Israel Hayom..
09 May '14..
"Rock, paper, scissors" is a game children use to reach a decision. Simultaneously they form shapes with their hands: A fist is a rock, fingers held in a V-shape indicate scissors, and a flat hand represents paper. The rock breaks the scissors, paper covers the rock, and scissors cut the paper.
Unlike the innocent children's game, over the years the Palestinian terrorist groups (including Hamas and Islamic Jihad) have been trying to use these three things in an ongoing -- and unsuccessful -- effort to bring Israel down.
Neither the "stones of resistance" that were thrown at the heads of the Zionists, the "metal scissors" thrust into the backs of Jewish passersby, the Qassam rockets, Kalashnikov bullets and ball bearings loaded into explosives that killed Israelis on buses, in restaurants and on the streets, have defeated the "Jewish enemy."
When the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority broke down recently, the attempts to wrap the Jews in the "paper of lies" -- agreements without substance, value or commitment -- failed.
Since the time of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood cell in which Arafat was a member and from which Fatah developed in the 1960s, a varied spectrum of Palestinian murder groups has arisen. These groups acted according to contradictory ideologies -- secular, popular, democratic and Arab or Islamic -- and set records of murder as they vied with one another for control.
Each group received enormous budgets and arms from the leaders of the Arab states as a means to unify the ranks of their oppressed subjects.
Let us remember that the Arab leaders also subcontracted these groups to do their dirty work. This enabled the leaders to pay lip service to the problem of the refugees who had gathered in their countries even as they avoided solving it. The rulers of the Arab world expropriated the huge amount of property left behind by thousands of their Jewish citizens who fled to Palestine. But instead of absorbing the Palestinian refugees -- their brothers in faith, language, history and blood -- as equal citizens in their countries, they subjected them to "apartheid" and denied them civil rights, citizenship and jobs.
After Fatah was founded, Arafat and his people succeeded in unifying the Palestinian terrorist groups that shared a common goal under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization. As the Arab proverb goes, they are actually "two buttocks in a single garment." Arafat used assassinations, threats and extortion to navigate among the terrorist leaders' ambitions, and unified them under the flag of Israel's destruction and "the liberation of Palestine." To put it simply: Israel held talks with a group for which the liberation of Palestine (from Israel) is its declared goal, explicit motto and part of its national compact.
The frogs that would not leave
But a series of geopolitical explosions changed the game completely for all those who had made long-term plans in the Middle East. Political Islam -- the name given to the ideology of terrorism and mass murder in Islam's name -- raised its head. The Iranian revolution in 1979 showed clearly that the vision of imposing Islamic rule in the world was possible, and that the return to "true" Islam and following the ways of Mohammed would pave the way for the caliphate to rule the world and bring the Jews and Christians under its sway until their "irrelevant" religions died out.
Hezbollah's accomplishments, al-Qaida's successes and the Islamic pockets of control that established themselves in Middle Eastern countries strengthened the movement, which gets most of its support from Qatar.
The First Intifada gave rise to the Muslim Brotherhood's activists in Gaza as a new factor in the unified headquarters. Until that time, they had fought mainly against the representatives of the PLO's secular left wing.
Throughout the First and Second Intifadas, the members of the Muslim Brotherhood formed the Islamic Resistance Movement -- better known by its Arabic acronym, Hamas. Its transition from a marginal group to a partner in the PLO's struggle and later its adversary calls to mind the parable of Abdullah and the frog. A frog, wishing to observe the world from a high vantage point, climbed onto the forehead of a man named Abdullah and refused to leave. When Abdullah went to the doctor to have the frog surgically removed, the frog complained, "Doctor, look what's grown out of my backside!"
Both intifadas enabled Hamas to take a leading role in the Palestinian arena. The hatred of Jews that the two camps held in common served to bridge their ideological differences. Their leaders ignored the differences in the governmental, social, religious and political messages and deferred their gratification when it came to dividing the perks of power, the character of the society they wished to build (a Shariah-led state) and managing the security groups.
Both sides temporarily put aside their ambitions and different strategic approaches for the liberation of Palestine. Arafat even used Hamas's tactic of terror attacks in parallel with "peace talks" with Israel to extort concessions under pressure.
The defeats that the Palestinians suffered in the armed struggle against Israel, mainly during the Second Intifada, exposed cracks in the shared agenda for Israel's destruction, pitting the strategy of stages against one that espoused an immediate, total effort. Increasing corruption in the PLO's institutions in the territories led to Hamas's victory in the 2006 elections, and Hamas was on its way to turning the Palestinian Authority into an "Islamic emirate." Following Mahmoud Abbas's dismissal of the Islamic prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, in 2007, Hamas carried out a "putsch" that crushed the PA's power in Gaza. Since then, Hamas, which openly seeks to destroy Israel via armed struggle, has posed a threat to the PA establishment in Judea and Samaria as well.
