How Far We've Come

I just can't get over this. Western leaders are falling all over themselves to lend aid to Fatah in the West Bank vs. Hamas in Gaza. Doesn't any one remember this bit of history:

Fatah's first ever guerrilla attack came on January 3, 1965, when they attempted to sabotage the Israeli National Water Carrier, which had recently started operation. The attack was thwarted by the Israeli Security Forces.

Fatah's commanders were expelled to Lebanon from Jordan following violent confrontations with Jordanian forces during the period 1970–1971, beginning with Black September in 1970.

In the 1960s and the 1970s, Fatah provided training to a wide range of European, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African militant and insurgent groups, and carried out numerous attacks against Israeli targets in Western Europe and the Middle East during the 1970s. Some militant groups that affiliated themselves to Fatah, and some of the fedayeen within Fatah itself, carried out civilian plane hijackings and terrorist attacks, attributing them to Black September, Abu Nidal's Fatah-Revolutionary Council, Abu Musa's group, the PFLP, and the PFLP-GC.

Fatah received weapons, explosives and training from the USSR and some Communist regimes of East European states. China also provided some weapons.

When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the faction was dispersed to several Middle Eastern countries with the help of US and other Western governments: Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq and others. In the period 1982-1993, Fatah's leadership resided in Tunisia.

Yasser Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles with Israel in 1993 and exchanged mutual renunciations of terrorism with Israel and a mutual recognition between the PLO and Israel, and was allowed to return to the Palestinian territories from exile in Tunisia. The PNC met in a special session on 26 April 1996 to consider the issue of amending the Charter and assigned its legal committee the task of redrafting the Palestinian National Charter consistent with the Arafat letters in order to present it for approval. [1] A redrafted charter that does not call for the destruction of Israel has yet to be presented or approved and the official PNA website displays the original, unamended text of the PNC Charter. According to the US Department of State, "The Palestinian National Charter... [was] amended by canceling the articles that are contrary to the letters exchanged between the P.L.O. and the Government of Israel 9-10 September 1993."

Isn't this the pattern? From colonial American revolutionaries to Jewish guerillas (who later became Israeli government officials) to now the world's chief terrorists of the 60's, 70's and 80's. The outsiders, the rabble rousers, the radicals, always get mainstreamed into the "establishment" eventually. They fight until they achieve legitimacy at which time they then assimilate.

Which brings me to this. What are the factors that bring that legitimacy and ultimate assimilation into being? What part does the establishment play in delaying, or accelerating the process of mainstreaming those who see themselves as outside with little to lose? And finally, what can we learn about dealing with Hamas, al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea and other outsiders from the history of past rebels? It would seem to me that any role the established powers can play in accelerating the process would be highly beneficial to world peace.