BMOC

Student politics here in the US — at least as I recall them — tended to be about relatively trivial things. Maybe a little political activism was involved, but it was more about how to get the college to fund better food at the student union, or how class schedules or alcohol policy were dealt with. Obviously, we didn’t have an really important things to debate.

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) – In a West Bank university election for the student leadership that focused on which party had killed the most Israelis, the violent Hamas swept to victory Wednesday, defeating Yasser Arafat’s Fatah. […]
At a debate, the Hamas candidate asked the Fatah candidate: “Hamas activists in this university killed 135 Zionists. How many did Fatah activists from Bir Zeit kill?”
The Fatah candidate refused to answer, suggesting his rival “look at the paper, go to the archives and see for yourself. Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades have not stopped fighting the occupation.”
Fatah set up models of Jewish settlements and then blew them up with fireworks. The display was meant to emphasize the group’s focus on attacking settlers and their communities – considered by Palestinians to be one of the most provocative elements of Israel’s occupation of territory they claim for a state.
Hamas countered by blowing up models of Israeli buses, a tribute to the dozens of suicide bombings its members have carried out in the past three years, killing hundreds of Israelis. Activists held samples of the group’s homemade Qassam rockets – often fired at Gaza Strip settlements and Israeli towns that border the coastal area.
Student issues were barely touched on because the Palestinians’ main problem is the Israeli occupation, candidates said.

I can’t wait to hear about the voting for King and Queen of the Prom.

(via Daimnation)