given its ideology and goal, part of its strategy includes not recognizing the Israeli state.

Not necessarily, and as a matter of fact, I imagine that not everyone in Hamas will necessarily agree with this assessment.

How can strategy and ideology be separated since one directly influences the other.

They can’t be fully separated and that’s why I said “not as tightly coupled as some would believe”.

Actually, your words: “be it Islamic, secular or any other” exactly illustrate my point, which is that this not an issue on the level of what “ideology” you use, but what “strategy”.

Nas, I don’t know if that explained it, but I think “ideology” and “strategy” are not as tightly coupled as most muslim politicians like to believe and therefore I was just expressing my opinion in that Hamas could very well be doing the same things that a Fatah government would be doing without having to compromise its Islamist political platform or agenda, in the long run.

??

Hamas has an Islamic ideology, and as a result its goal is to create an Islamic Palestinian state, and so given its ideology and goal, part of its strategy includes not recognizing the Israeli state. Fatah has a secularist ideology, and as a result its goal is to create a secularist Palestinian state, and so given its ideology and goal, its willing to recognize the existence of an Israeli state and so, as part of its strategy, is willing to engage in negotiations with an entity it recognizes.

How can strategy and ideology be separated since one directly influences the other?? And how do you “use” an ideology?? People follow ideologies since ideologies are how we view the world and therefore shape what path we “follow”.

The problem with “Muslim politicians” (I’m assuming you mean Arab as opposed to Muslim) is that they generally do not have a long-term strategy because they have no set ideology (unless we consider “how do I secure my grip on power” an ideology), therefore, their policies do not shape circumstances but are instead short-term reactions to immediate circumstances. However, if you mean Muslim politicians, in reference to Hamas, their problem is their ideology, in my opinion.

Strategizing is simply carrying out a long-term action plan to accomplish certain goals, and in politics, these goals are founded on ideologies - be it Islamic, secular or any other… so what you said is, in a way, a contradiction in terms.

Actually, your words: “be it Islamic, secular or any other” exactly illustrate my point, which is that this not an issue on the level of what “ideology” you use, but what “strategy”.

Nas, I don’t know if that explained it, but I think “ideology” and “strategy” are not as tightly coupled as most muslim politicians like to believe and therefore I was just expressing my opinion in that Hamas could very well be doing the same things that a Fatah government would be doing without having to compromise its Islamist political platform or agenda, in the long run.

This is not about Islamism or secularism as much as it is simply about strategizing.

Strategizing is simply carrying out a long-term action plan to accomplish certain goals, and in politics, these goals are founded on ideologies - be it Islamic, secular or any other… so what you said is, in a way, a contradiction in terms.

This is not about Islamism or secularism as much as it is simply about strategizing.

without financial support the hamas government has essentially collapsed. i give it credit though that it didn’t literally sell out its ideology for the sake of getting paid and it’s likely to pay the consequences. but even if it did receive funding i’d bet most of it would be spent on more fire-crackers. ideology is useless without infrastructure.

palestine desperately needs to remain secular for the sake of palestinians. the rise of islamisism in the territories is likely to be the worst thing since…well…israel.

abbas is waiting it out until support returns his way and if things calm down he’ll probably call a referendum. he has to pick his moment wisely though because at this point in time, picking a wrong moment will take him and palestinians to a point of no return and the potential for a civil war will become very real.

i hope that moment comes soon.