Hamas to Save Settlements

"Obama called Israel's settlements in the...West Bank illegitimate and said they must stop......he also said that Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements and recognize Israel's right to exist."
Reports of President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo, June 4, 2009

If Obama could get his way, Israeli soldiers would be dragging thousands of Jews out of their homes in the West Bank before long. But thanks to the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), that will not happen, nor will there be a State of Palestine.

Like a visiting imam (Muslim preacher), the President quoted selected verses from the Quran that bolster his contention that Islam is a religion of peace, a view previously expressed by then President George W Bush. However, the leaders of Hamas, who not only quote the Quran but actually live it, apparently hear a different imam. In their understanding of Islam, the presence of a Jewish state of any size whatsoever on consecrated Muslim land (the Arabian Penninsula, at the very least) is an intolerable affront to Islam, and it is the duty of all Muslims to eliminate it.

Obama may consider men like Netanyahu and Lieberman to be intransigent, but next to Hamasniks they are pussycats! Despite the President's oratorical skills and popularity in the Muslim world, Hamas is not likely to change its raison d'etre any time soon.

Hamas does not want a peace deal with Israel, and I doubt that Palestinian President Abbas has the moxie to make one without their consent. Even if the Obama Administration prods Israel into making an offer as sweet from the Arab perspective as that presented by Ehud Barak in 2000, Abbas will reject it. The result: more years of settlements, occupation, check-points and conflict.

Meanwhile, Obama is pressuring Israel into halting expansion of existing settlements. But how much of his considerable political capital will the President expend on this? Even though many Israelis agree with Obama on this point, the kind of coercive measures that would be required to make Israel comply would trigger a backlash in Congress. I do not believe that Obama wants another AWACS-type of fight (1) over such a minor issue. More likely, there will be a face-saving compromise along these lines: adding rooms to existing buildings will be OK, but not building new ones. Does peace in the Middle East really turn on such piddling points? Maybe!

Hamas rules over about 1.4 million people in a land about the size of Milwaukee County, a mere one percent of British Palestine (2). Although Hamas has plenty of rockets, it is an insignificant military force, even by Middle East standards. (3) Yet, this fanatic group has an effective veto over the efforts of the world's only remaining superpower to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict. So, every night the settlers should thank God and thank Hamas that they can stay where they are.
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(1) President Ronald Reagan barely won a battle in the Senate to sell advanced surveillance aircraft known as AWACS to Saudi Arabia in 1983.

(2) Based on 1922-1948 borders.

(3) In a month of fighting in Gaza (Dec. 2008-Jan. 2009) Hamas killed a handful of Israeli soldiers, while losing nearly a thousand of their own troops.

Gaza Postwar

"...There is nothing 'right' about punishing a million and a half already-suffering Gazans for the actions of the extremists among them."
J Street Statement

"A majority of Gaza residents believe in the (Hamas) path."
Tom Segev, Ha'aretz , Jan. 5, 2009

If Mr Segev is right, and the results of the 2005 Palestinian election support his contention, the Hamas movement is the true voice of the people of Gaza. Therefore those who are shooting rockets into Israel at the behest of Hamas are not extremists among Palestinians, but in fact are implementing the will of the people. I wish that Segev could take a walk down J Street and point this out to his fellow Jews.

No one doubts that Israel will prevail over Hamas in the battle for Gaza, probably within the next two weeks. What is not clear is what Israeli forces will leave behind after the battle.

President George W Bush, an acolyte of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson, has successfully advocated self-determination and democracy for the Arabs, both Iraqi and Palestinian. The trouble is that in 2005 the vast majority of Gazans (plus substantial numbers in the West Bank) freely chose the party, Hamas, that openly demands war with Israel. Given another chance to vote, I am confident that the Gazans would pick Hamas again. On this, I accept Tom Segev's view over that of J Street.

I suspect that many Israeli leaders are hoping to re-establish Fatah control over Gaza after this war, and that key PA leaders are also seeking the same outcome. The trouble is that Fatah can no more control Gaza in 2009 than in could in 2007, especially if it took an Israeli invasion (abetted by massive bombing) to bring Fatah back to power there.

