Khaled Abu Toameh September 7, 2014
What Hamas and
Iran are saying is that if and when Israel pulls back to the pre-1967 lines,
they, together with other Palestinians, would bring weapons into the West Bank
to achieve their goal of eliminating the "Zionist entity."
Abbas's initiative also ignores that Hamas could easily
seize control of the West Bank through force or through the promised free and
democratic elections, which recent polls show Hamas is assured of winning.
Abbas is demanding something that would bring about his own demise.
If the West Bank had one quarter of the weapons that the
Gaza Strip has, Israel would be eliminated in one day. This is what Hamas
leader Mahmoud Zahar told worshippers during a sermon he delivered
on September 5.
Zahar, who delivered his first sermon since the
Egypt-brokered cease-fire between Hamas and Israel was announced in late
August: he chose to remind Palestinians and the rest of the world of his
movement's dream to destroy Israel.
"If only the West Bank had one quarter of what Gaza
has of resistance tools, the Israeli entity would end in one day," Zahar
declared, reiterating the claim that Hamas had scored a "big victory"
in the war.
The Hamas leader went on to criticize those who still
have doubts as to whether Israel could be destroyed.
"Those who were skeptical as to whether Palestine
could be liberated are no longer doubtful after the enemy was hit from the Gaza
Strip," Zahar said. "Can you imagine what would happen if the enemy
is targeted from the West Bank, which makes up 20% of the size of
Palestine?"
Zahar's wish to see the West Bank flooded with rockets
and mortars and other "tools of resistance" was echoed by other Hamas
and Islamic Jihad leaders and spokesmen after the recent war in the Gaza Strip.
Zahar himself was quoted recently as saying that Hamas's
goal now was to "move the Gaza example of resistance" to the West
Bank.
Even the Iranians seem to think that the time has come
to turn the West Bank into a launching pad for attacks on Israel.
During the war in the Gaza Strip, a senior Iranian
commander of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohamed Reza Naqdi, announced that Tehran had plans to "arm
Palestinians in the West Bank" in order to destroy Israel.
Naqdi boasted that the weapons used by Hamas and other
Palestinian groups during the recent war had been manufactured and supplied by
Iran.
The threats by Hamas and Iran regarding the West Bank
show why it is critically important for Israel (and the Palestinian Authority)
to insist on the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip as part of any long-term
cease-fire agreement.
Even more significantly, these threats underline the
need to keep the West Bank a demilitarized area in any future peace agreement,
especially one that would see the establishment of an independent and sovereign
Palestinian state.
Moreover, these threats support Israel's insistence on
maintaining permanent security control over the border with Jordan. Without
such a presence, Iranian-made weapons would easily find their way into the West
Bank.
What Hamas and Iran are saying is that if and when
Israel pulls back to the pre-1967 lines, they, together with other
Palestinians, would bring weapons into the West Bank to achieve their goal of
eliminating the "Zionist entity."
Zahar does not even believe that there is a need for
large amounts of weapons – just one fourth of what Hamas and Islamic Jihad
already have in the Gaza Strip are sufficient, in his eyes, to destroy Israel
in one day.
In the aftermath of Operation Protective Edge, it is not
difficult to understand why flooding the West Bank with weapons poses an
existential threat to Israel.
But this is also something that would wreak havoc on
Palestinians in the West Bank.
Fortunately, Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority
are fully aware of attempts by Iran and Hamas to turn the West Bank into a base
for terrorism and jihadis.
Thanks to Israel, they are also aware of Hamas's effort
to topple the Palestinian Authority and replace it with an Islamist government.
Last month, Israel announced the arrest of more than 90
West Bank Hamas members who planned to stage a coup against Abbas and renew
terror attacks against Israelis. Were it not for Israel's effort, Abbas and his
top officials would have been either killed or imprisoned by Hamas.
That episode explains why Abbas has now ordered a
massive crackdown on Hamas members
and supporters in the West Bank. During the
Gaza war, Abbas refrained from such measures against his Hamas rivals out of
fear of being accused of "collaboration" with Israel.
Since the cease-fire went into effect, Abbas's security
forces in the West Bank have detained more than 80 Hamas men. They have
also stopped Hamas-affiliated preachers from delivering sermons during Friday
prayers.
Abbas will be able to rein in Hamas in the West Bank
only if he pursues security coordination with Israel.
However, it would be unrealistic to expect Abbas or any
Palestinian government to disarm Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip.
Abbas and the Palestinian Authority would not be able to
survive for one day in the West Bank without the presence of the IDF,
especially given Hamas's rising popularity among Palestinians
in the aftermath of the war.
Last week, Abbas sent two senior officials, Saeb Erekat
and Majed Faraj, to Washington to present his "new peace initiative"
to Secretary of State John Kerry.
Abbas's initiative envisages the establishment of a
Palestinian state within three years either through negotiations or by having
the UN Security Council impose a solution on Israel.
Abbas's initiative, however, ignores the threat from
Hamas and Iran to use the West Bank as a launching pad for destroying Israel.
It also ignores that Hamas could easily seize control over a future Palestinian
state by force or through the promised free and democratic elections, as
assured by a recent public opinion poll published by the Ramallah-based
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.
Abbas is demanding a full Israeli withdrawal to the
pre-1967 lines (including the border with Jordan). But he cannot offer any
assurances that Hamas and Iran would not use this border to smuggle weapons
into the West Bank.
In fact, Abbas is demanding from the Israelis and
Americans something that would bring about his own demise. His only option for
now is to hold onto power in the West Bank and continue to work with Israel
against the common enemy – Hamas. The day Hamas agrees to lay down its weapons
and abandon its dream of destroying Israel, he will then be able to go to the
U.S. and Security Council and ask for an independent state next to Israel.
On the other hand, Abbas cannot do otherwise than
ReplyDeletedemanding an Israeli withdrawal on the pre-1967 lines.
Given the results of the polls quoted here, his Palestinian
Authority would lose power in free elections against Hamas.
But in accordance with the desperate logic of many Islamic
Middle-East movements, any sign of backing up from the
most extreme demands is immediately punished
by harder, more extremist leaning groups overtaking
those who 'flinch' in the minds of perpetually mislead
populations. Whoever does not back up the most extreme
demands, however crazy and unrealistic, is considered a
"traitor" and it becomes impossible to side with him for
anyone wishing to retain a reasonable chance of seeing the
next year. This is true both for individuals and for political
movements such as Abbas'