Author:
Publication: The Jerusalem Post
Date: December 28, 2008
URL: http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/fendel/entry/hamas_s_winning_strategy_posted
The international media coverage of the Arab-Israeli
conflict generally portrays Israel as an aggressive occupier and militant
state.
Not to mention the headlines that appeared
following this week-end's Gaza operation, take a look at some of the headlines
and articles that made the international news scene in the coverage following
the recent Hamas-Israel ceasefire which expired on Dec 19. Yousef Munayyer
writes for the Boston Globe (Dec. 21) that "The lights are out in Gaza
again and few are paying attention. The 1.5 million Palestinians living in
the densely-populated strip are being collectively punished once more, while
Israel attempts to strangle the Hamas government."
Swiss Info, (Dec. 19) a leading news source
from Switzerland, recently interviewed Issam Younis, Director of AL Mezan
Center for Human Rights, where he compares Gaza to a caged cat, in an article
entitled "Concern Mounts over Gaza crisis as Truce Ends."
Aron Heller of Associated Press for Yahoo
News (Dec. 25) writes this past week that the massive barrage of Palestinian
rockets slamming into Israel during Hanukkah, "caused no injuries but
generated widespread panic." The headline for his article--"Israel
warns Hamas will pay heavy price," simply implies that Israel plans to
act because of widespread panic.
Heller makes no mention of the Israeli homes
destroyed by the Palestinian rockets, the 60 plus Israelis who were hospitalized
for shock and trauma, including 12 Ashkelon children, or the thousands of
dollars in damages that the Palestinian rockets caused to Israeli properties
and businesses.
The international media ignores far too often
another critical player in the Arab-Israeli conflict and its role in continuing
the conflict. Hamas, the ruling party who took over Gaza in 2006, is a terrorist
organization that was established in 1988, an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim
Brotherhood.
Hamas has led a brilliant public relations
campaign that has consistently de-legitimized the actions of Israel, as we
find in the media coverage of the conflict, while simultaneously legitimizing
its own regime in Gaza.
What the international media and world community
often fail to see is that Hamas has its own interests in mind - whether it
be the starvation of its people or the launching of rockets at Israeli civilians.
In other words, the critical role that the ruling regime of Gaza, known as
Hamas, has played in contributing to the continuation of the conflict, has
been too often overlooked.
In order to understand the current state of
the Arab-Israeli conflict, one must first understand Hamas. The Hamas charter
of 1988 states that "Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam
eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors." (www.palestinecenter.org)
The epilogue of the Hamas charter reads "Hamas posits Islam as a way
of life, it is its faith and its yardstick for judging."
The charter also offers Hamas's perspective
on the history of Middle East:
Hamas has learned from the current Zionist
invasion which had been preceded by a Crusader invasion from the West; and
another one, the Tatars, from the East. And exactly as the Muslims had faced
those invasions and planned their removal and defeat, they are able to face
the Zionist invasion and defeat it. This will not be difficult for Allah if
our intentions are pure and our determination is sincere; if the Muslims draw
useful lessons from the experiences of the past, and extricate themselves
for the vestiges of the [western] ideological onslaught; and if they follow
the traditions of Islam." (Part V, The Testimony of History)
Much of Hamas's Charter is virulently anti-Semitic
and uses the Protocols of Elders of Zion as a source to back its ideology
and goals.
Indeed, anyone who paints the Arab-Israeli
conflict as one that is exclusively territorial, one that will end when Israel
returns to the 1967 borders, has failed to take into account that the conflict
is a religious one, formulated upon the precepts of Islamic fundamentalism
and a hatered of the Jewish people. As the article in the Hamas Charter states,
"There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives,
proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."
(Article 13: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences).
HAMAS's military wing, Izzedeen Al Qassam
Brigades, recently published an article on their English website describing
the current strategy of Hamas in regard to rocket terror and a possible Israeli
response. The article relates to how an Israeli military defense operation
in Gaza will best serve the interests of Hamas. Such a response, the Izzedeen
article states, will help Hamas gain further support from the Palestinian
people. Hamas has time and time again, construed a scenario which depicts
the Israeli army intending to fight the Palestinian people and not the terrorists
who fire the rockets. And most importantly, the article makes clear that an
Israeli military response will garner Israel further international condemnation,
giving Hamas the legitimacy it needs to make it "an important regional
and international player."
The article also points out that Hamas will
no longer recognizes Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas's presidency when it ends on January
9th.
Hamas has proved time and time again that
it is willing to sacrifice its own people's basic needs to further its political
goals and terrorist agenda.
As the article on Hamas's military wing website
goes to show, Hamas's primary objective in the current escalation of rocket
attacks is to gain international support as Israelis are forced to respond
with either economic or military measures. Of course, one can be critical
of the Israeli government's policies in handling the situation. But the fact
remains, that as long as Palestinian rockets continued to target and terrorize
innocent Israelis, from Sderot to Kiryat Gat, Israel had no choice but to
act. And no matter the actions Israel would have taken, they were already
calculated to serve Hamas's iron grip on Gaza.