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Egypt Brokers Ceasefire Between Israel and Hamas
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
August 4, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Making a ceasefire all the more complicated, Egypt
meets with Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials to lay out demands for Israel. Israeli Prime Minister does not
recognize Palestinian terrorist groups committed in their charters to Israel’s
destruction. White House officials
led by Secretary of State John Kerry have antagonized Tel Aviv, speaking with
Turkey and Qatar to thrash out a deal to end the war in the Gaza Strip that has
killed over 1,800 Palestinian civilians since July 8. Ramallah’s West Bank government led by 79-year-old PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has
deferred all negotiations to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, presenting a dilemma for
U.S. and Israeli officials. Hamas
and Islamic Jihad, both State Department terror groups, demand that Israel end
its seven-year air, naval and land blockade, begun when Hamas seized Gaza by
force June 14, 2007.
If Israel were to cave in to Hamas’s demands, it would reward terrorism,
invite more rocket and suicide attacks and violate its own policy of not
negotiating with terrorists. It
would be the equivalent if the U.S. were forced by some intermediary to
negotiate and make concessions to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terror organization
after Sept. 11. Expecting Israel to
withdraw from Gaza, lift the blockade, release Palestinian prisoners and start
reconstructing Gaza would give Hamas and Islamic Jihad everything demanded. Firing rockets into Israel July 8, Hamas and Islamic Jihad put the densely populated Gaza
Strip into a war zone, exposing civilians to Israel bombing and ground attacks. While playing up civilian casualties
as proof of war atrocities, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have taken no responsibility
for transforming the seaside Mediterranean territory into a battle zone.
Kerry has a tough sell to Netanyahu that he should be making concessions
to State Department-branded terror groups.
Speaking harshly of Israel’s collateral damage, U.S. officials are caught
between a rock-and-a-hard-place asking Israel to make concession to its bitter
enemies. Both Hamas and Islamic
Jihad area committed in their charters to destroying Israel. Whatever civilian casualties are
seen in Gaza, they’d be far worse if either terror group had a way of inflicting
more damage on Israel. “We are now
awaiting the Israeli response,” said an Egyptian source in Cairo, not
recognizing that Israel isn’t inclined to give Hamas or Islamic Jihad any
response. “Should Israel agree to
the 72-hour ceasefire, Egypt would invite Israel to send a delegation to Cairo
to conduct indirect negotiations with the Palestinian delegation over all
issues,” said an unnamed Egyptian source highlighting the problem.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad haven’t made the same demands of Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who has banned the Muslim Brotherhood—Hamas’s
big-brother terror group—from Egypt.
El-Sisi doesn’t trust radical Islam, known if you give them an inch they
take a mile. If Hamas or Islamic Jihad
were to fire rockets into Egypt, there would be no sparing civilian casualties. Closing more tunnels than Israel,
el-Sisi won’t tolerate either radical groups’ shenanigans or, for that matter,
demands. Truth be known, el-Sisi
would like to see Israel finish off both groups that create headaches for Egypt,
especially after el-Sisi had to depose Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi
July 3, 2013. El-Sisi, who was head
of Egypt’s military when Morsi came to power June 30, 2012, acted with popular
support to topple Morsi when he tried to impose fundamentalist Sharia law on
Egypt.
When Morsi first ran for Egyptian president, there were high hopes the
U.S.-educated politician would show more progressive leanings. When he took office, he became an instant puppet of the Muslim Brotherhood, firing
Egypt’s Supreme Court and attempting impose Sharia law. While el-Sisi has been helpful in
brokering a deal, he’s up against some real stubborn, irrational and unrealistic
demands coming from 58-year-old Hamas’s exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, currently
living in Doha, Qatar. He was
evicted from Damascus after hosted graciously by Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad for 14 years until he joined the fight to topple al-Assad El-Sisi and other Arab
heads-of-state know that Hamas or Islamic Jihad wouldn’t think twice about
downing a commercial airliner, considering it their legitimate right of
“resistance.” El-Sisi wouldn’t
tolerate Hamas rocket fire into Egypt for a second.
Meshaal and Gaza’s Hamas chief 52-year-old Ismail Haniyeh seek the
release of 54-year-old Marwan Barghouti out of an Israeli jail. Holding all of Gaza’s 1.8 million
residents hostage, Hamas and Islamic Jihad won’t budge on negotiations until
they spring Barghouti from jail and force Israel and Egypt to end their Gaza
blockade. Instead of the U.N. condemning only Israel, they should put Hamas on notice that they
can’t hold Gaza hostage to their ongoing war with Israel. U.S., U.N. and Egyptian officials
know that PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has fallen off the map. It’s unrealistic for Hamas to expect Israel, or the U.S. for that matter, to negotiate
with a State Department-listed terror group.
Instead of only condemning Israel, the U.N. should condemn Hamas in the
strongest possible terms for starting a war in an impoverished densely populated
area, endangering Gaza’s civilians.
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