Hamas is the terror group in Gaza that has been responsible for murdering thousands of Israeli civilians in acts of terror carried out by its members since 1987. For decades, it carried out terror attacks, using rockets, missiles, drones, suicide bombers, rifles, and knives, to kill Israelis. The apotheosis of its terror took place on October 7, 2023, when 3,800 Hamas members, accompanied by 2,200 ordinary Gazans who accompanied them so as to join in the fun, smashed into Israel, where they proceeded to rape, torture, decapitate, burn alive, mutilate, and murder 1,200 Israelis and to kidnap 250 more. Since then, the IDF has been dismantling Hamas’ military forces. It has killed about 20,000 Hamas members — half the prewar strength of the terror group, and is now in the process of taking apart what remains of its forces, as they try to regroup in northern Gaza. The IDF has discovered and destroyed hundreds of miles of terror tunnels. It has found and seized, or in some cases destroyed, huge caches of weapons hidden everywhere — in apartment buildings, in schools, in mosques, in hospitals and, of course, in the network of tunnels, some 450 miles of them, underground.
The Palestinian Authority has been trying to patch things up with Hamas after years of enmity. Mahmoud Abbas did not denounce, but praised, the “valor” displayed by Hamas on October 7. He has spoken of the need to form a coalition government between Fatah and Hamas to jointly rule in Gaza “the day after.” Khaled Abu Toameh, the Israeli Arab analyst, denounces this attempt by Mahmoud Abbas to legitimize Hamas here: “Hamas Must Be Defeated, Not Legitimized,” by Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute,
More than a year after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA) continues to view the Iran-backed Islamist movement as a legitimate partner.
Last week, representatives of the PA’s ruling Fatah faction (headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas) and Hamas held talks in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to discuss establishing a joint administration to rule the Gaza Strip. An Egyptian source confirmed that the Fatah-Hamas discussions aim at to create a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip, in addition to pursuing efforts to reach a ceasefire there.
Another Egyptian security source was quoted as saying that the talks “aim to unify the Palestinian ranks and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.” According to the source, the Fatah and Hamas negotiators “showed more flexibility and positivity towards establishing a committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip.”
Tayseer Nasrallah, a senior Fatah official who participated in the talks with Hamas, expressed “optimism” that the talks with Hamas would lead to the formation of a committee for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. The talks, he said, “aim to unify visions regarding the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip” in the aftermath of the current Israel-Hamas war, which erupted after the October 7 attack that resulted in the murder of 1,200 Israelis and the injury of thousands. During the attack, many Israelis were beheaded, raped, tortured, and burned alive. In addition, more than 240 others were kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, where 101 – alive and dead – remain in captivity.
Hamas, for its part, said: “We held a meeting with our brothers in the Fatah faction, and the atmosphere of the meeting was positive and frank.” The terrorist group added that the two sides discussed “the formation of a body to follow up on the affairs and needs of the Gaza Strip,” and noted that the meetings with Fatah will continue.
Last month, Fatah and Hamas representatives held similar talks in Cairo to discuss ways of ending the rivalry between the two parties and establishing a Palestinian unity government. Senior Hamas official Taher a-Nunu said that the purpose of the talks was to “achieve Palestinian national unity and strengthen security and political coordination between the two sides.” Unnamed Fatah officials were quoted as saying that their faction has agreed to the formation of a joint committee to manage the affairs of the Gaza Strip….
The main military component of the Palestinian Authority is the armed group Fatah, of which Mahmoud Abbas — along with being the PA’s president-for-life — is the head. He now sees a way to gain a foothold for Fatah in Gaza, from which it was bloodily expelled by the men of Hamas in 2007. He has been negotiating with Hamas for sharing rule in Gaza. He wants to share in the governance of Gaza, and Hamas wants to continue, by agreeing to share power with Fatah, to be seen as acceptable — its terrorism diluted, in a sense, by the presence of Fatah — by the United States.
