Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

At least 300,000 Gazans rally to mark Hamas’ 20th anniversary - Haaretz, December 16, 2007

Meshal said Abbas, who controls the West Bank, does not have the mandate to negotiate with Israel.

Addressing the rally, senior Hamas official Mushir al-Masri warned Israel to expect many casualties if Israel Defense Forces troops launch a major operation in the coastal territory in an attempt to stop almost daily rocket fire by militants at Israel.

“Jews, go back, because we have already dug graves for you,” Masri said. Israel carries out regular raids on Gaza and has killed dozens of militants in the past month….

Large pictures of Hamas’ leaders, both in Gaza and in exile, were draped across the speakers’ podium. A black banner hanging from a nearby building read, in Arabic, English and French: “We will not recognize Israel.”

“This is the real referendum on the popularity of resistance, the people converging behind Hamas,” said Zayed Herzallah, a 28-year old merchant, who brought a van full of young relatives. “Hamas today, after 20 years and after thousands of martyrs, is graduating the fourth generation (of supporters).”

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

About 200,000 Gazans rallied in a show of force from Hamas on the 20th anniversary of its founding.

Steven Erlanger and Taghreed El-Khodary, Gazans Rally on Hamas Anniversary, New York Times, December 15, 2007

GAZA — About 200,000 Gazans rallied in support of Hamas on Saturday, the 20th anniversary of its founding.

It was a significant show of force from Hamas, which took over Gaza six months ago in a rapid rout of Fatah forces. The rally was intended to display popular “samoud,” or steadfastness, in the face of the diplomatic and economic isolation of Gaza, which Israel has declared a “hostile entity.” It was easily as large as one a month ago for its rival, the Fatah faction, on the anniversary of the death of Yasir Arafat, and estimates ranged up to 250,000 people….

The crowd featured many who are poor and devout, with many veiled women and masked men. Layali al-Kher, 27, said that there was little money in her family, because factories and construction has largely stopped due to restrictions on cement and raw materials. “But this siege was not imposed by Hamas but on them, so why should we criticize them?” she asked. “They’ve put Hamas in a bottle and they are trying to suffocate it. But they have achieved a lot: the streets are safe, the traffic is controlled. They have adapted quickly and have a strong will.”

Ms. Kher said that she supported the armed struggle against Israel, as did Myasar Suleiman, 56, whose family of six sons and three daughters is largely supported by her husband, who sells vegetables, and by United Nations aid to refugees. Her son, Saleh, saw his salary cut by Ramallah because of his ties to Hamas, she said.

Hamas: Abbas has no right to give up one inch of Palestine, Haaretz, November 27, 2007

Hours before the start of a U.S.-hosted Middle East peace conference, Gaza’s Hamas rulers stepped up their attacks on Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, calling him a traitor and saying they would reject any decisions that come out of the international gathering.

“The Land of Palestine … is purely owned by the Palestinians,” senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said in a speech. “No person, group, government or generation has the right to give up one inch of it.”

“Anyone who stands in the face of resistance or fights it or cooperates with the occupation against it is a traitor,” he added. He spoke at a conference, held in Gaza City, attended by some 2,000 activists from local militant groups opposed to the U.S. conference.

Hamas and other militant groups have been holding a series of protests this week against the U.S. peace conference, underscoring the challenges Abbas faces at home as he tries to make peace with Israel.

Nissenbaum Blog: Checkpoint Jerusalem, Nov. 20, 2007

The cashier at the Unity Market in Gaza City pulled up video of last week’s deadly Arafat memorial rally on his computer and cursed the Hamas gunmen who opened fire on the crowd, killing at least seven.

“I went to the rally not to support Fatah or Yasser Arafat, but to send a message to the whole international community that we don’t want Hamas,” said the shopkeeper who gave his name only as Ala’. “I hate them because of what they did at the rally.”

Then, suddenly, the man went quiet, put his finger to his lip and shook his head.

