Iran is the Real Issue for Israel and America in Middle East
Iran is at the core of a struggle between Islamists and moderate national entities
What some news commentary does not seem to appreciate is that Hamas is not a competitor for some slice of terrain or for the affection of Washington. Hamas is an existential adversary of Israel. Its ideology, as contained in its 1987 charter, leaves no doubt. The charter enjoins every Muslim to confront the enemy in Muslim lands. "Our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide ranging and grave," it declared. "A woman must go out and fight the enemy even without her husband's authorization, and the slave without his master's permission." Hamas cites Muhammad for religious justification: "The time will not come until Muslims fight the Jews and kill them; until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry, 'Oh, Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him.' " Hamas believes that there is no place for a Jewish state in its Islamic world and that the killing of Jews is ordained by Allah. It is what Palestinian children are taught in their schools and what a Hamas representative, Fathi Hamad, described this way: "For the Palestinian people, death became an industry at which women excel—so do all people on this land. The elderly excel, the jihad fighters excel, and the children excel." He concluded by saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death as you desire life."
So land for peace is not the issue. The Hamas-Iranian goal is to kill as many Jews as possible and wait for God, or Iran, to complete the job. As a Hamas poster put it, "A Palestinian who kills one Jew will be rewarded as if he killed 30 million." No wonder Osama bin Laden stepped into the verbal fray in a 22-minute broadcast by al Jazeera, calling on Muslims to wage a holy jihad against Israel over Gaza.
There can be no moral equivalence between the victims who defend themselves by killing Hamas terrorists and the perpetrators who kill innocent civilians. Hamas is trying to maximize civilian casualties; Israel is trying to minimize them. To treat both sides on an even-handed basis draws into question the moral judgment of those who have trouble distinguishing between the two.
Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah don't want to kill Jews because they hate Israel; they hate Israel because they want to kill Jews. Hamas has no interest in making peace. For Hamas, peace is the enemy. That is why there is a convergence of interests among Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the Sunni Arab countries. They all want to see Hamas weakened because Hamas is the extension of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood. They understand that a perceived Hamas triumph against Israel has the potential to ignite the Arab street and destabilize not just Fatah but a slew of moderate Arab states, from Egypt to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. A victorious Hamas would bolster Iran, which seeks regional hegemony and a Taliban-style regime under Hamas built on the ashes of Israel.
The Hamas strategy was to wage a war of attrition, using relatively advanced weapons supplied by Iran to pressure Israel into accepting a cease-fire so that Hamas could claim victory, in the hopes that this could ignite the West Bank and sweep away the PA and President Abbas.
Does this mean that peace is no longer possible? Does it mean there will not be a two-state or even a three-state solution? Hamas and Iran seek one state, from the river to the sea. Their oratory is not just anti-Israel but an eliminationist, anti-Semitic rhetoric. The sense is that if they cannot eliminate Israel, they would rather nurse their honor, their pride, and a sense of righteous victimhood than engage in the business of compromise. Fatah may wish to make peace but doesn't have the power to deliver; Hamas has the power but doesn't want peace. Ironically, it is now up to the Israeli Defense Forces to guarantee the survival of Fatah and Abbas against Hamas's jihad and its Iranian sponsors.
The Israeli-Palestinian dispute is less than ever the core of conflict in the Middle East. The real issue is Iran and its reach for regional hegemony. Iran seeks to intimidate America's Arab supporters and to eliminate Israel as America's strongest regional ally.
Reader Comments
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Isreal and palastine can work together .
This can be achieved through joint education exchanges, relife work
group harvesting as well as both countries fighting the terrots like hamus.
Petrol Still A Curse Iran Cannot Avoid Predators
It is doubtful if any country would embark upon creating a nuclear weapons retalisatory capability unless they believe it was necessary to protect them from any nation(s) having such an arsenal. I cannot imagine how it must feel for the average Iranian to keep hearing threats that they will be nuked if they do not comply with the orders of the new master of Planet Earth- the U.S. How many Americans are aware of the successful attempt by Iran to create the first democratic nation in the Islamic world which was terminated by the CIA at the behest of Whitehall in London and British Petroleum in 1953. At the time the Iranians had the temerity to nationalize THEIR petrol industry thus depriving BP of the many decades of their monopoly on that resource. Of course, this CIA came at a cost as BP was forced to give the American oil companies 50% of this lucrative "pie." All the CIA leaders were rewarded with lucrative no-show jobs for their successful efforts in this that organizations first such success. In time, the ascension of the Ayatollah's coup (which forced London and Washington's stooge, The Shah, to flee) and there has been no hope that peace between Iran and us, and those allied with us, can be possible any time soon. Steve, World War 2
Iran is the real issue for Israel....
While I have no Iranian background, I have had personal contact with four Iranians who have been unjustly jailed by the various murky authorities there. I have no brief for the Islamic regime there.
But I also do not think that Iran (at the level of Supreme Leader Khamani) is looking seriously at major unilateral attacks, nuclear or otherwise, at anyone, be they Israel or the other Sunni states. They might have thought of attacks on Sunni states in the early years of the Revolution, but not now, after the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's.
It is not a suicidal regime bent on slaughter of millions. They would have killed their own citizens in that quantity if they were. A carrot, along with a very strong stick, along with lower oil prices, will advance relations with the Persians.
Now if something can be done about the West Bank settlers to miinimize that particular issue....
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