Even the worst of cynics would view the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and portions of the West Bank, as deserving of at least, some measure of positive, reciprocal response from the Palestinian government. Seeing that the withdrawal came at a very high price, not just financially, but emotionally as well, you would have expected to see some measure of empathyshown towards Israel by her Palestinian neighbors.
But all Israel has beenshown in return for its far reaching efforts, has been contempt, in the form of a Palestinian terrorist organization being elected into government, acontinual rain of rocket attacks being showered upon its southern townsclosest to Gaza, as well as other forms of Palestinian terrorism continuing unabated.
For the people of S’derot, they have been facing collective punishment at the hands of Palestinian terrorists simply for having the honor of being the closest Israeli city to the Gazan border. The fact that the Hamas government has been passively allowing its terrorist comrades to carry out these launches on Israel unhindered, shows just how seriously flawed the claim isthat Hamas has been holding to a truce for more than a year.
Hamas has been participants to terrorism, directly and indirectly during that same time period, and are not the innocent bystanders that many make them out to be. Its a fact that Hamas has indeed exerted its authority over the rocket launchings,but only when it was deemed in their best interests to do so, like during Israel’s disengagement from Gaza, or during a period in June of this year, when not a single Qassam rocket was launched for over 36 hours.
The recent invasion of Israeli territory by one of their armed factions,that ended with the murder of two Israeli soldiers and the wounding five others, including the kidnapped IDF corporal, is just one more example of Hamas’ refusal to moderate themselves. It casts a rather dark shadow on any interpretation one might have of the Palestinian “Prisoners’ Document”, which is nothing morethan an agreement for a cease of hostilities between the various warringPalestinian factions. That Fatah has moved closer to the Hamas’ ownpolitical position, is another worrisome development as well.
The only wayout of this mess is for the Hamas to moderate itself by accepting all three of the Quartet’s pre-conditions: which includes recognizing Israel’s right to exist, renunciation of terrorism and accept all pre-existing binding agreements.
Presently, Hamas’ strategy of blackmailing Israel into releasing convicted Palestinian prisoners has failed. Not only has the international community condemned it, evenEgypt has demanded that the Syrian government deport the Hamas leadership inDamascus if the Israeli soldier is not released. Perhaps when the Palestinian people reflect upon their current miserable situation, they will remember that it was their vote that put the Hamas into power, and that they have no one else to blame but themselves. KGS