The IDF is close to completely destroying Hamas as a military threat. But Hamas must also be destroyed as a political threat, lest, in a power-sharing arrangement with Fatah, it manages to reconstitute itself, is then resupplied with weapons from Iran and attracts new recruits from inside Gaza. It has to be not embraced, but shunned, by the Palestinian Authority. It should be accused by the PA of having caused the destruction of so much infrastructure in Gaza, and held responsible, too, for the killing of thousands of civilians, the result of its policy of deliberately embedding its fighters, and hiding its weapons, in civilian areas, including schools, mosques, hospitals, and apartment buildings. Mahmoud Abbas may be afraid of rejecting Hamas outright from a possible role in a coalition that would rule Gaza. He remembers how many hundreds of Fatah members were murdered by Hamas in 2007 — but Abbas is 88 years old, and his successor may not feel the same. After all, Hamas is a lot less powerful now than it was before October 7, 2023, and only one-third of Gazans still support it. Fatah’s hour may have come round at last, to hold itself out as the sole governing group that the Americans can accept. Hamas is detested by the rich Sunni states of the Gulf. They see Hamas, correctly, as the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and are well aware that the MB wants to overthrow their “decadent” monarchies. But if Gaza is to be rebuilt, most of the money will have to come from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, among Arab states, and possibly some money will come — but not while Trump is in office — from the Americans as well, and none of the three would welcome a continuing Hamas role in Gaza.
Mahmoud Abbas must stop voicing his approval of Hamas. His attempts to legitimize the terror group will further antagonize not only Israel — which will have the largest say in who governs Gaza once the fighting in the Strip has stopped — but also the United States, which has designated Hamas as a terror organization, and the two Arab countries, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, that are expected to contribute the most to rebuilding — s-l-o-w-l-y — Gaza. How willing will they be to fund projects if Hamas is still taking part in Gaza’s government? Everyone should just let Israel finish the job of defeating Hamas. It won’t be long now. The end is nigh.
somehistory says
If you find a nest of poisonous snakes, it’s important to smash the eggs even though the tiny snakes inside have not bitten anyone….yet.
The snakes of hamas and the pa, have no good intentions for Israel and the Jews living there.
Leonidas says
Islam ( submission)will collapse ,like USSR in 1989,if we DENOUNCE PSEUDO PROPHET MUHAMMAD,who according to his biography( Sira) and traditions( Hadith) was a pedophile( wife Aisha was 9 yo), rapist, murderer, bandit (keeping20% of the booty for himself),liar and sex-slave trader and also LIBERATE THE MUSLIM WOMEN from barbaric Sharia Law.The Koran states women are dumb, less intelligent than men,wives must be beaten for disobedience by their hudbands ,all women will go to hell unless in the last day their husband says he was pleased with her and all women must hide their curves and wear burkas ,so that men will not be aroused to rape them.Islam is a misogynistic ,violent , imperialist political ideology of Arab male supremacy ISLAMOFASCISM(~70%), DISGUISED AS A RELIGION(~ 30%) that strives through violent Jihad and soft cultural Jihad of immigration ( dawa)to subjugate the World.Jihadists are promised, if killed battling infidels-kafirs,) they will go to Paradise to enjoy 72 virgins ,taking along 70 of their relatives regardless of their sins!Withdraw from UN MIGRANT COMPACT ,that falsely claims immigration is a Human Right expecting Western countries to accept and provide for an endless number of muslim illegal immigrants ,thus islamizing them. Muslim “refugees “should stay in Turkey or vast rich Saudi Arabia ,until they can return to their countries.We must denounce islamic Sharia (=way)law of blasphemer,apostate ,homosexual , adulterer and hypocrite executions,misogyny,honor killings by stoning,hand amputations for theft,child brides,girls exclusion from schools,halal meat from tortured animals,clitorectomies,circumcisions,subjugation and segregation of women,burkas and Sharia banning of short skirts,bikinis,dancing,singing,painting ,sculptures of people,dogs,pork,alcohol and beauty contests .Demand gender equality for ALL muslim women.Punish severely those that kill apostates from Islam,blasphemers,adulterers or muslim hypocrites.Islam is incompatible with our freedom of speech, gender equality, values,way of life, Human Rights,
PMK says
Muslims themselves must denounce Mohammad and liberate themselves. Nothing we say or do will change that. Muslims live in dozens of countries and there are multiple terrorist groups following the words of the Koran and waging war against non-believers with impunity. Good luck getting them to give up their power. Even if we vanquished Hamas, the terror operations will continue.
Leonidas says
You mean MUSLIM WOMEN MUST LIBERATE THEMSELVES FROM THE YOKE OF KORAN AND ASHARIA LAW AND THEN ISLAM WILL COLLAPSE LIKE USSR IN 1981
gravenimage says
True, PMK–but it is still important that Infidels do not also enable Jihad..
