Cease fires
come and go. They are short term
solutions to the limited objectives of ending destruction and death. While this is an important issue, the longer
term solution to the conflict between Israel and the political/terrorist
organization Hamas in Gaza, cannot be ignored.
Indeed, extended cease fire agreements will in all probability actually
extend the conflict by allowing Hamas to reorganize and rearm, while enjoying
the glow of victimhood spread by many in the international community and media,
over the disproportionate levels of
destruction and casualties which the Palestinian residents of Gaza have
endured. Of course the sympathizers in
Europe and the Middle East choose to ignore the fact that Hamas, who governs
Gaza, has imposed the violence on its own citizens by continuing its pointless
attacks on the state of Israel and its civilian population through terrorist
attacks and barrages of thousands of rockets.
These
attacks are nothing new. Israel
voluntarily ended its occupation of Gaza in 2005. In 2007 Hamas won political control , militarily
ousted the Palestinian Authority’s governing party Fatah, and escalated a sustained assault on Israel territory with
rockets and terrorist attacks. In 2008 Israel responded with a ground invasion
of Gaza in an attempt to neutralize Hama’s military capability. The invasion ended with a cease fire
agreement, the problem did not.
In 2012, another
Israeli operation was carried out in response to Hamas attacks. After eight
days a ceasefire was declared. Hamas rearmed.
Now in 2014,
international pressure is being applied to Israel to once again agree to a
cease fire which the proponents say, could lead to renewed negotiations for a
broader peace settlement. Some in the
Israeli government argue correctly that such a cease fire without the
demilitarization of Hamas would simply produce the same outcome as the earlier
cease fire agreements which was the rearming of Hamas and the rebuilding of its
infrastructure, including cross border tunnels, in preparation for a new round of rocket and
terrorist attacks.
In essence, cease
fires are attempts to treat the symptoms of the immediate problem of armed
conflict and resultant civilian casualties but as recent history shows, the
underlying obstacle to peace negotiations remains in place. That is the existence of a militant and
militarily capable force which rejects the whole concept of a peace settlement
based on a two state solution.
Here are relevant excerpts from the founding Charter of
Hamas (a.k.a the Islamic Resistance.)
“The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that “the
land of Palestine” has been an Islamic Waqf “(an Islamic endowment of property to be held in trust and
used for a charitable or religious purpose.) “throughout
the generations and until the Day of
Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of
it.” “The time will not come until
Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them)”;
“Peace initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions,
and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all
contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any
part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; nationalism of the
Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its faith, the movement educates its
members to adhere to its principles and to raise the banner of Allah over their
homeland as they fight their Jihad: "
“ There is no solution to
the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. The initiatives, proposals and
International Conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.”
Thus, as is widely
recognized, Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist and is committed
to Israel’s destruction. Neither does
Hamas recognize the legitimacy of international diplomacy as a process to reach
the only final settlement possible and the one accepted by the Palestinian
Authority in the West Bank which is a two state solution.
Cease fires as “time outs”
in never ending episodes of armed attacks on the state of Israel by Hamas and
its equally intransigent and hostile client, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and its
military wing, the al-Quds Brigade will lead no where.
The existence of Hamas as
the controlling political authority in Gaza with its 1.8 million residents, has
undermined long term peace negotiations for years. Israel found it impossible to accept
commitments from a Palestinian government that was divided into two opposing
entities, one committed to Israel’s destruction. On April 23, 2014 the Fatah led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank
territory signed an agreement with the Hamas government in Gaza to form a unity
government. Israel then terminated peace
negotiations led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, saying that agreements
with a government which included a terrorist entity would not be possible. Nonetheless, on June 2, 2014 the Palestinian
Authority did form a unity government which included five ministers from
Gaza.
The U.S. and the European
Union both stated that they would continue to work with the new Palestinian
Authority government, a position harshly condemned by the government of Israel.
Both the positions of the U.S. and
EU were based on the acceptance of
assurances by Palestinian Authority President Abbas that that the deal did not contradict their commitment to
peace with Israel on the basis of a two-state solution and[that the unity government would recognize
Israel, be non-violent, and be bound to previous PLO agreements.
srael ridiculed the U.S acceptance of these “assurances” as naïve. Events which soon followed support the
Israeli position. In mid-June three
Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinians from Gaza. The Israeli response was swift and resulted
in the deaths of several Palestinians. Hamas’ military wing commenced a rocket
barrage and later declared that “all Israelis were legitimate targets”.
To underscore the meaninglessness of President Abbas’s assurances regarding
the continuing goal of a two state solution by the new “unity government”, on July
27, 2014 the leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaad appeared on NBC’s Face the Nation
and said that he would not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Separately, a spokesman for Hama’s
military wing, the Qassam Brigades, rejected the idea of a cease fire.
Thus it is becoming clear that the
Israeli prior conditions on a solution to the Gaza crisis and long term peace
negotiations is a basic truth; Hamas and
its affiliated terrorist organizations, must be disarmed and Hamas’ political
organization must accept the Israeli state as a permanent entity as has the
larger Palestinian Authority under President Abbas. This position received
significant support on July 22 when the twenty-eight foreign ministers of the
European Union called for
the “disarmament of Hamas and other militant groups in the Gaza Strip. The statement, which was issued at the end of the monthly meeting of
the Council of the European Union, included a strong condemnation of Hamas for
its rocket fire and for using the civilian population as human shields.”
Unfortunately,
and unlike the EU foreign ministers, Obama fails to see the importance of this simple fact to both the on going
crisis in Gaza and the restarting of comprehensive peace talks between the
Palestinian Authority and Israel. His
stated position on July, 28, 2014 was
that the “disarming of Gaza terrorist groups would only take place within the
context of a formal overall Israeli-Palestinian agreement.”
But unless
Hamas and the other terrorist groups residing in Gaza are disarmed, Israel will
continue to be attacked, will continue to respond, civilians on both sides will
continue to be killed and there will be
no negotiations for a “formal overall” agreement.
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