PERSON OF THE WEEK - Feb 20-26, 2006

Sorry I'm late on this one, but better late than never. Last week was a difficult choice, because not many people made huge individual contributions. However, one man that stood out was Ismail Haniyeh, the man selected by Hamas to serve as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. He is viewed as a "pragmatist", and a lot of people are hopeful that he will be the one who turns Hamas into a moderate, legitamate political movement. I doubt that. He still has no interest in dealing with the Israelis unless they first allow the return of every Palestinian refuegee who has left Israel since the War of Indepenedence. That is not going to happen, because it would drive thousands of Israelis from their homes and turn Israel into a majority-Arab state. Ismail Haniyeh knows that his demands are not going to be met, now or ever, and any hopes that he will bring peace are misguided. Yes, he may be considered a pragmatist - but that's compared to the rest of Hamas. Compared to the rest of the world, he is quite radical.

Either way, Ismail Haniyeh is bound to make things interesting in the Middle East, and as such has earned the right to be ConservaGlobe's Person of the Week.