The Hamas Factor
Hamas has been relatively quiet of late. No longer. Last night, they sent a barrage of rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel. One rocket hit the town of Ofakim and another the town of Netivot, where it landed near a wedding celebration. Four people were treated for shock; there were no other injuries. (lsrael, by the way, has reinforced the army and police presence on the border in response to the unrest in Egypt.)
As far as Egypt is concerned, Hamas is in a bind. On the one hand, they're salivating at the prospect of permanently ending the Egyptian blockade of Gaza, which began the moment Hamas threw out Fatah in 2007. Once the blockade is lifted, it's onward and upward. If the Mubarak regime falls and is replaced by ElBaradei, the inflow of arms into Gaza will almost certainly become infinitely easier. Hamas will have reason to celebrate.
But what if Mubarak stays, or departs only to be replaced by Suleiman? For Hamas, life could get even tougher than it already is. As you know, the Egyptian army received permission from Israel over the weekend to enter the Sinai for the first time since the signing of the peace treaty in 1979. Its object is to seal the Egypt-Gaza border in order to prevent members of Hamas -- which, remember, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood -- from infiltrating Egypt and joining the opposition. In the process of securing the border, Egypt has shut down the smuggling tunnels in the Philadelphi Corridor, resulting in a cutoff of fuel supplies into Gaza. Gazans are reported to be texting one another to hurry up and fill up their cars.
So what should Hamas do? Come out swinging in favor of the opposition, or maintain a tactful silence until it becomes clear which way the cookie's going to crumble?
On the one hand, they are not allowing Gazans to demonstrate in support of the Egyptian protesters, for fear of retribution if Mubarak/Suleiman comes out on top. (The PA has made the same calculation, quelling a demonstration before it could get off the ground.) But on the other hand, there are reports of direct clashes between Hamas and the Egyptian army. DebkaFile -- which, I caution, is notoriously alarmist -- even goes so far as to say that Hamas has "opened a second, Palestinian, front against the Mubarak regime on orders from Hamas' parent organization, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, confirmed by its bosses in Damascus." They do not reveal the source of this information, and I have not seen confirmation of it elsewhere. It appears fishy on the face of it -- if the decision has been made from on high that Hamas is officially to take on the Egyptian regime, there's no logic to the suppression of Gazan demonstrations on behalf of the Egyptian protesters -- but there might be another explanation for the silencing of Gazans. If Hamas allows them to gather and protest, who knows? They might protest Hamas.
Hey, a girl can hope.
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: The Hamas Factor
I've seen Hamas as written, above, and also as all capitals. Is it an acronym, a proper name, or a combination of partial words?
Thanks.
Re: The Hamas Factor
CJRun: I've seen Hamas as written, above, and also as all capitals. Is it an acronym, a proper name, or a combination of partial words?
Thanks. · Feb 1 at 3:41am
It's an acronym for Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, which means Islamic Resistance Movement.
Jun '10
Re: The Hamas Factor
I don't understand what Hamas thinks it's doing. They have a geography problem. The border between the Gaza Strip and Sinai is limited. Maybe five or ten miles? Assuming Hamas agents get through the border, they still need to cross about a hundred miles of the Sinai before reaching Suez. The Sinai is largely empty with few population centers within which to hide. The only possibility is Al Arish which, if memory serves, is a European resort town. Then there's Egyptian security and UN checkpoints (assuming the UN is still there) to avoid. Hamas is boxed in. Wasn't that the point, after all, when the Israelis surrendered the Gaza Strip and Egypt sealed the border? Too bad the Palestinians didn't have the acumen to become a Hong Kong on the eastern Mediterranean. They certainly "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
Jun '10
Re: The Hamas Factor
Judith, Thanks so much for your and Claire's continuing reportage on all this. You bring a much needed dimension that is sadly lacking from many of the sites and definitely on the tube. Even Fox News has been sadly lacking...in between alerts on the most inconsequential domestic stories and a plethora of commercials hawking medications and devices for the elderly, every once in a while a snippet of Middle East news manages to sneak through but still nothing that comes close to what you and Claire have been able to report. Perhaps it's time to set up your own news service. Keep up the great work!
Re: The Hamas Factor
Brian, thank you!