HAMAS SHALL BE SACRIFICED

Monday, October 9, 2023

Hamas will likely cease to exist after this latest round of Israeli-Hamas fighting ends. On the surface the trigger for this unprecedented attack by Hamas is said to be the latest flare up at the Al Aqsa Mosque. But the fact is there have been flare ups at the Al Aqsa Mosque on a regular basis since 1948. It is nothing new.

What is new is the establishment of Saudi-Israeli diplomatic relations and the re-entry of the Americans into the Middle East "peace process". The Middle East "peace process" does really exist but it is slow. The Camp David Accords in 1978 got Anwar Sadat killed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Camp David Accords made real progress in Middle East peace. The Muslim Brotherhood is totally opposed to any rapproachment with Israel.

In 1993 the Oslo Accords saw the creation of the first Palestinian President (the late Mr Yasser Arafat), meaning Palestine had a real legal identity as a 'sovereign' State. But Yitzhak Rabin the Israeli Prime Minister responsible for Oslo would later be killed by his own people. Promoting peace is a highly dangerous and toxic occupation in the Middle East. In both the Camp David Accords and the Oslo Accords the parties involved were genuine Palestinians like the PLO, the Fatah, Mr Yasser Arafat and his many Palestinian factions including about one million Palestinian Christians. One of the founders and early stalwarts of the Palestinian movements (PLO, PFLP) was George Habash, a Palestinian Christian. influential Christian clergy in Palestine also supported the PLO.

Then things changed. The Muslim Brotherhood became more influential in Palestine. The Palestinian "struggle" was about to be hijacked by the pan-Islamist jihadis. It was no more a struggle for Palestine. Palestine became just another stepping stone for the struggle to establish a world pan-Islamist Caliphate (ok-lah call it by any other name it is the same thing). The Muslim Brotherhood eventually set up Hamas or Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (“Islamic Resistance Movement”), inside Gaza which was first headed by the Muslim Brotherhood's Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Ahmed Yassin was born in 1938 in Ashkelon. He was a refugee in Gaza after 1948 and worked as teacher, preacher, and community worker. At age 12, Yassin was paralyzed in a sporting accident and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He was married and raised 11 children in a three-room apartment in a Gaza City slum. He joined the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood while studying at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University and adopted the movement’s belief that the rule of Islam should be imposed everywhere. After returning to Gaza, Yassin became actively involved in politics. He founded the Islamic Centre in Gaza in 1973, which soon controlled all religious institutions. Yassin founded an organization of religious activists with the goal of fighting non-religious factions in the territories. In 1987, Yassin transformed his Islamic Organization into a new body called Hamas. An acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas means zeal in Arabic. So the secular and multi-religious PLO headed by Yasser Arafat was certainly not liked at all by the Muslim Brotherhood. Folks like George Habash and about a million Palestinian Christians would be just more kafir-harbi. It was no more a Palestinian struggle. It had become a pan-Islamist jihad, directed by the Muslim Brotherhood from its offices underground in Egypt and above ground in Turkey, Qatar, London, Switzerland, the USA (and later in one foolish ASEAN country). Then wonder of wonders the Hamas grabbed power in Gaza. Over in the West Bank the PLO (now become the Fatah) and its secular beliefs held sway. Which is a no, no for the Hamas. Until today if the Hamas boys meet the Fatah boys they shoot to kill first "with the goal of fighting non-religious factions in the territories".

The reality today is that there are THREE STATES ie Israel, the West Bank (since 1998) and Gaza (since 2005). People talk about the

1. one state solution

2. the two state solution

3. Jordan with its already majority Palestinian population and vast land area as the single Palestinian state (which absorbs the West Bank)

4. Gaza to be absorbed by Egypt again (Gaza was ruled by Egypt from 1959 until 1967 when the Israelis took over until 2005)
   

all of which are just a waste of time (except maybe No. 3 and 4). In my view let the West Bank join Jordan and be part of a larger country (Jordan) whose majority population are already Palestinians. For your information before 1967 Jordan was in charge of all the area now known as the West Bank. There was no "West Bank" identity before 1967. In 1967 Jordan fought against Israel in the Six Day War. Jordan lost. The Israelis took East Jerusalem from Jordan (West Jerusalem was already under Israeli control from 1948) plus the surrounding towns and villages which became the West Bank. So it is Jordan which lost control over the "West Bank" since 1967. I dont see why the "West Bank" cannot go back to Jordan. Before 1967 all the people born there were Jordanian citizens anyway. And for your information, until today the wakaf religious responsibility over the Al Aqsa Mosque (the center of so much friction) still lies with the Jordanian government. It is called the Jerusalem Waqf. The Jerusalem Waqf : The Jerusalem Waqf and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department, also known as the Jerusalem Waqf, the Jordanian Waqf or simply the Waqf, is the Jordanian-appointed organization responsible for controlling and managing the current Islamic edifices on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa Mosque. Egypt and Gaza were part of the Ottoman Empire for a very long time. The British occupied Egypt in 1882. The British captured Gaza from the Ottomans in 1917. So before 1917 the people of Gaza were subjects of the Ottoman Sultans. By the same argument let Gaza be absorbed by Egypt. Gaza shares a land border with Egypt and can be an Egyptian enclave. Whether under the Ottomans, under the British, under the Egyptians, as a Republic of Gaza or under the Muslim Brotherhood the people of Gaza would still sleep in the same bed and drink from the same wells. Look at the map here and you will see who is located next to whom.

The big change now is the Muslim Brotherhood aka Hamas is in charge of Gaza. So Gaza is now part of the Muslim Brotherhood's game of checkers. (They are not good at chess which is a strategy game).

The other actor in town is Iran. Iran is worried about the recent Saudi-Israel diplomatic overtures. They do not want peace between Saudi Arabia and Israel. If they can start a war between Hamas and Israel that will certainly impact on any Saudi-Israeli peace moves. Iran fears that if Saudi Arabia and Israel make peace then the whole Arab world will be united and on the same side with Israel. Iran will be isolated. Hence Iran wants to trip up any such moves from happening. This attack by the Hamas into Israel is a masterpiece in tactics. The full story has not been told yet. During their short romp the Hamas boys even captured an Israeli military base and destroyed over a dozen tracked vehicles including at least FIVE Merkava tanks and Armoured Personnel Carriers. On the second day some of the Hamas fighters are still inside Israel and news reports say they kidnapped more Israelis and took them across into Gaza as hostages. This is a complete failure of the entire Israeli military and intelligence apparatus. Netanyahu should resign. Golda Meir resigned six months after Yom Kippur in 1973. Such spectacular military action is not the forte of the Muslim Brotherhood. This seems to have the hands of the Iranians involved. The whole attack must have taken months if not years to plan. They were able to locate the house of an Israeli special forces general, kidnap him in his shorts and take him back to Gaza.

Yet everyone would know that an operation like this would be the end of Hamas in Gaza. The death toll inside Israel has risen to 700 killed so far. More people are missing and assumed dead. There is no way the Israelis are going to let 700 of their people get killed without major consequences. The Israeli defense minister has said that they will have to change the shape of Gaza for the next 50 years.

The military tactics employed were superb. But the strategic thinking was much simpler - Hamas shall be sacrificed.