In walked a thin man with a black shirt, black jeans and a well-cropped red beard. The store owner kept quiet until the Hamas member bought his bottle of cooking oil and left. Then he returned to cursing Hamas.

“How do you want me to love or respect Hamas?” said Ala’, who voted for Hamas in last year’s election. “It’s only a matter of fear.”

Across the Gaza Strip, there is growing frustration and resentment as life for the 1.5 million Palestinians remains mired in a swamp of economic and political despair.

More than five months into its unilateral control of Gaza, Hamas is slowly losing its grip on the main thing the Islamist forces brought when they took power in mid-June: Security.

Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

ON EDGE A woman passes under the watchful eye of a member of Hamas’s security forces outside the Parliament building in Gaza City. In June, Hamas prevailed against its rival, Fatah.

Erlanger, Under Siege, Life in Gaza Just Shrinks - NYT, November 18, 2007

IT’S a miserable time to be a Gazan.

A Tightened Grip, Multimedia Feature, Photos by Ruth Fremson

Hopes were high in 2005, when Israel unilaterally withdrew its troops and 9,000 Jewish settlers, and the international community lined up to help the Palestinians make Gaza a model for their potential state.

But happy endings are rare in this part of the world. In the last year, life in Gaza has been plagued by criminal gangs as well as fighting among Palestinian groups. Some rocket barrages aimed at Israel fall on Gaza itself, and Israeli retaliation for the rest ranges from military strikes to economic quarantine.

Months of battling between the main political factions, Fatah and Hamas, culminated in a Gazan civil war in June, with 160 people killed and 800 wounded, many of them civilians. Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union, was the winner.

The struggle is hardly finished, with Fatah trying to consolidate in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. Just last week, a large Fatah demonstration on the third anniversary of Yasir Arafat’s death ended in violence when Hamas police fired into a rock-throwing crowd and killed six people, while beating others.

Hamas is under siege, and with it, the people of Gaza.

It’s not just that Hamas is shunned by the West and Israel, which has declared Gaza “a hostile entity” and is moving to restrict supplies of gasoline, diesel fuel and electricity. Gaza is also shunned by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, who is a ready accomplice in the effort to punish and pressure Hamas.

After the Israelis pulled out in 2005, Gazans complained that they lived in a big prison, since Israel still controlled their airspace, sea coasts and principal border crossings. Such claims had an element of propaganda, but now, with the crossing into Egypt for people also shut, by Egypt, the accusation is much closer to reality.

A trickle of the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza can now leave their tiny coastal strip for any reason whatsoever. The streets are ghostly, with little traffic, and the private economy is dying, lacking needed imports and unable to export.

Gaza is a deeply conservative society, but Hamas’s growth has been reflected in the increasing number of women not only covering their hair, but also their faces. Israel says that it will ensure that no one starves in Gaza, and that the essentials of life will be provided.

But Israel also wants to see that Hamas suffers, by making Gazans suffer, to impress on them that the best path lies in accommodation and negotiation with Israel for a Palestinian state. Fatah backs that strategy, not the violent, religious and national struggle against Israel that Hamas advocates and practices.

Raji Sourani, director of Gaza’s Palestinian Center for Human Rights, is himself stuck in Gaza. No friend to Hamas, he has a new metaphor.

“At least in prison, and I’ve been in prison, there are rules,” he said. “But now we live in a kind of animal farm. We live in a pen, and they dump in food and medicine.”

Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad at his home in Rafah, Gaza Strip

Dion Nissenbaum’s Blog: Checkpoint Jerusalem, October 31, 2007

One of the first Hamas leaders I ever met in the Gaza Strip was Ghazi Hamad, who was then working as editor of a pro-Hamas newspaper in Gaza City.

Among journalists, Hamad was a favored barometer. He was a Hamas confidante who steered clear of some of the standard revolutionary rhetoric you would get from the more stalwart Hamas leaders.

