Hamas: Ten years after Ahmed Yasin [ 25/03/2014 - 10:04 AM ] By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Jerusalem This week, Hamas commemorated the murderous assassination by Israel of its founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yasin with a massive rally in central Gaza, attended by tens of thousands of supporters. The wheelchair-bound quadriplegic Yasin was assassinated when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired a hellfire missile at him as he was being wheeled from early morning prayers. His killing, in an attack that also claimed the lives of both his bodyguards and nine bystanders, was widely condemned. It prompted Palestinian resistance fighters to carry out a series of bombing operations inside Israel as an act of revenge. Yasin is still widely revered by all Palestinians for his moderation, commitment to national unity and wisdom. He is also viewed as a source of inspiration for many Islamists especially in Palestine. Yasin had little faith in peace negotiations between Israel and the PLO. He often said in interviews with the foreign press I resist, therefore I exist. On many occasions, he argued that in the absence of any semblance of a balance of power between Israel and the Palestinians, peace negotiations, irrespective of any amount of good will showed by the Palestinians, would never lead to the conclusion of any just and dignified peace deal as far as the Palestinian people were concerned. In an interview with this writer a few weeks before his death, Yasin was asked to justify the campaign of suicide bombings (Hamas called them martyrdom operations) by Hamas against Israel. Yasin said: The Israelis are offering us two choices: Either they kill us quietly -like they slaughter meek sheep- at the Jewish slaughter house, or make us die an honorable death in the streets of Israel. Messages to whom it may concern The massive rally commemorating Yasin as well as two other Hamas leaders, Abdul Aziz Rantisi and Ibrahim Maqadma, both brutally murdered by Israel, was meant to convey a message to Hamass friends and foes alike. The first message was to the Palestinian people and Hamass supporters and sympathizers, namely that the movement is still strong and withstanding mounting pressures by the Sissi regime, Israel, and the western-backed Ramallah regime of Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas repeatedly accused Egyptian intelligence in cooperation with anti-Islamist elements, e.g. Fatah agents, of trying to foment trouble in the Gaza Strip in order to destabilize the Islamist regime there. However, these alleged efforts were always decimated by a potent, vigilant and loyal Hamas security apparatus. The second message was meant for Israel. Haniyeh said that Hamas was stronger than ever and that it possessed firepower more than the Israeli estimated. The third message was sent to the anti-Islamist Sissi regime that no matter how Hamas is dehumanized, demonized, and pushed to the corner, the movement would remain a hard number not only at the Palestinian arena but at the Arab arena as well. The Egyptian regime has been vilifying Hamas nonstop ever since the anti-Ikhwan coup in July, accusing the Islamist Palestinian movement of interfering in Egyptian internal affairs and aiding anti-regime elements in the Sinai Peninsula. Hamas vehemently denies the charges, arguing that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian people have any interest whatsoever in alienating whatever government there is in Cairo. According to Mushir al Masri, a local Hamas leader, the negative and often bellicose Egyptian stance toward Hamas stems from the Sissi regimes ideological hostility to the Muslim Brotherhood ideology. Egypt is yet to offer any hard evidence linking Hamas to violence at the Egyptian arena. But Fatah, Hamass ultimate rival at the Palestinian arena, has been making desperate efforts to instigate the Sissi regime against Hamas. Last week, Fatahs spokesman in Ramallah, Ahmed Assaf, claimed during a press conference in Cairo that Hamas and the ousted Mursi regime were planning to establish a Palestinian state and settle Palestinian refugees in the Sinai desert. Most serious pundits and observers in both Egypt and occupied Palestine would scoff at these allegations, dismissing them as no more than concocted fantasies with not an iota of truth. Good will toward Egypt Speaking at the rally, Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh admitted that Hamas and Palestinians in Gaza were suffering and facing many troubles, due to an enduring Israeli blockade and an increasingly vindictive Egyptian approach toward Gaza. We are living through a difficult stage and harsh challenges, but we are not terrified and we are not defeated. We have become familiar with difficulties and this stage is not the most difficult. Alluding to Egypt’s recent push to eradicate smuggling tunnels into the Gaza Strip, Haniyeh rhetorically asked: Why punish Gaza? Was it because it achieved victory against the occupier? Why punish Gaza? Was it because it took up the rifle against Israel? However, he did praise Egypt as Hamas brother, friend and neighbor. Will Hamas survive the no-holds barred campaign against the Ikhwan? There is no doubt that Hamas is facing one of the most difficult -if not the most difficult ordeals- since its foundation in the late 1987. However, most pundits believe it is unlikely that the current Egyptian bullying -short of an all-out invasion by the Egyptian army, possibly in a tacit or not so-tacit coordination with Israel and the Abu Mazen regime- would overthrow the movement. Moreover, the draconian restrictions against Gaza, particularly from Egypt’s side, are unlikely to cause Hamas to reach the breaking point especially in the immediate and foreseeable future. In the final analysis, Hamas is a resilient and austere movement long-tried and steeled by many years of internecine wars and hermetic blockades by Israel. The group is also strongly backed by a hardcore body of ideological followers and supporters who see support for Hamas as a religious duty of the first order. But Hamas is coming under unprecedented pressure to choose between ideology and morality on the one hand and expediency and financial survival on the other. That is why the movement has been trying to mend relations with Iran, but without seriously re-embracing the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah-axis. However, it is yet uncertain if this tight-rope walking will guarantee a lasting safety net for Hamas. A final note: the Hamas leadership is thoroughly convinced that any Egyptian invasion of Gaza wouldnt take place without an Israeli approval. Egypt has no real sovereignty over the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Gaza, despite Egyptian rhetoric to the contrary. Hence, Egyptian forces would have to obtain permission from Israel to operate there. Hence, a possible but unlikely Egyptian incursion into Gaza would most likely spark off a new round of war between Hamas and Israel. This scenario could significantly embarrass the Egyptian regime. (Many Palestinians already believe that Egyptian Defense Minister Abdul Fattah al Sissi is actually the son of a Jewish mother of Moroccan origin and that he is a Jew disguised as Muslim). Moreover, the ample praise Sissi receives from the Hebrew press enforces these convictions. Other pundits would argue that Israel would never allow Egypt to go as far as invading Gaza, since an invasion of the coastal enclave would effectively reshuffle the cards of the political game in the region, militate against Israeli interests, especially in the long run, and might significantly increase international pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories. More to the point, the overthrow of Hamas would also cause Israel to lose an invaluable “red herring used by the Israeli propaganda machine to justify the Israeli lebensraum policy in the West Bank.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:50:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015