An Arab proverb states: "We taught you how to beg, and now you knock on doors ahead of us." The "frogs" that Hamas had placed on the Palestinian Authority's forehead in Gaza since the days of the united headquarters led to the flight of Fatah operatives, with Israel's assistance, to Judea and Samaria.
During the coup, some Fatah members were shot to death. Others were thrown off the roofs of high-rise buildings. Since then, the PLO, and Fatah first of all, have suffered a great deal from Hamas, which is tirelessly building infrastructure and plotting to seize power.
Hamas lies in wait for Fatah
PLO members have known since the 2007 "putsch" that Hamas is lying in wait for Fatah and plans to eliminate it. Hamas is likely to get its wish if democratic elections are held in the territories, or if the security cooperation between Israel and the PA should stop and Hamas rears its head. From Hamas's perspective, the Palestinian Authority is a collection of infidels and traitors with no legitimate right to rule. They are collaborators with Israel and deserve to die. Hamas, which grew stronger and received support from Egypt while Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was president, became euphoric and refused any settlement with the PLO.
But the process of Hamas' collapse, which took place as part of the unexpected turmoil of the Arab Spring, led to the loss of the traditional support it had received from Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and other countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. This process ended in a mortal blow that came from Egypt when Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi came to power and destroyed the tunnels that nourished Hamas's economy and provided it with arms. This situation cut Ismail Haniyeh down to size. The leaders of battered, bankrupt Hamas now found a common language with the members of the Palestinian Authority, who had also suffered defeat after their failed attempt to declare a Palestinian state unilaterally -- an act that was part of their strategy to destroy Israel in stages.
"One who is already drenched no longer fears the rain," goes the Arab proverb. Mahmoud Abbas has apparently reached the conclusion that the formula for peace -- which included a Palestinian state alongside Israel, land swaps and the abolition of the right of return -- was not acceptable to the Palestinian people because such an agreement would have led to his elimination and that of his close associates. Indeed, if that sort of agreement had been signed, the Palestinian Authority would have drowned in the sea of returning people and in the chaos created by the new importers of terrorism -- those who rejected the agreement.
The price of sailing to hell
Under these circumstances, the Palestinian Authority has chosen the "no-peace" option. This option links up well with the agenda of total, immediate destruction favored by Hamas, which is in a "tahdiya" (cease-fire) with Israel and now seeks to take control of Judea and Samaria.
This option may temporarily extend the life of Abbas' regime and his legitimacy among the Palestinians, and among the nations that tried to "compensate" him and dissuade him from this measure. But to Abbas, it is all one: If peace should be reached under the conditions offered to him, his regime will be destroyed. If peace is not reached, Hamas will take control of the territories in any case, with or without elections. In the meantime, the inevitable may be delayed, and more enticements may be offered to him that could become the opening line of the next negotiations -- and so on. What could be wrong with that?
Mahmoud Abbas' time is past. He has abdicated in favor of Hamas, hoping for a controlled transition of power with minimal damage. He seems to believe that it is better to give up power by resurrecting the joint headquarters rather than by continuing the peace process, which would mean his certain end.
Those who thought that Abbas was a one-time leader and the last chance for peace were wrong. In any case, since when does anyone make peace with a one-time leader who, in giving up the right of return, claims to represent only himself and not the Palestinian people?
At the conclusion of the Palestinian reconciliation meeting in the Al-Shati refugee camp, Ismail Haniyeh emphasized "the right of return for all of Palestine, and the establishment of Palestine on all its soil."
Azzam al-Ahmad, a representative of the Palestinian Authority, paraphrased the reconciliation meeting: "We have agreed to a procedure for making changes in the government, the presidency and the PLO's institutions. At the same time, we will solidify the concepts and the Palestinian ideological truths for the future. We declare that we will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, we have not given up the right of return to Palestine and we have not given up Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine. ... We can agree on the rest later," he said with a significant glance at his hosts. No member of Hamas could have given a better description of the group's agenda.
Abbas' return to the bosom of the joint headquarters is not dramatic. Another pathetic attempt to deceive the Jews and the nations of the world has gone down in history. Even in the Al-Shati marina, the Jews are still the Jews and the sea is still the sea.
The gradual transfer of power from Mahmoud Abbas to Hamas is not surprising. As everybody knows, even a sworn Arab atheist recites the Shahada, or Muslim confession of faith, before dying. Abbas is a Muslim, and all he did in joining Khaled Mashaal and Ismail Haniyeh was pay his "fare" -- a peaceful resignation and damage control to protect himself and his close associates from harm and allow them to keep the property they stole.
The situation calls to mind the Greek legend of Charon, the ferryman who takes the souls of the newly dead to Hades. For all intents and purposes, the rais placed a coin in each of Mashaal's and Haniyeh's mouths in exchange for their transporting him safely out of the Palestinian Authority leadership.
Abbas placed two coins on his own eyes so as not to see what would happen after he stepped down. These four coins, which come from American aid money, were paid to Hamas in exchange for the lives of the Palestinian Authority officials and the property they stole -- a good price for a voyage to hell.
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=17389
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