Within Hamas, Hamad is a relative pragmatist and realist who has tried, with some success, to nudge the movement towards political moderation.

Hamad was among those who urged Hamas to run in last year’s legislative elections and ran as an unsuccessful candidate himself. When Hamas took power, Hamad became a spokesman for the new government and public face for PA PM Ismail Haniyeh.

But it now appears that Hamas moderates are being silenced as hard-liners re-assert their dominance.

Hamad has been quietly pushed aside after delivering a caustic critique of Hamas in an open letter to Hamas leaders.

Benziman, One, two, three, testing - Haaretz, October 28, 2007

Experience teaches that subjecting the Palestinians to collective punishment - roadblocks, curfews or economic pressure - has not brought the desired result. Just the opposite: it increases the terror organizations’ motivation to strike at Israel, and increases the number of potential suicide bombers. In addition, the use of collective punishment damages Israel’s image and efforts to gain international understanding for its position in the conflict with the Palestinians. Common sense would thus suggest avoiding this method. To put it simply, in terms of costs versus benefits - the idea of harassing Gazans to the point of depriving them of fuel and electricity deserves to be shelved in light of the price Israel will have to pay for implementing this plan. It can be inferred based on what Olmert told Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Friday that he understands this: A statement released after the two leaders met in Jerusalem said the prime minister promised his guest that Israel would not cause a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. If that is the case, then what is the point of publicizing Israel’s plans to impose wide-ranging sanctions on Gaza’s population? Either the intention is to harass them mercilessly, in which case one may question the value of the prime minister’s promise to the PA leader; or to harass them only to a “tolerable” degree - in which case, what’s the point in harassing them?

There is a moral message to the decision, too: When Israel assassinates terrorists and injures innocent bystanders, it claims in its defense that that was not its intention, and that the terror organizations’ operational methods force it to act as it does. It is doubtful that this argument passes the test of morality, since some might argue that if Israel knows from the start that its actions will harm innocent victims, then it should avoid such actions. How much more so when the state walks, eyes wide open, into a moral and legal trap, in preparing to knowingly impose a collective punishment whose purpose is to harm tens of thousands of completely innocent people. So what should be done to combat the Qassams? Instead of trying economic siege and power outages and limited raids and ground campaigns and targeted assassinations - how about trying to reach a comprehensive settlement with the Palestinians founded on a genuine Israeli willingness to give up the territories?

Former head of Shin Bet Ami Ayalon

Israeli seeks Hamas participation, BBC, October 25, 2007

An Israeli minister has called on his government to invite “moderate” members from the Palestinian movement Hamas to an upcoming Middle East conference.

Minister without portfolio Ami Ayalon said any invitation would be conditional on Hamas members fully recognising Israel right to exist.

Mr Ayalon said that Israel should be talking to moderates regardless of their political stripes.

The conference is planned for late November in Annapolis in the US.

Mr Ayalon said that potential Hamas attendees would have to agree to abide by any agreement signed between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Hamas’ bitter rival Fatah.

“All the definitions of Hamas and Fatah are becoming irrelevant,” Mr Ayalon told the BBC.

“There are both Hamas and Fatah factions that are terrorists. We must speak to the moderates. “

Minister Ayalon calls on PM to invite Hamas to regional summit - Haaretz, October 24, 2007

Minister Ami Ayalon has called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to break Israel’s boycott of Hamas and invite representatives of the group to participate in the regional peace conference scheduled for later this year in Annapolis, Maryland, Army Radio reported Wednesday.

The invitation would be contingent on Hamas’ acceptance of the Palestinian Authority’s stance at the summit, Ayalon told Army Radio.

“I say we need to invite Hamas to Annapolis, if from the beginning, they are prepared to receive any joint document signed by Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] and Ehud Olmert.”

“A call like this from Israel could bring the beginning of Hamas’ disintegration because of the internal conflict which will occur,” he added.