What is left is a painful choice between endless military occupation (and endless intifada violence against Israeli soldiers) and a resumption of Hamas rule accompanied by rocket-fire against all of southern Israel. Even the imposition of European, Arab or other foreign forces in Gaza is not a viable alternative, since Hamas will fight them too, and will probably wear down the patience of any country that might send them. Since Hamas is a danger only to Israel, only Israel will have the persistence to stay.

Israel will be under enormous pressure from the UN and major world powers to withdraw from Gaza, but I hope that the Jewish state can withstand this pressure. Hamas must not only be disarmed now, but must stay disarmed if Israel is to live in peace.

If any readers have a better alternative than indefinite occupation, please present it as a note to this posting.
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An Open Letter to Jimmy Carter

Dear Mr (Former) President:

As this is written, you are en route to visit Khaled Mashaal, leader of Hamas, in Damascus. The United States and the European Union have refused to deal with Hamas until the group accepts the existence of Israel and renounces terrorism, but you are not letting these minor problems obstruct your relationship with Mr Mashaal.

Your confidence in the goodwill of Islamic fanatics is legendary. When you were President, mobs marched through the streets of Tehran chanting "Margh bar Carter!" (Death to Carter). Despite the obvious threats to your embassy there (1), you kept the diplomatic staff at their posts until they were taken hostage by Iranian terrorists. The Iran Hostage Crisis was a major factor in your loss of the presidency the next year .

History will consider your brokerage of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in 1979 the high point of your presidency. For that, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt lost his life in 1981; even so, his successor has kept the peace for over 25 years.

Making peace between Israel and Hamas will be much more difficult, however, since the Islamic Resistance group does not want peace. Not only do they call for the destruction of Israel in words, but they launch rockets at Sderot and other locations near Gaza every day.

I earnestly hope that you are able to persuade Mr Mashaal to change the attitude of his organization. But if your kind words are not effective, there is a step you can take that will reduce violence in the Middle East at once: Move to Sderot!

There is plenty of vacant housing in Sderot, as thousands of residents have left in the past year. You could move from house to house on a random basis, so that the rocket launchers would not dare to fire at the city for fear of hitting you! For all you have done for the Palestinian cause, the least Hamas could do for you is to desist from putting you in harm's way. There would then be no need for Israeli military operations in Gaza, so Palestinian lives will also be saved. Perhaps a long-term truce could lead to peace!

I am sure that Israeli President Shimon Peres, who shares your confidence in the Arab yearning for peace, could arrange office space for the Carter Center in Sderot, equipped with state-of-the-art telecommunications, so you could continue your worldwide activities from there. Just think of the dusty town as "Plains, Israel."

But what if the rockets keep coming anyway, and one (G-d forbid) "takes you out"? You weren't going to live forever anyway, and this way you will have given your life for the cause of peace in the Middle East. What a legacy!

Sincerely yours.
/s/
Gerald S Glazer

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(1) Israel closed and evacuated its embassy in Tehran when the Shah abdicated in early 1979. Both the American and British embassies were raided by mobs months before the takeover of the US Embassy in November.

Arafat's Heirs

Hamas gunmen in Gaza marked Yasser Arafat's Nov. 11 "yahrtzeit" by shooting over 90 members of the Fatah movement, killing at least 7. Fatah-backers had rallied in Gaza City flaunting mounted portraits of the late Palestine Authority Chairman as if to say
" We are Arafat's true heirs."
Hamas shot them as if to say "We are in power here now."

Often the death of a charismatic and unifying leader is followed by a power-struggle between two of his disciples.(1) But which of these two Palestinian groups is more fit to carry Arafat's mantle?

