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Hamas Takes Aim at Jerusalem by John M. Curtis Copyright
Nov. 16, 2012 Showing no respect for Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, Hamas militants fired a missile for the first time at the Old City. Shooting over 450 missiles in Israel in the last 24-hours, Hamas hunkered down with its new-and-improved missile arsenal in the Gaza Strip. When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon turned Gaza over the Palestinian Authority Sept. 5, 2005, the disaster started. It didn’t take long for Hamas to seize the territory June 14, 2007 from the Palestinian Authority. Sharon, who suffered a debilitating stroke April 14, 2006, never lived to see the mayhem from his decision to leave Gaza. Since former President Jimmy Carter’s 1978 Camp David Accords with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, the land-for-peace concept prevailed over Israeli-Palestinian politics, prompting Sharon to make the peace offering. It’s didn’t take long for Hamas to turn the land-for-peace deal on its head, rejecting any peace overtures or treaties made by Arafat’s PLO and Palestinian Authority. While Hamas would like to suck Egypt’s newly minted President Mohamed Morsi into a war with Israel, Morsi recalls Egypt’s humiliating defeat in the 1967 Six-Day-War. Egypt’s popular war hero President Gamal Abdel Nasser died Sept. 28, 1970, utterly disgraced by Egypt’s painful defeat. Despite his Islamic ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the U.S-educated Morsi won’t make the same mistake as Nasser, especially knowing Israel’s powerful military. Morsi knows to continue receiving U.S. foreign aid, he must abide by the 1979 Egypt-Israeli peace treaty. Joining Hamas’ suicide mission in Gaza would send Egypt spiraling into economic and political chaos, bringing down the Morsi government.
Firing crudely made Gaza missiles at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Hamas hopes to retaliate for the death of its militant leader 52-year-old Ahmed al-Jabari who died on his birthday Nov. 14. Considered a mass murderer by the Israeli Mossad, Jabari was responsible for untold numbers of suicide bombings and Israeli deaths. “We are sending a short and simple message: There is no security for any Zionist on any single inch of Palestine and we plan more surprises,” said Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ militant wing. Hamas refuses to stop missile strikes unless Israel ends offensive military operations, limits Israeli ground activities around the Gaza border, halts assassinations of Hamas leaders and reverses the blockade around Gaza. Hamas knows that Israel doesn’t give in to blackmail and now fully escalates military operations in advance of a targeted ground operation in Gaza.
Calling up 16,000 reservists, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could draft an additional 14,000 troops. Whatever relations Hamas has with Egypt, there’s only so far Egypt can go to support Hamas military operations. Egypt walks a tightrope adhering to its peace treaty with Israel and showing support to Palestinians in Gaza. Agreeing to halt air strikes in Gaza, Egypt’s Prime Minister Hesham Kandil visited Gaza to pursue a ceasefire. “What I saw today in the hospital, the wounded and the martyrs, the boy—whose blood is still on my hand and clothes, is something that we cannot keep silent about,” said Jabari, mentioning nothing of Hamas’ rocket attacks. Egypt’s public face gives Hamas what it wants but behind closed doors it feverishly pursues an end to hostilities. After Kandil left Gaza, Hamas fired off another 60 rockets, practically guaranteeing an Israeli invasion.
Hamas’ leader in Damacus Khaled Meshaal no longer enjoys protections from the Syrian government. Accused of joining rebel forces, Meshaal is now the enemy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Assad found out the hard way that, after giving Meshaal sanctuary in Syria since 2001, the 56-year-old Hamas leader-in-exile has tried to subvert al-Assad’s authority. Hamas’ Prime Minister in Gaza 49-year-old Ismail Haniyeh has done nothing in Gaza since seizing power in 2007 other than smuggle more weapons for an eventual “final” assault on the Jewish state. Like prior Hamas leaders, they choose to die as martyrs, rather than make peace with Israel. Unlike the Ramallah-based 77-year-old Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Haniyeh continues the Palestinian war of annihilation against Israel. Netanyahu knows Haniyeh only respects death and destruction.
Hamas’ new round of missile strikes against Israel wins plaudits from Islamic radicals around the globe. While Haniyeh scores some PR points, the Palestinians suffer and die under his watch. His stubborn adherence to the delusion of destroying Israel prolongs the misery for the Palestinian people. Palestinians who work and live peacefully inside Israel or in the West Bank know that the path of war leads only to self-destruction. Cheering Haniyeh on are the same Palestinian radicals who seek to topple al-Assad’s Syria, turning the fallen dictator into the next base for radical Islam. When U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrives in the Middle East, he’ll have his work cut out convincing Hamas to cease-and-desist. More martyrdom gets the Palestine back in the news but it doesn’t unify its people or advance the cause of economic development and eventual statehood. John M. Curtis writes politically 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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