Fatah uses ‘morality police’ to burnish image | csmonitor.com, October 11, 2007

Ramallah, West Bank - With a red armband identifying himself as “morality police,” Lt. Ameen Theeti describes his job of the past few weeks as combing the streets of central Ramallah to maintain both “public order” and “tradition.”

The new Palestinian Authority (PA) outfit’s mission has been to bust anyone caught violating the fast during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month ending this week. That means potential arrests and jail time for simply chewing gum.

Although the enforcement of Ramadan customs is common in the Arab world, this is the first time the PA has instructed police to look for offenders. It’s a move seen here as an effort by Fatah to compete with Hamas – seen by many Palestinians as the more pious and less corrupt Palestinian faction – for the hearts and minds of West Bankers.

“If we catch anyone eating or smoking in a public area, we take their identification and we bring them to an interrogation center,” says Lieutenant Theeti.

Sami Abdel-Shafi, Divided and voiceless, Guardian Unlimited, September 27, 2007

Today we are imprisoned from all sides, including the sea, our vast symbol of freedom and opportunity that Israel stopped us sailing on long ago. Within the prison walls Gazans cannot escape the foul smell of burning rubbish that frequently fills the streets; many are forced to eat bread made of flour mixed with “feed wheat” - only suitable for animals - to compensate for flour shortages.

The appearance of leaders of both Hamas and Fatah, side by side on Tuesday at the funeral of my uncle, Dr Haidar Abdel-Shafi, the co-founder of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, was welcome. The suffering of ordinary Palestinians and the presence of Israel as an occupying force - whose military policies have bred division among Palestinians - can only be remedied by further expressions of unity between the parties, and a move to dialogue based on an unambiguous platform of pursuing peace with Israel.

It is urgent because Palestinians are drowning in half-truths. While internal security improved in the eyes of many Gazans with the change of power, some innocents were tortured by Hamas. The impact of yet another siege, and the collapse of whatever remains of an economy, health system or connection with the outside world, create profound instability in ordinary people’s lives.

The deplorable conditions here only make it easier for Hamas to commit mistakes and violations. Improved internal security in Gaza and Hamas’s victory in the 2006 elections cannot continue to be Hamas’s only bargaining chips.

The PA’s promise that, despite its physical distance, it would not forget Gaza’s citizens, is not holding up well. Palestinian official ability to challenge the continuing military policies of Israel has been gravely corroded, as events on the ground illustrate. Many in Gaza perceive that Fatah provoked June’s seizure of power by Hamas, and their suspicions are hardened by a sense that officials in the West Bank are looking the other way while life in Gaza loses any sense of dignity. In effect, Gaza is forgotten. Gaza is left voiceless.

It came as little surprise, therefore, to see how easily the Israeli cabinet was able to declare the Gaza Strip an “enemy entity” last week, legitimising the deliberate, and disproportionate, punishment of Gazans through disruption of electricity and fuel supplies. The move came in response to Palestinian home-made rockets targeting southern Israel, which Gazans widely oppose. Israel’s declaration warns of a self-afforded licence to continue hammering the Gaza Strip, with barely any accountability.

Against this backdrop, Israeli and PA officials are drafting an agreement on principles ahead of the US-sponsored peace conference scheduled for November. But Palestinian division and the degeneration of 1.5 million Gazans into a humanitarian case - or an “enemy” humanitarian case - only diminish the Palestinian negotiating position. It also allows Israel’s hawks to dismiss legitimate Palestinian demands for a just peace.

The resilience of Gazans is not so great that it will enable them to endure the consequences of Palestinian division on top of the continuing military incarceration from Israel. The real victims in the battle between Hamas and the PA are the people of Gaza. Here, ordinary lives are crippled, with access to medical care, municipal services and utilities brutally halted.

Leading Israeli authors, intellectuals call for truce with Hamas - Haaretz, September 24, 2007

A long list of prominent intellectuals recently signed a petition calling for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to negotiate a cease-fire with Hamas.

