Abbas blames Hamas

For once I agree with Palestinian Pres. Mahmud Abbas of the PA, in an important admission he squarely lays the blame for the destruction in Gaza on Hamas itself (http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-blames-hamas-for-prolonged-battle-with-israel/ ). Tell that to the thousands of violent pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the West, who showed their antagonism towards Israel with such rage.  In a meeting with the PLO leadership in Ramallah and in a subsequent interview on Palestine TV, Abbas said what many Palestinians and others are thinking, namely that after 50 days of fighting, that resulted in 2,100 deaths and the destruction of 50,000 buildings in Gaza, Hamas achieved nothing.  They accepted the same unconditional Egyptian ceasefire that they rejected 5 days after the conflict began.  All this destruction and suffering could have been avoided, but they insisted in showing their antagonism to Israel by continuing to fire about 100 missiles a day into Israel, forcing the IDF to respond.  And the Iron Dome anti-missile system destroyed 90% of the missiles projected to fall on populated areas, so that they were totally unsuccessful, killing only 7 people in Israel (6 Israelis and one Thai worker) with 4,564 missiles in 50 days, that 's 652 missiles per casualty, also they did not hit any Israeli strategic targets, certainly an abject failure!   Israel and the PA are strangely in agreement, since although Abbas criticized Israel and gave his tacit support to the suffering Palestinians in Gaza during the conflict, nevertheless he wants to gain points with the Palestinian street relative to Hamas. Similarly, most of the Arab League members, including Saudi Arabia, have blamed Hamas for the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

Both Israel and the US would prefer the PA to take back control of Gaza from Hamas.  But, Hamas have the guns and are in command of Gaza and there is no way one can see that Abbas will be able to replace them.  The major difference between Hamas and Fatah/PLO is that the former, as we have seen, are still committed to the destruction of Israel by force, while Abbas has supposedly given up on that route.  He prefers to take the diplomatic route, trying to have the UN or the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to force Israel to accept his dictates.   But, while this diplomatic tactic is preferred by Israel over the use of terrorism, nevertheless, even this route is unlikely to succeed.   First, although Abbas can get a majority in the General Assembly of the UN, GA resolutions are unenforceable, only Security Council resolutions are binding.  And second, the US, even under Obama, will surely veto any resolution in the UN SC that seeks to enforce a unilateral Palestinian solution to the problem, since all previous UN resolutions require negotiations between the two sides.  Also third, going to the ICC to try to charge Israel with war crimes, will also lay Hamas open to similar charges, which should be an open-and-shut case, since firing missiles into populated areas is ipso facto a war crime.

So after 50 days of fighting Hamas has gained little more than a token terrorizing of Israelis in southern Israel.  What will happen after the quiet period is over and the sides are required to negotiate indirectly through Egypt remains to be seen.  If Hamas once again rejects demilitarization and resumes firing missiles into Israel then they can expect, as PM Netanyahu has said, that the IDF will go all the way next time.