Arafat's Legacy

The United Nations proposed creation of a Palestinian state in 1947, but the land assigned to it was gobbled-up by Jordan (2) and Egypt. In 1959 Yasser Arafat and a few friends founded Fatah, dedicated to establishing such a state in the entire Palestine Mandate territory. Five years later, Arafat formed and led an "umbrella organization" composed of all Palestinian groups entitled the "Palestine Liberation Organization" or PLO. Since Israel had no "occupied territories" at that time, the land to be "liberated" was Israel itself.
At first the program of PLO was supported only by the Arab League, but after Israel took Gaza and the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War, the concept of a Palestinian state gained increasing support throughout the world. It was the work of PLO, which included bombings and plane hi-jackings, that made the Palestinians major players in the Middle-East conflict in the eyes of the world.
After Hamas (a subsidiary of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood) ignited an uprising in Gaza and the West Bank, Arafat and PLO ostensibly made peace with Israel in 1993. In exchange, PLO was granted limited authority to govern the two Palestinian areas. Today the concept of a sovereign Palestinian state is accepted by the whole world, including the Government of Israel.
Yasser Arafat never groomed a successor. When pressured by the United States to appoint a prime minister, he choose Mahmoud Abbas, an academic with no charisma or following. After Arafat died on Nov. 11, 2004, Abbas (aka "Abu Mazen") became President of the Palestine Authority (PA).

Hamas = Fatah ?

No, for two reasons:

Islam: Arafat considered Christian Arabs (about 10% of the West Bank) an important part of PLO. Although a devout Muslim, Arafat attended church services at Christmas in Bethlehem as a sign of solidarity with the Christian population. Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, has no use for Christians or other infidels. If Hamas ever takes full power in the West Bank, Muslim law (Sharia) will be imposed, and Christians will be reduced to the status of "dhimmi", powerless residents.

The Peacemeal Process: By appearing to accept the existence of Israel, Arafat won control of most of the Palestinian population. In 2000 he was offered a State of Palestine on nearly all the land Israel seized in 1967, but refused the deal.
President Bush has arranged a Peace Conference in Annapolis, Maryland, for later this month to create a Palestinian state. Hamas will not be attending this conference, as the movement steadfastly refuses to accept Jewish sovereignty in any part of "Palestine". The continuous rocket-fire from Gaza is evidence that Hamas still wants to liberate all of Palestine by armed struggle.

West Bank: The Next Gaza?

The leaders of Hamas took control of Gaza from Fatah in June, 2007, by force . They could not have seized this power while Israel still held the territory, but took over easily after it was quit-claimed to the Palestine Authority. Had Hamas controlled the PA in 2005, Israel would not have withdrawn. Thus, Fatah-rule was an unavoidable transition phase between Israeli occupation and Hamas rule.

Perhaps Hamas sees the same opportunity presenting itself in the West Bank, following the same scenario. First, Hamas maintains its ideological purity by refusing to negotiate with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel cedes territory to the "moderate" Fatah government of the PA in the face of heavy US arm-twisting. Then, with the Israelis safely out of the way, Hamas could use its considerable political and military power to seize the West Bank.

But would Yasser Arafat approve such a coup?

I think he would love it!

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(1) Examples:
A. Russia, where Stalin and Trotsky claimed the mantle of Lenin.
B. China, where Mao ZeDong and Chiang Kai-Shek were both followers of President Sun Yat- Sen.
C. US, where two of Franklin Roosevelt's Vice Presidents (Henry Wallace and Harry Truman) ran against each other and others in 1948.

(2) Created by the British in 1922 as Transjordan, the name was changed to Jordan after the West Bank take-over. The name has stuck, even though the present boundaries are the same as they were before 1948.

Is Peace At Hand?

"(President George W) Bush called Monday (July 16) for an international conference in the Fall aimed at restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians............
( President Beshir) Assad said Syria was ready for peace talks with Israel, but only in the presence of.....an honest broker." (1)

The only thing more dangerous than Syrians talking war is Syrians talking peace. But is Bush right in believing that times are propitious for a peace settlement in the Middle East, and is Syria really ready to play a constructive role in achieving it?

