Hamas election victory for democracy

The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) Thursday praised the conduct of the Palestinian elections and suggested that if it did emerge that Hamas have won as reported, it would be a huge blow to the US and the Zionist regime.

Caabu director Chris Doyle told IRNA that the political lobby group wanted to emphasize the elections were "hugely successful" as a democratic exercise.

"It was a victory for democracy. It was the first time rival parties participated in free and fair elections and showed how Palestinians wanted to run their own affairs," Doyle told IRNA.

"At the same time, it was a savage and blistering indictment of US and Israeli policies for failing to bring a resolution in the occupied territories," he said.

The Caabu director said that on the assumption of the reported historic victory by Hamas, "it showed that the Palestinians were fed up with broken promises."
The campaign group, which is the old and largest organization of its type in Europe, was set up in 1967 to promote "an enlightened and positive approach to Arab-British relations in Government, Parliament, the Media, education and amongst the wider public."
Its all-party executive committee, jointly chaired by three MPs, regularly express sympathy for the aspirations, achievements and rights of the Arab peoples, especially the Palestinians.

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