonating small bombs outside businesses at night, causing damage but no injuries.

A Western-style democratic Palestinian state is just around the corner.

References:
* Mustafa Barghouti: Gov’t boycott is boycott of Palestinian people
* Deal’s future: The devil is in the details [Ha'aretz]
* Suspected vice squad of Muslim militants targeting Gaza Internet cafes, music shops [Ha'aretz]

Previously:
* Palestinian Civil Society Watch – Just Wait Till They Try to Open a DMV!
* Palestinian Civil Society Watch I – Is Attacking You Own Ministers Good or Bad?
* Palestinian Civil Society Watch – Terrorists Very Popular