How Hamas won
Sir: John R. Bradley writes, in support of his argument that free elections in Arab countries are likely to bring Islamists to power (‘Arabian nightmare’, 26 February): ‘Democracy came to Gaza and the Islamist group Hamas took power.’ He fails to consider the background to Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian general election of 2006 and subsequent takeover of Gaza.
In 1996, the Palestinians’ first general election was won overwhelmingly by Fatah. It is true that Hamas refused to participate, but the high turnout and vote for Fatah indicate that Hamas would have done poorly, at a time when Palestinians believed they were going to gain their own state. Ten years later, when hope for that state had been eroded, the Palestinian vote for Hamas was the result of despair and defiance — against Fatah for its corruption and the failure of its negotiating strategy, against the US for being a dishonest broker, against the EU for being craven, and most of all against Israel for being unwilling to lift the yoke of occupation and settlement.
Hamas subsequently took power — in so far as being under siege and occupation constitutes power — in Gaza after a civil war, in order to pre-empt an undemocratic coup that was about to be mounted by Fatah, backed by the United States.
Deborah Maccoby
Executive, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, London E5
Leading question
Sir: Why is the western world continually amazed when African leaders fail to step down in the face of mounting international criticism? As an Englishman who has lived for the last 30 years in Africa, I can tell you that African countries in the main are not ready for democracy, this idea being forced on them by western trading nations. When they do go to the polls, Africans vote tribally, even if the incumbent President has brought his country to the brink of disaster.
Voting in African countries is almost always accompanied by vote-rigging and intimidation of the public — so why the surprise when rulers refuse to step down?
Edward Mitchell
Durban, South Africa
Letters to our boys
Sir: Anyone intrigued by Paul Johnson’s picture of A.S.F. Gow (‘Dirty Rotten Scholars’, 26 February) and wanting to learn more should read Gow’s Letters From Cambridge 1939–1944. Published towards the end of 1945, this was a collection of the monthly letters which he took it upon himself to send out to ex-pupils serving in the Forces throughout all but the last months of the war, telling them in general how life in Cambridge went on, and in particular what he got up to: tutoring, teaching classics, running Trinity’s fire-fighting team, sitting on endless College, University and hostilities-only committees. Each letter went to about 100 recipients and, as long as they sent him a letter back, they went on receiving them. After reading them, one comes away fully agreeing with his reply to the bellicose woman: ‘Madam, I am that civilisation.’
Roger Hudson
London W8
Sunni side
Sir: Although I am usually a big fan of Hugo Rifkind’s writing (26 February), I have to take exception to his likening of the Crown Prince of Bahrain to ‘crazy’ Colonel Gaddafi and his sons. The Crown Prince, as has been widely reported, personally intervened to withdraw the security forces whose reprehensible actions were at the behest of the Prime Minister whom the protestors want removed. The silver lining in the cloud hanging over the kingdom is that the reformist agenda under the Crown Prince will be strengthened and a more democratic Bahrain will emerge modelled on the British system.
Michael Moszynski
CEO London Advertising
(Former founding partner of M&C Saatchi Bahrain)
London NW1
Hotel hell
Sir: St Paul says in his letters to the Corinthians that it’s far better to stay single than to get married. He also tells them not to have sex. However, he does say that if they can’t help themselves, then they should get married so that it isn’t a sin. He says all this because he believed that we should not be bringing more children into a doomed world, but put all our efforts into securing a place in heaven. This, I believe, explains the terms and conditions imposed by Mr and Mrs Bull at the Chymorvah Hotel as reported by Rory Sutherland (26 February). Married couples only and a surcharge on children as a disincentive to further foolish acts of procreation. I find all this most acceptable. There’s nothing worse than staying in a hotel on a business trip with squawking kids on one side and a couple going at it hammer and tongs on the other. An undisturbed night’s sleep after a hard day’s work, as I’m sure St Paul would have agreed, is nothing short of heaven.
Tom Roberts
Derby
The voting racket
Sir: Imagine Wimbledon with AV. Congratulations to Andy Murray on beating Roger Federer 6-1,4-6, 6-2, 3-6,4-6. He may have won more games (23-21) but he lost the match. Are we that desperate for a British champion? In politics as in sport, stick to first past the post.
Patrick Shervington
North Wraxall, Wiltshire
Board games
Sir: I am sure Martin Vander Weyer is right when he writes that Baroness Warnock or the Dowager Countess of Downton would have stopped Fred Goodwin when he tried to buy ABN. However, I am also sure that (say) Lord Sugar would have been as effective. The problem was that the board was full of non-execs afraid to gainsay him, not that those non-execs were male.
John Duffield
Loughton, Essex
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