Hamas and PLO at War in Gaza

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 14, 2015
All Rights Reserved.

            Hamas Interior Ministry spokesman Lyad al-Bozum blamed the PLO for the spiraling violence in the Gaza Strip, after both sides face financial hardship unable to pay civil servants in Ramallah and Gaza City.  After spending six weeks last year shooting rockets at Israel destroying much of the Gaza infrastructure and residential property, both Hamas and the Ramallah-based PLO can’t agree on a way forward.  Since joining hands April 23, 2014 in a unity government, the Hamas-PLO combined government opted for war over peace talks, rejecting Secretary of State John Kerry’s one-year peace effort at a two-state solution.  Since Hamas rejects any reconciliation with Israel, 79-year-old PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has few places to turn since Egypt’s Abel Fattah el-Sisi outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorist offshoots like Hamas.  Hamas hoped that when the war with Israel ended, they’d be in a strong political position.

               Losing $3-4 billion in property damage and some 2,200 civilians, Hamas hoped it could recoup its losses at an Oct. 10, 2014 donors’ conference in which more than $5 billion in pledges were promised from Arab capitals to rebuilt Gaza.  When it was time for donors like Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi to pony up, Hamas’s 54-year-old Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh and Abbas received little cash.  Now out of money and unable to pay civil servants, both Hamas and the PLO find themselves attacking each other.  Al-Bozum accused Abbas of “exploiting the difficult conditions, especially since the last war, to spread chaos and confusion with explosions, car bombings and shootings.”  With cash short at hand, both Palestinian factions lashed out, hoping to gain better control over their governments.  Hamas resisted calls from Abbas to show more compromise with Israel, instead opting for war July 8, 2014, wreaking untold havoc on the besieged Gaza Strip.

              Haniyeh, together with Hamas’s government in exile led by Istanbul-based 58-eyar-old Khaled Meshaal, reject any compromises with Israel, prompting donors to get cold feet on ponying up the promised $5 billion.  Donors don’t trust Hamas to do anything but spend donors’ cash on its ongoing battle with Israel.  Al-Bozum blamed Abbas security services as causing chaos in the Gaza Strip.  Investigations showed that that the Gaza chaos were “the result of plans by security chiefs in Ramallah,” showing that the two sides continue to distrust and fight each other.  Meeting in Cairo today with el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Kerry pledged his “commitment” to two-state solution, knowing that the current Hamas government precludes any peace with the Jewish State.   Since April 23, 2014, Abbas abandoned any hope for a two-state solution unless it’s obtained through armed conflict.  Kerry knows Hamas wants no part of any peace process with Israel.

                Meeting in terrorist-infested Sharm el Sheikh, Kerry expressed President Barack Obama’s wish for a two-state solution, knowing that the combined PLO-Hamas government is no longer a peace partner.  White House officials haven’t yet admitted that Hamas doesn’t allow for a negotiated settlement with Israel.  Whether or not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu survives the March 17 parliamentary election, no Israeli leader, including the left-leaning Labor Party’s Yitzak Herzog or Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah Party, are going to forge a deal with Hamas that compromises Israeli national security.  Neither Obama nor Kerry have acknowledge anything about the Feb. 28 Egyptian court that branded Hamas a terrorist group.  While paying lip service to the Arab cause, el-Sisi banned the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas from any political activity in Egypt.  If Abbas wants a two-state solution, he must break off any ties to Hamas.

            Obama and Kerry must face the music that once Hamas joined the PLO last year, they ended their bid for Mideast peacemaking.  Whatever financial problems the PLO or Hamas has in the West Bank and Gaza, they’re not collecting the $5 billion because donors’ fear a repetition of the 2014 Israeli-Gaza War.  Until the international community sees Palestinian leadership capable of making peace, donors won’t pony up, fearing that the cash would go to more rockets and tunnels.  Israel’s upcoming elections are a referendum on the direction Israel wants to go on a two-state solution.  If Herzog and Livi’s liberal coalition prevails, it will be a rejection of the Netanyahu and Foreign Policy Chief Avigdor Lieberman’s conservative policies.  Conservatives on Capitol Hill, led by Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), want no part of any peace deal that compromises Israel’s national security.

About the Author


John M. Curtis neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma


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