The War Within Palestine

by Yasmin Amer

The six-month ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, along with optimism for long-term peace in the Middle East in the near future, ended last week. Hamas refused to renew the ceasefire and fired rockets into Israel. In response, Israel decided to pull off another 2006 war and strike back at Hamas.


What was Hamas thinking? They must know that Israel has the most powerful military in the Middle East and thus the power initiate to a major attack which would cost the lives of many civilians as well as to completely limit any supplies from reaching Gaza. On the surface, this was clearly a stupid move for a politically unstable group like as Hamas to challenge Israel’s military power. I would compare it to going up to someone with a gun and punching them in the face. They had to have known that without the backing of other powers (either Arab or non-Arab) that it was impossible for them to fight Israel on equal terms. Therefore, the goal of ending the ceasefire might not have necessarily been to militarily challenge Israel’s power. Instead, this move by Hamas might have been directed more towards the Palestinian Authority (PA) controlled by Fatah which controls the West Bank. The goal is to show that no political breakthroughs can be made without Hamas’s participation as a legitimate political party.

President Abbas of Fatah directly blamed Hamas for provoking the Gaza massacre. Their decision to end the ceasefire triggered the attacks on civilians. The United States, Israel, and the PA do not recognize Hamas as a political party. BUt Hamas still has a strong enough political presence that they cannot ignore. Obviously, if Hamas’s actions can trigger an Israeli reaction of this magnitude, they’re not a ineffective political group. Hamas is reiterating its influence in order to maintain its presence within and outside of Palestine as well as to avoid the same fate as the PLO, who for the most part vanished as a political party. They are trying to send the message that no real negotiations can be made without including Hamas in the peace process.

We’ve seen the result of ignoring Hamas; over 280 Palestinians have been killed over the past few days and the violence is still continuing. It’s the same disproportionate retaliation that took place in 2006 against Hezbollah. In all of this, the PA is almost completely overshadowed; they don’t have the power to restore a ceasefire and they do not have the power to influence Hamas to do so. Whether you agree with their politics or not, Hamas cannot possibly be ignored in talks regarding the future of Gaza and the Palestinian territories in general.

Palestine cannot afford to have political differences. Only political stability could support any differences. Without a united resistance movement, their position as an occupied territory i weakens considerably.. With Hamas and the Abbas’s PA refusing to negotiate with each other first, there’s no way they can expect to seriously negotiate with Israel or the United States.

And that's jus' the tip.