Waiting for War in Gaza
This is the real face of Hamas, not the apparently pacific one of the Hamas maneuver unveiled in the New York Times on Wednesday by Ahmed Yousef, Haniyeh's senior adviser. In a ploy to gain western sympathy-and a renewal of funding-Hamas proposed a "hudna," or truce, so that the two peoples could work out their differences peaceably. It is a deceitful message, for if one reads the code carefully, it is clear that the "peace" Hamas proposes involves destroying the State of Israel. Never once did Yousef refer to Israel the state, but only "Israelis." His hudna would give time for Hamas to build up military strength, exactly as Hezbollah did in Lebanon. Yousef denies that the proposed truce would be such a ruse, but all the frenzied arms smuggling belies that.
The international community must not weaken in its insistence that Hamas must commit to end violence. With such a pledge, Hamas could end its isolation and mitigate the suffering of Palestinians, but Yousef declares that "the spirit of Palestinians" would never permit a renunciation of violence. Hamas prefers instead to let the Gazans suffer in the hope that sympathy for the victims of its own intransigence trump reason and sound judgment. Hamas, in truth, is not a nationalist force. It is part of the global movement of jihad, a Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood founded in Egypt with the goal of eliminating Israel with help from its Syrian and Iranian backers.
Middle East diplomats, so enamored of process, keep hoping the right dose of concessions will somehow result in mutually reinforcing perceptions of security. This is hopelessly naive. For now and the foreseeable future, the seat on the other side of the table across from Israel is occupied only by a death's-head.
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