Here are some of the key players in the drama:

Hezbollah. Nearly a year has passed since the Shiiite militia killed and captured Israeli soldiers near the Lebanese border, and responded to the Israeli invasion that followed by lobbing rockets into Israeli cities. Although Hezbollah achieved a propaganda victory by avoiding total defeat in over a month of fighting with Israel, the militia is now sharing southern Lebanon with UN and Lebanese government forces. Syria has acted as a conduit for money and weapons between Iran and Hezbollah for years, and the "Party of Allah" is Syria's "cat's paw" in Beirut politics.
If Israel withdraws from the Golan Heights without foreign peacekeeping troops replacing the Israelis, what is to stop Hezbollah from moving rockets into Golan and firing them into Israel?
Given Syria's alliance with Iran, which supports Hezbollah's jihad against Israel, can Syria be trusted to safeguard this frontier?

Hamas: Syria permits Hamas leader Khaled Meshal to speak from Damascus. Although Hamas has denounced the very idea of peace talks with Israel, it is likely that Syria will run interference for the Islamic movement at the conference.
Thanks to the efforts of President Bush, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has an elective government, but that did not stop Hamas from seizing control of Gaza by brute force anyway. It is possible that before too long, Hamas might win control of the West Bank as well, either by the ballot or the bullet.

Fatah: When Fatah is described as "corrupt", one might think that its cops are fixing speeding tickets or its building inspectors are taking bribes from slum landlords to ignore code violations. What is meant by Fatah corruption is theft of hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of dollars meant for the Palestinian people by a few insiders. For example, Yassir Arafat, a man from modest circumstances who worked full-time for Fatah, PLO and the PA nearly all his adult life, left an estate of several billion dollars. Interior Minister Dahlan is suspected of embezzling over $100 million. The mass misery in the PA is largely due to this thievery, which has been a major factor in the rise of Hamas.
If you were a Palestinian Muslim, who would you like better?

Israel: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, like a drunken gambler, has bet all his chips, his house, his garage, and his sukah on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah. Not only has he agreed to release 250 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, he dropped charges against another 178 wanted terrorists based only on their promise to abandon terrorism and join Fatah.
Now, that's amnesty!
President Bush is probably unhappy with his 29% approval rating in recent polls, but Olmert would be ecstatic with anywhere near 29% support from Israelis. I think his approval rating is higher in Ramallah than in Tel Aviv right now.Olmert remains in office only because most members of Knesset are too chicken to face parliamentary elections before they have to.
The trouble with the Olmert strategy in backing Fatah is that the more Abbas is seen as a tool of Israel, the less credibility he has with his own people, and the more chance Hamas has to replace him.

United States: The US is so desperate for help in stabilizing Iraq that we are now making diplomatic overtures to Iran and Syria. The Syrians may have concluded that the US is willing to lean hard on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights if Syria will co-operate on Iraq. This might explain Syria's interest in seeking a settlement with Israel now, while American troops are still in Iraq. The Syrians, along with everyone else, know that the US presence in Iraq will be over within about the next two years, so the leverage Damascus has with Washington now will not last long.
Now in his last 18 months as President, George W Bush would like to solve the Middle East conflict before leaving office. To do so would enhance his legacy, so deeply marred by the mess in nearby Iraq. The trouble is that his clout with Israel (bolstered by nearly $2 billion of aid per year) is not matched by any sort of influence with the parties that oppose peace: Hamas, Hezbolah, or Iran. Even those who may make a peace settlement, namely Syria and Fatah, may be unable or unwilling to impose peace upon the jihadists in their midst.

The worst-case scenario is that a peace settlement results in Hezbollah on the Golan and Hamas (or Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade) in power on the West Bank. I yearn for a negotiated settlement, but unlike Mr Bush, I am not so confident that peace is at hand.
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(1) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 18, page 12A.

