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Hamas and Israel Grope for a Ceasefire Deal
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
August 11, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Hitting Hamas with everything but the kitchen sink
since June 8, Israeli and Palestinian militants begin to see the go-nowhere
futility of continuing the senseless rocket fire and counter-strikes designed
mostly for face-saving. While
Hamas’s Al Aqsa TV & Radio tell Gaza’s beaten down residents that they’re
winning the war against the Zionist state, Hamas knows differently. Neither Hamas nor any other sovereign Arab state nor any terrorist group can take down
the mighty Jewish State that’s uniquely evolved to battle adversaries. Now Hamas, the elected custodians to
the Gaza Strip, finds itself bankrupt, isolated, unable to blackmail their way
into unrealistic demands. Gaza’s leader-in-exile 58-year-old Khaled Meshaal wants the seven-year-old blockade to
end, opening up border crossing in Israel and Egypt, as well as opening a
seaport and international airport.
However unpopular Israel’s current battle against Hamas’s rocket fire
into Israel with U.N.-member states, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton set the record straight blaming Hamas for causing the latest war. President Barack Obama and Secretary
of State John Kerry are in the pleasing, make-nice diplomacy business, walking a
dangerous line between backing a loyal ally and condemning what looks like
heartless attacks on civilians.
Clinton reminded Obama and Kerry that the “fog of war,” creates regrettable
conditions, especially collateral damage in densely populated areas. If Hamas wants to be taken seriously
the leadership needs to renounce violence, accept Israel’s right to exist and
state for the record that it’s no longer trying to destroy the Jewish State. Working with Egyptian mediators in
Cairo, Hamas wants all its demands met but knows it can’t happen.
Meshaal and Gaza’s 52-year-old Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh have laid out
unconditional demands to end the seven-year-old blockade with Israel and now
Egypt and release specified Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Israel’s ground invasion to
seek-and-destroy smuggling and military tunnels into Israel showed the world
firsthand where the lion’s share of building materials went: Into building tunnels. What differs today with Hamas’s latest skirmish
is the Egypt’s new President former Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisis banned Hamas’s
No. 1 ally, the Muslim Brotherhood.
After deposing Hamas’s Muslim Brotherhood friend Mohammed Morsi July 3, 2014 and
taking power June 8, 2014, el-Sisi has done everything to weaken the Muslim
Brotherhood, prosecuting and jailing most of the key leaders, including Morsi. Hamas no longer has an ally with
el-Sisi in Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated-for-the-record that
Israel won’t negotiate at barrel of a gun.
Running out of options, Hamas can no longer insist on unrealistic demands
or nothing. Threatening to end the
most recent 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire, Hamas can only put up token
resistance, watching more of Gaza’s citizens and infrastructure put into harm’s
way. Palestinian Authority’s
Ramallah-based leader 79-year-old Mohammed Abbas has given Hamas the green light
to carry out its latest intifada or uprising. Meshaal’s July 28 interview with
PBS’s Charlie Rose was so off-the-wall, so outrageous and so nuanced with
Hamas-speak about the Zionist “occupier,” essentially admitting he wants Israel
out of Palestine. Meshaal was
graciously hosted by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad for 15 years before he was evicted
for joining the Sunni insurgency to oust al-Assad.
Hamas hasn’t caught up with the times that sovereign Mideast states, like
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and others, have zero tolerance for radical groups that
destabilize legitimate governments.
If Hamas really wants to improve living conditions for Palestinians in Gaza or
elsewhere they need to give iron-clad guarantees that they won’t seek the
destruction of the host government.
Watching Meshaal stab al-Assad in the back has been duly noted by el-Sisi who
has zero tolerance for the Muslim Brotherhood or its Palestinian offshoot Hamas. El-Sisi is well-aware that radical
Sunni groups seen to impose their agenda on more secular authoritarian regimes. Had the former Bush administration
not toppled Saddam Hussein or backed free elections in Gaza, the Mideast would
have been far more stable. Toppling
Saddam opened up the floodgates of Islamic extremism in Iraq.
Hamas’s can continue shooting what’s left of its rocket inventory but has
already lost so much credibility that it’s becoming irrelevant. If Hamas continues to reject Egypt’s constructive peacemaking role, they’ll further
alienate Arab states no longer willing to back their cause. No mater how much other Arab states
detest Israel, they know the Jewish State is a known quantity that doesn’t
foment revolution in sovereign states.
Al-Assad found out the hard way that it’s easy to get on the wrong side
of Palestinians. Having spent most
their political capital, Hamas must make any face-saving deal with Israel before
it’s too late. With Hillary
admonishing the White House for its recent treatment of Israel, Hamas doesn’t
have much time left to cut a deal.
Keeping up the feeble rocket fire only underscores Hamas desperation, losing
sympathy by the day with Mideast sovereign states.
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