Meeting in Mecca
It has become the received wisdom that the Palestine-Israel conflict is the "core" to the problem of war and peace in the Middle East. British FM Margaret Becker just stated this in Jerusalem, echoing her boss Tony Blair, and many other luminaries, such as Pres. Chirac of France, EU foreign representative Xavier Solana and numerous others, too many to mention. However, they are quite wrong! Only today Secty of State Rice reversed her former statements supporting this position and before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, she rejected "linkage" of the Israel-Palestinian conflict to any other conflicts, specifically Iraq, and said that the Israel-Palestine conflict should be "resolved on its own terms."
In fact, the situation has now reversed itself and the Palestinian conflict has become a subordinate part of the overall Islamic-Western civilizational clash. It cannot be resolved until the problem of Iran is first taken care of. And here I am not talking solely about the Iranian nuclear issue, but about the whole Islamist and particularly Shia war against the West.
This change in priority is well represented by the current meeting in Mecca between Hamas representatives PM Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal from Damascus and Fatah represented by Pres. Abbas of the PA. Mecca is a special place for Muslims, and no Sunni Muslim leader could deny a call by the King of Saudi Arabia to meet there. That is why Hamas was invited, in order to bring them to heel. Even though they are supported by Shia Iran, Palestinian Hamas are Sunni, and they must show their adherence to the Saudi Sunni dynasty. While there, they are no doubt being told in no uncertain terms that the Sunnis resent their close cooperation with Shia Iran. There will no doubt be transfer of large sums of money to sweeten the realignment. But the ostensible reason for their presence is the negotiations going on between Hamas and Fatah over the Government of the PA.
But, notwithstanding the agreement over a National Unity Government that they announced last night, it will not stick. Within days I predict there will be continued and even more extensive fighting in the streets between Hamas and Fatah gunmen. There are two reasons for this, first the organizations do not control their gangs on the streets, which act and operate essentially independently, it is mob rule. Second, there is no way to square the circle, Hamas and Fatah are fundamentally opposed, Hamas will never compromise on its opposition to the existence of the State of Israel, as was made clear by the absence of this point from the agreement, which does not satisfy the Quartet's three conditions. So after a few days for appearance sake back in Gaza, they will ignore this agreement and revert to the current conflict, since Hamas believe that with God's help, and that of Iran, they expect to win!
In fact, the situation has now reversed itself and the Palestinian conflict has become a subordinate part of the overall Islamic-Western civilizational clash. It cannot be resolved until the problem of Iran is first taken care of. And here I am not talking solely about the Iranian nuclear issue, but about the whole Islamist and particularly Shia war against the West.
This change in priority is well represented by the current meeting in Mecca between Hamas representatives PM Haniyeh and Khaled Mashaal from Damascus and Fatah represented by Pres. Abbas of the PA. Mecca is a special place for Muslims, and no Sunni Muslim leader could deny a call by the King of Saudi Arabia to meet there. That is why Hamas was invited, in order to bring them to heel. Even though they are supported by Shia Iran, Palestinian Hamas are Sunni, and they must show their adherence to the Saudi Sunni dynasty. While there, they are no doubt being told in no uncertain terms that the Sunnis resent their close cooperation with Shia Iran. There will no doubt be transfer of large sums of money to sweeten the realignment. But the ostensible reason for their presence is the negotiations going on between Hamas and Fatah over the Government of the PA.
But, notwithstanding the agreement over a National Unity Government that they announced last night, it will not stick. Within days I predict there will be continued and even more extensive fighting in the streets between Hamas and Fatah gunmen. There are two reasons for this, first the organizations do not control their gangs on the streets, which act and operate essentially independently, it is mob rule. Second, there is no way to square the circle, Hamas and Fatah are fundamentally opposed, Hamas will never compromise on its opposition to the existence of the State of Israel, as was made clear by the absence of this point from the agreement, which does not satisfy the Quartet's three conditions. So after a few days for appearance sake back in Gaza, they will ignore this agreement and revert to the current conflict, since Hamas believe that with God's help, and that of Iran, they expect to win!
posted by Jack Cohen at 1:22 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home