Hamas: Zeal for Death

By time you read this, Hamas will have seized power in Gaza. The collapse of the Palestinian Authority (PA) predicted in the Feb. 4, 2007, Glazerbeam ("State of Chaos") is happening right now. It is possible that Hamas will sever Gaza from the West Bank, where Fatah and President Mahmoud Abbas still hold sway. Entities that are not geographically contiguous often split in this way. (1)

Hamas, which means "zeal" in Arabic, is the Arabic acronym of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Over the past 20 years the group has become well known for its tactic of suicide bombings, designed to maximize civilian casualties among Israelis. In January, 2006, Hamas won control of the Palestinian parliament, and subsequently formed a coalition government with President Abbas. The coalition fractured over control of the numerous security forces of the PA, and it now appears that Hamas militias are winning in Gaza.

But how did Hamas become so enamoured of martyrdom and killing? The story begins in Egypt back in 1928 when the Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Cairo by teacher Hassan al-Banna. (2) At that time Egypt was ruled officially by King Ahmed Fuad, but in reality the country was occupied and dominated by Great Britain. Al-Banna sought to fuse Islam with Arab nationalism in a movement that would eliminate foreign influence l and establish a true Arab Muslim nation. The Brotherhood, certain of the righteousness of its cause, engaged in assassination as well as political agitation to attain its goal. The Muslim Brotherhood established militant Islam as a serious political force In Egypt; from there the ideology spread to the Palestine Mandate as well as to Syria, Iran and India (which then included what is now Pakistan).

Al-Banna stressed the importance of death as a goal of jihad (holy war). He said, "The Quran has commanded people to love death more than life...Victory can only come with the mastery of the art of death (fann al-mawt)." (3)

The government of King Farouk (who succeeded his father King Fuad in 1936) tried to suppress the Brotherhood; in 1949 Hassan Al-Banna was murdered by the King's agents.

The suppression was not successful, and shortly after the death of Al-Banna a Muslim poet and intellectual named Sayyid Qutb joined the revolutionary movement. Qutb was influenced by Western Romantic poetry, which also glorified death. (Many 19th Century American Romantic poets, such as Edgar Allan Poe, were also obsessed with death, tombs, and the like.) Qutb soon became the ideological guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and his writings inspired Arabs and other Muslims to be willing to die as well as kill for the victory of Islam in this world.

In 1952 the Egyptian Free Officers Movement, led by Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew the Farouk monarchy. Although Nasser was a militant Arab nationalist himself, he regarded the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to his regime and also attempted to suppress the movement. Leaders of the Brotherhood, including Sayyid Qutb, were thrown into prison and charged with plotting revolution. In 1966 Qutb attained martyrdom at the end of a rope in a Cairo prison.

Meanwhile the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood was establishing a network of mosques, schools, and social service agencies. The group was particularly active in Gaza, which was under Egyptian administration from 1948 until the Israeli conquest in June, 1967. While Yasser Arafat was busy hijacking planes and plotting the destruction of Israel from Jordan, Lebanon and Tunis, the Gaza affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, now known as Hamas, was winning over the allegiance of the Palestinian population, first in Gaza, then also in the West Bank. Unlike Arafat, who adopted a facade of benevolence before Western leaders, Hamas did not court them. While Arafat welcomed Christian Arabs into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hamas stood for nothing but Islam. While Arafat partied at the White House, Hamas recruited bombers.

While Arafat lived, Hamas accepted him as the iconic Palestinian leader. But after his death in 2004, the group challenged his successor Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen), who had never been a terrorist himself. Hamas won with ballots in 2006, and now it looks like the group may also win with bullets.

On one hand, a Hamas take-over of the PA may mean that Israel will face continuous rocket attacks and terrorism for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, US (and other) international pressure for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and make other concessions as part of a "peace process" will probably fade away in the face of Hamas' intractable hostility.Do not look for any Hamas leaders shaking hands with Ehud Olmert on the White House lawn any time soon.
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(1) For example, East Pakistan rebelled in 1971 and became Bangla Desh. Efforts to merge Egypt and Syria into a United Arab Republic also failed because Israel was between them.

(2)"Who's Afraid of Tariq Ramadan?" by Paul Berman in the June 4, 2007, New Republic.

(3"The Society of the Muslim Brotherhood" by Richard P Mitchell. The quotation is a paraphrase of several statements by Al-Banna.