Arab criticism of Hamas
600 rockets from Gaza fell onto Israeli territory in the week before Israel began its counter-attack, Operation Cast Lead. Another 425 have fallen since the Operation began last week, killing four people.
There have been demonstrations against the Israeli attacks on Gaza in Britain, France and around the world. The major criticism of these activists against Israel is the disproportionate use of Israeli force and the concomitant disproportionate casualties, currently at ca. 450. However, most of the casualties are not civilians, most estimates put the number of actual civilians killed at ca. 60, but they tend to lump all casualties together, not acknowledging that the vast majority of them are Hamas terrorists. Last night the houses of about 25 Hamas leaders were targeted by the IAF and Zubeida al-Jamal who was responsible for the rocket firings was killed.
Even in the Arab world, and this is a first, there is criticism of Hamas in Gaza, far beyond any criticism by the anti-Israel protesters. For example, Muhammed Bassiouny, Head of the Egyptian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and a former Ambassador to Israel, charged publicly that Hamas precipitated this crisis by deliberately ignoring attempts to restore a ceasefire and continuing to fire rockets into Israel to kill civilians. It is clear that Pres. Mubarak of Egypt was embarrassed by Hamas ignoring his attempts to arrange a ceasefire. In fact, Mubarak has refused to open the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt except for badly injured victims, until it is controlled by the PA. And Pres. Abbas of the PA in the West Bank has stated the same criticism of Hamas. Also, in Jordan, although there have been pro-Hamas demonstrations, they have been broken up by the police and there have been similar statements by Jordanian leaders criticizing Hamas. This is also the case from Saudi Arabia, which has criticized Iran for meddling in Arab affairs.
The general alignment of the Sunni “moderate” Arab world is that Hamas brought this situation on itself by continuing the rocket onslaught against Israel when Israel was prepared to continue the ceasefire. In fact, the Arab League could not agree on a joint statement and left the situation for the UN Security Council to deal with. It is unusual for the Arab leaders to be taking a more moderate position than the western liberals. The Libyan resolution presented to the Security Council was so one-sided that everyone knew it would not be adopted, and the Arab League’s support for it was seen as a fillip to the Arab “street.”
While Hizbollah and Iran have criticized Mubarak for not taking a strong anti-Israel position, Egyptian forces have arrested ca. 50 Palestinians in Sinai as part of a Hamas cell that was sent to carry out terrorism. This is just what the moderate Arab leaders fear, an Iranian inspired terrorist incursion into their world. Under these circumstances, and with Pres. Bush supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, there is little likelihood of an immediate cessation of the fighting. The outlines of a ceasefire will become clearer on Monday when Pres. Sarkozy arrives with an EU delegation in the region to try to mediate a ceasefire. However, although they mean well they have no influence with Hamas.
Saturday the IDF started firing artillery at open areas of the Gaza Strip clearing the way for the first stage of a ground assault.
There have been demonstrations against the Israeli attacks on Gaza in Britain, France and around the world. The major criticism of these activists against Israel is the disproportionate use of Israeli force and the concomitant disproportionate casualties, currently at ca. 450. However, most of the casualties are not civilians, most estimates put the number of actual civilians killed at ca. 60, but they tend to lump all casualties together, not acknowledging that the vast majority of them are Hamas terrorists. Last night the houses of about 25 Hamas leaders were targeted by the IAF and Zubeida al-Jamal who was responsible for the rocket firings was killed.
Even in the Arab world, and this is a first, there is criticism of Hamas in Gaza, far beyond any criticism by the anti-Israel protesters. For example, Muhammed Bassiouny, Head of the Egyptian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and a former Ambassador to Israel, charged publicly that Hamas precipitated this crisis by deliberately ignoring attempts to restore a ceasefire and continuing to fire rockets into Israel to kill civilians. It is clear that Pres. Mubarak of Egypt was embarrassed by Hamas ignoring his attempts to arrange a ceasefire. In fact, Mubarak has refused to open the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt except for badly injured victims, until it is controlled by the PA. And Pres. Abbas of the PA in the West Bank has stated the same criticism of Hamas. Also, in Jordan, although there have been pro-Hamas demonstrations, they have been broken up by the police and there have been similar statements by Jordanian leaders criticizing Hamas. This is also the case from Saudi Arabia, which has criticized Iran for meddling in Arab affairs.
The general alignment of the Sunni “moderate” Arab world is that Hamas brought this situation on itself by continuing the rocket onslaught against Israel when Israel was prepared to continue the ceasefire. In fact, the Arab League could not agree on a joint statement and left the situation for the UN Security Council to deal with. It is unusual for the Arab leaders to be taking a more moderate position than the western liberals. The Libyan resolution presented to the Security Council was so one-sided that everyone knew it would not be adopted, and the Arab League’s support for it was seen as a fillip to the Arab “street.”
While Hizbollah and Iran have criticized Mubarak for not taking a strong anti-Israel position, Egyptian forces have arrested ca. 50 Palestinians in Sinai as part of a Hamas cell that was sent to carry out terrorism. This is just what the moderate Arab leaders fear, an Iranian inspired terrorist incursion into their world. Under these circumstances, and with Pres. Bush supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, there is little likelihood of an immediate cessation of the fighting. The outlines of a ceasefire will become clearer on Monday when Pres. Sarkozy arrives with an EU delegation in the region to try to mediate a ceasefire. However, although they mean well they have no influence with Hamas.
Saturday the IDF started firing artillery at open areas of the Gaza Strip clearing the way for the first stage of a ground assault.
posted by Jack Cohen at 2:30 PM
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