Security Council Can't Deny Hamas-PLO War with Israel

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright December 15, 2014
All Rights Reserved.                                     

              Imposing a deadline for Israel to evacuate so-called Palestinian territories in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Secretary of State John Kerry met in Rome today with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  After several European countries recognized an independent Palestinian state, Jordan submitted a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council for Israel to exit East Jerusalem and West Bank by November 2016.  Jordan presented a Palestinian-draft petition to force Israel out of spoils seized during the 1967 Six-Day-War.  Before the U.S. vetoes the resolution, Kerry walks a razor’s edge, letting fellow Security Council members toy with an unrealistic resolution to impose a deadline on an Israeli withdrawal.  Kerry’s nine-month attempt at peace talks collapsed April 29, in part because Hamas in the Gaza Strip ran out of cash and decided to start firing rockets at Israel.

             U.S. and European Union officials haven’t recognized that Ramallah-based PLO led by 79-year-old Mahmoud Abbas and Gaza’s 51-year-old leader Ismail Haniyeh joined forces April 23.  Joining forces stripped Abbas of his pro-Western veneer as a legitimate peace partner.  When Palestinians through Jordan attempt to sell the U.N. Security Council on its unilateral attempt at statehood, it’s wise to see the maneuver through Israel’s eyes.  In their hope of avoiding another Israeli-Hamas war, the EU and Security Council hope to force both sides to the peace table.  While there’s much hubbub over the Jordan-brokered effort in the Security Council, 63-year-old U.N. Special Envoy Robert Serry clarified that Security Council actions are “not a substitute for a genuine peace process that will need to be negotiated between both parties,” hinting at an eventual U.S. an veto of an artificial timetable.

             Whatever Security Council members relations with Israel or Palestinians, all hope the Council can be helpful in getting peace talks back on track.  Before voting on any resolution specifying deadlines for an Israeli withdrawal, the Security must get an unequivocal commitment from the Hamas-PLO partnership that they’ve ended their war with Israel.  Just yesterday at a military parade in Gaza, Hamas promised flag-waving Gazans that they would destroy Israel.    “This illusion called Israel will be removed.  It will be removed at the hands of the Qassam Brigades,” said Khalil al-Hayya, a top Hamas military leader.  Security Council officials backing a resolution calling for Israel to exit so-called “occupied territories” can’t ignore Hamas’s ongoing war with Israel.  No sovereign state can be forced to make concessions to a warring faction now joined at the hip with West Bank-based PLO.

             Meeting with in Rome today, Netanyahu no doubt reminded Kerry that Hamas, now joined with the PLO, continues its war with Israel.  “We will accept no less than the rebuilding of everything that was destroyed by the savage Zionist aggression,” said an unnamed Hamas official.  Hamas admits nothing about starting the war with Israel firing rockets indiscriminately across the Gaza border into Israel.   Parading more Iranian-made rockets and mobile rocket launchers, the PLO-combined-Hamas-PLO entity has no intent to stopping its war with Israel.  When Hamas officials talk of Israel withdrawing from the so-called “occupied territories,” they’re referring to the former British Mandate of Palestine that includes Israel’s original borders.  Hamas-PLO wants Israel out of former British mandate areas—it wants, as stated clearly by Hamas, “This illusion called Israel removed.”

             Test firing more Iranian rockets in the Mediterranean off Gaza, Hamas would neither confirm nor deny such activities.  Showing brazen transparency, Hamas military spokesman Abu Abaida publicly thanked Iran for supplying the cash and military hardware.  No one in the U.N. Security Council could impose a deadline on Israel knowing Hamas-PLO active war activities against Israel.  While everyone wants a resumption of peace talks, the U.S, EU and U.N. can’t deny the reality on the ground making peace impossible without a formal end to the Hamas-PLO war against Israel.  After Kerry concludes his meetings with Netanyahu in Rome, he’ll meet to discuss key issues with diplomats in Britain, France and Germany.  Kerry plans to meet with chief Palestinian negotiator, a former Arafat aid, Saeeb Erekat in London to decide the inevitable U.S. Security Council veto. 

About the Author 

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.