The signatories of the petition - which was organized by the sponsors of the Geneva Initiative and will be published today - include the novelists Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman, Meir Shalev, Judith Katzir, Eli Amir, Savyon Liebrecht, Yehoshua Sobol and Dorit Rabinyan.

The petition, titled “Agreement with [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas, cease-fire with Hamas,” reads: “Israel has in the past negotiated with its worst enemies … Now, the appropriate course of action is to negotiate with Hamas to reach a general cease-fire to prevent further suffering for both sides.”

M.J. Rosenberg, It’s lobbying, but is it really pro-Israel? - Haaretz, September 21, 2007

The U.S. (and Israeli) policies of all sticks and no carrots led predictably to Abbas’ defeat by Hamas and a Hamas-controlled Gaza that has resumed its attacks on Israeli towns.

 Hussein Ibish rightly criticizes those who defend Hamas even though they would never defend Christian or Jewish movements with similar views. Israel and the United States both bear much of the responsibility for Hamas’s electoral successes because of their failure to improve Palestinian living conditions. Fatah has also been crippled by corruption and, in some cases, a willingness to cooperate with counterproductive Israeli efforts to destroy Hamas.  Israel’s punishment of the people of Gaza for the Hamas takeover is outrageous.  And refusing to negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas as a result of its electoral successes is both wrong and counterproductive. But none of these facts entails ignoring the reactionary aspects of Hamas. None of these facts entails ignoring the antisemitic rhetoric of the Hamas charter that is routinely echoed in sermons and statements by Hamas supporters. Those of us who routinely condemn the simplistic Manichean language of the neoconservatives should make sure we avoid simplistic Manichean language of our own. The bigotry of the oppressed is no more excusable than the bigotry of their oppressors.

Hussein Ibish, American Taskforce on Palestine - ATFP Issue Paper (Sept 7, 2007)

…let us recall that the Hamas government’s foreign minister, Mahmoud Zahar, told an astonished Wolf Blitzer of CNN in his first post-election interview that an “Islamic” society in Palestine was needed because a “secular system allows homosexuality, allows corruption, allows the spread of the loss of natural immunity, like AIDS. We are here living under Islamic control.” In 2005, the same gentleman condemned dancing between men and women, and castigated “homosexuals and lesbians, a minority of perverts and the mentally and morally sick.” Meanwhile, Hamas’ education minister banned a book of folkloric tales because of its “immoral” references to romance….

… [those] of us who seek first to end the occupation and then support the development of a democratic and pluralistic Palestinian state have to hold firm to those commitments. This means at the very least not defending those whose stated policies and concrete actions run strictly counter to those aims. It is not necessary to support any particular entity to promote these principles, and it is hardly our role as Americans to carry water for any leadership outside of our own country. But support for those principles must translate into sober judgments about what and who is most likely to promote them, and words and deeds should follow these considerations. Dismissing those who hold firm to these important values and goals as “diplomatic fronts” or “Washington lobbies” for narrow Palestinian political factions, or, most preposterously, as “neoconservatives,” is beneath contempt. 

Al-Qaida commander criticizes Hamas for abandoning Jihad - Haaretz, September 10, 2007

An al-Qaida commander who escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan criticized Hamas in a new videotape Sunday and other Islamic groups that he said prioritized nationalism and electoral politics over Jihad, or holy war.

Hamas is largely focused on the creation of an independent Palestinian state rather than al-Qaida’s vision of a worldwide Muslim community ruled by Islamic law.

Like Al-Qaida, the Palestinian movement advocates violence to achieve its goal, but has also participated in elections.

“Patriotism, nationalism, shared unity, the supreme interest and other slogans … none of these have any space in the religion of Allah the Glorious and the Great,” he said, criticizing groups like Hamas for abandoning Jihad and jumping into the ballot boxes.