PMK says
The PA is hardly non-violent. Vanquishing Hamas will not make Gaza a peaceful place. Islam is still in control. Iran’s government needs to fall but that might not be enough. Even if Hamas is not favored by the Sunni state leaders, there are surely private donors other than Iran that will finance these terror operations against Israel. (Didn’t many of them finance al Qaeda?) Gazans may hate Hamas but do you really want to believe they will be willing to accept Israel as a neighbor? The same doubt can be voiced against Iranians. As much as they want to be free of the Mullahs, are they willing to accept the presence of the Jewish state? As long as the Koran guides all Muslims, the rest of the world must be on its guard.
gravenimage says
All true–but Hamas is day to day even worse than Fatah. I think that Hugh Fitzgerald’s characterising them as the “fast Jihad” and “slow Jihad” is pretty accurate. They still have the same end goals.
James Hoagland says
Don’t know about any one being the ‘last jihad’. Unless of course you are thinking that we are in “the end times”. Hamas is worse than Fatah because of commitment- more developed fanaticism. But still Jew haters and murderers!
James Hoagland says
You should look at the ethnic composition of Iran. The Persian plurality if not majority has a positive history with Israelites. Elam and obviously muslims do not. Arabs as I understand it are only about 2% of the population so there must be internal frictions with the Persians who have a developed and very intellectual history and Zoroastrianism monotheism religion. Clearly you have correct thought as regards the Koran and Hadith.
PMK says
But how many ethnic Persians still practice Zoroastrianism? Persia was conquered by the caliphate in the seventh century. They aren’t Arabs but most Persians are probably Muslims. According to the Iranian census, however reliable it may be, over 98% of Iranians are Muslims. After thirteen centuries most, if not all, of the mullahs must have a degree of Persian ancestry.
gravenimage says
Hamas Must Be Destroyed Not Just Militarily, But As a Political Threat
……………………………………
Spot on, Mr. Fitzgerald. Any ceasefire would just give Hamas the chance to regroup.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Not just that: if the political part of Hamas is left untouched, it won’t be long before a new generation of Hamas militants are born. For the same reason we didn’t leave a Nazi government in Germany intact once they were militarily completely destroyed on the grounds of sparing their political part but destroying their capacity for violence
James Hoaglandj says
Don’t think Hamas can be destroyed totally just as Nazism and communism find warped souls to continue the distorting of reality and life. But militarily they need to be wiped out as in wiped out-erased-obliterated-disintegrated. In Gaza where they were elected by the population and October 7 is still celebrated I don’t see the logic is paying so much attention to ‘civilian’ casualties! What is graphically visible is the support given by ultra-left entities and other demonic types. Here it becomes evident of with whom to build coalitions to defend life and decency. They are a disgusting entity as is shia islam generally and should be exposed as such everyday all day long!
࿗Infidel࿘ says
You seem to be describing islam more than Hamas. Yeah, muslim haters, if denied Hamas, will find homes in islamic jihad, Fatah or other jihad groups. But Israel, for everything it knows, still doesn’t recognize islam as an existential threat, and that’s the biggest strategic threat to their existence
James Lincoln says
࿗Infidel࿘ says,
“But Israel, for everything it knows, still doesn’t recognize islam as an existential threat…”
Naïvely, perhaps, I assume that Israel recognized the existential threat of islam.
With great respect, can you cite any references?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Their actions:
⮞ In Israel, muslims enjoy the same rights as Jews, but do the Israelis monitor what they are taught growing up? Maybe not the suicidal agenda of Hamas, but even the casual references to Jews in the qur’an should be enough to send out alarm signals
⮞ In 2016, their opposition to Trump’s proposed “muslim ban” when he first stated it. They could have just ignored his statement altogether
⮞ Their alliance w/ Azerbaijan against Iran: only that it helps Baku against Armenia as well
somehistory says
all good points. There are also mozlums in the Israeli government.
Just recently one threw a fit over the actions of throwing the un thingy…the connection to hamas… out of Israel.
James Lincoln says
Infidel,
Thank you for your very informative reply.
Bazz says
The prospect of a reformed PA is hopeless. Gaza will end up being ruled by a renamed
Hamas or PA,
I think Gaza must be ruled by either Israel or an international administration.
Such a body must have a policy of resettling the Arabs in another Arab country.
Gaza should be left a wreck without people to demonstrate what happens when a state
be it a mini state or whatever sets out to remove a country and kill all its people.
There is no place for the Arabs who pretend to be a Palestinian people.
If that bill goes through parliament would I be liable to say the above ?