To assume that without the existence of Hamas the Israeli Government would have sought a peaceful resolution to the problem is not only naïve but a perversion of reality. Hamas came into power 2 years ago and Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish fundamentalist only 2 years after the signing the Declaration of principals. Israel has all the levers of controls for this conflict. It is extremely simple they can just break the truce when things do not go their way in the negotiation table, like they did the 4th November 2008 and set a stringent crossing blockade, like they did for few years. The balance of power is so tilted in favour of Israel that whatever Palestinian authority in place that does not make drastic concessions and totally forget the borders set by the Green Line will be made to suffer the consequences of their decision. To compound the problem even more, the deafening silence of the UNSC and in particular the failure of its veto-wielding permanent members to compel Israel to stop its acts of aggression and policies of collective punishment against the civilian population of Gaza. I am not saying that the choice the Palestinian made by electing Hamas was a good one, or the existence of Hamas as a political movement will serve the best interest of the Palestinian people , in fact the opposite is true. However, the question that needs to be evoked, is peace feasible in an ethnocratic with universal suffrage and a dollop of theocracy regime? The Israeli political arena is heavily theocratic. Nearly the quarter of its elected members in the Knesset are from extreme religious parties that will not accept under any circumstance a Palestinian entity. Will any kind of coalition with Ultra-Orthodox parties hold? Would the Israelis vote for a two state solution if a referendum takes place (As promised by the Likud party)? Would the Orthodox Jewish religious fanatics leave the land they occupied illegally?
These are genuine questions that need to be debated if we are serious about a peaceful solution to the conflict. The rest is just political posturing and the rhetoric of war.

I have revisted the topic of my research–my focus is now human rights (freedom of speech) and Moroccan culture. The new survey is available at the following link: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/91515/blogoma-research.

It should not take you more than 15 minutes. I apologize that the formatting is sometimes bad. I will end the survey on February 16.

Thank you,
Reb

@Jillian & Ibn Kafka,
I feel a need to inject a comment after my blunder above if I may. As an American follower of Moroccan blogorama, the Gaza’s events have certainly galvanized the french speaking blogs visitors and the unusual contributors. I agree that the title of this blog is a bit unrepresentative of the general Moroccan public opinion about the uneven war in Gaza. It is amply recognized that the vast majority of Moroccan fully support the Palestinians in Gaza and have and will show the most outrage against the bombardments and killing of Gaza population as well as the destruction of the infrastructure of Gaza.

However, one have to ask as to why there is a overwhelming outrage of the war and NO criticism of Hamas policies that have led partially to this situation. I think the question is legitimate. Of course many Moroccans would not think of the question as unfair or would brush it aside as irrelevant to the carnage. They would rather concentrate their discourse and debates on an unrelenting condemnation of the aggressor which sometimes (I believe) goes over board to areas of slanderous religious opinion of Jews and European anti-semitic propaganda of world domination and control and so on.

I believe that the Moroccan overwhelming support of the Palestinians and Hamas is more emotional that objective. It is a visceral support. A support that is so organic that it would be unfair to label it as non-rational and consequential. Arab-Muslim unity shows its greatest power at the visceral level, however when it comes to analyse what could be learned from this and what to do about it tangebly, everything falls apart. This was amply supported by the inability for Arab heads of states to meet and discuss or show unity. This is the biggest and the strangest dilemma one that needs to be revolved before we can make sense about the Moroccan overwheming support for Gaza. And this applies to all Arab Muslim countries.

Thank you for your understanding.

Jillian: yes, no problem about not citing the post, it’s simply that the reason why, as you write, I “state that “any comment is superfluous,” going on to say very little else” is indicated at the end of my post – i.e. the legal prohibition against criticism of the king.

You’re right, the title is misleading. I did not intend to say that Moroccans are divided between Israel and Hamas – I’m clear on where Moroccans stand there. I would, however, make the case that they are divided in the best way for the Arab world to handle it (as much of my article reflects); I would also say that the government and public opinion are not in sync.

I can see now how the title is misleading to an uninformed audience, however.

I read your post in its entirety; I chose not to include the entire piece as it was the comment someone left on your post that interested me in this case.

Best,
Jillian

Ibn-Kafka, please accept my sincere apologies.

I have mistaken Ibn-Kafka for another person by the name of “Sneaker”.

I am very sorry.

But as for his comments other FRench moroccan blogs, the street thug talk, slander and widespread use of outright vulgar language to anyone who does not agree is a common currency of his speudo-elevated half-baked political analysis. If this is political analysis, I would rather listen to Hamas TV. They at least do not try to hide the elevated hatred and sense of arrogance.

Two remarks:
1 -I don’t think for one second that Morocco is divided in any substantial sense over Gaza. If the Hezbollah was the most popular party in Morocco in 2006, Hamas certainly is in January 2009 – not on account of its policies, but as a symbol of steadfast resistance to Israel. That Morocco’s rulers are of another mind on this comes as no surprise.

What is however correct is the observation that some members or readers of the French-speaking blogoma are closer in their opinions and reactions to the average French than to their compatriots. I therefore think that the title of this post is deeply misleading – it is not as though Morocco was cut in half over its sympathies with the Palestinians or the Israelis. I even doubt that you could reasonably argue that the French-speaking blogoma, as deeply unrepresentative as it is of Moroccan public opinion, is particularly divided over Gaza – make a quantitative study over the posts the last three weeks on maroc-blogs.com, and you’ll find a crushing majority expressing violent outrage at Israel’s war on Gaza.

Secondly: you missed the conclusion of my post – I referred very pointedly to articles 38 and 41 of the Moroccan Press Code, which prohibit criticism of the King. The rest of my post has to be read against that legal backdrop.

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