Hamas wants Lebanon 2.0—Israel

There’s excitement in the air! You can just feel the synergy as two corrupt, terror machines have agreed to worked together. Recently, it was announced that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are back together…again! They’ve buried the (blood-stained) hatchet. But can this really work? You have one group that is corrupt to the core. And, they are the moderate ones. The other side are bloodthirsty terrorists, who have plunged the citizens of Gaza into bankruptcy.

What is there to gain for Hamas?

One must wonder, what is the ultimate goal of Hamas? Clearly, they are tired of governing. It’s just not very sexy: infrastructure, electricity, taxes (it’s so much easier to steal from the UN medical aid), parking fines, etc.…yuck! Shooting rockets at defenseless Israelis is much more fun. I mean, you are not going to make the headlines in the NY Times because you pave roads or provide electricity to your constituents. However, launch 30 rockets at Israel’s towns and cities, and you are an instant rock star.

To make matters worse, the Palestinian Authority has decided to stop funding Gaza, cutting off electricity if they cannot pay for it. Presently most Gazans only have electricity for a few hours a day. Over time, this has worn the terror group down and brought them back to the negotiating table.

Lebanon 2.0—NO!

Hamas wants to create Lebanon 2.0. In Lebanon, you have a government that is infiltrated by the terror group, Hezbollah. Many consider Hezbollah to be the most powerful political group in Lebanon, and its military capabilities rival the Lebanese army. How can it be good for the stability of a country to have an armed militia that is nearly the same size of its actual military, but with no control over it. And that is what we see with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization and part of the government at the same time. But they don’t bother themselves with governing, but rather with militancy. Their intelligence apparatus is more extensive than Lebanon’s.

In the same way, Hamas is looking for a deal with the Palestinian Authority. One where the P.A. takes over the governing of Gaza, and Hamas can continue to do the fun stuff: raping, intimidating, manipulating, murdering, stealing from the citizens of Gaza, and the like. (Note: I am not even mentioning their activities against Israel. This is all in reference to what they do to their own Arab citizens!)

Bad Blood, Horrifying Memories

When Hamas forcefully took over Gaza some ten years ago, they murdered more than a few members of the Palestinian Authority, including throwing some off of buildings.

“In the Gaza Strip [when Hamas took over], looters ransacked buildings and supporters of the Islamist group, Hamas, celebrated in the streets after its gunmen routed fighters of the Fatah movement after six days of bloody fighting that left more than 100 Palestinians dead.” —NPR

It is amazing that the Palestinian Authority would even consider rolling with these bloodthirsty terrorists. Of course, it’s not like their hands are so clean. They have no problem with putting a journalist in jail, stifling free speech and intimidating their opponents with violence. We cannot forget that their longest serving leader, Yasser Arafat, was the father of modern-day terrorism. Without Arafat, there is no Hamas. This is the same group that continually names schools, squares, and streets after those who have blown up and butchered innocent Israeli women and children.

What is in it for the P.A.?

Stupid, they are not. In the same way that Hamas has an end game, there can be no doubt that the Palestinian Authority does as well. And that end game is not to rule peacefully with Hamas at their side. Make no mistake—the leaders of these two groups hate each other.

While they are not stupid, pride often trumps wisdom and the 82-year-old President Mahmud Abbas is thinking about his legacy. How will he be remembered? He took over when Arafat died, and then lost roughly half his territory to Hamas. He has been trying for years to bring unity between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, but to no avail. He’s hoping that the 1.2 billion dollars the Palestinian Authority supplies to Gaza every year will be incentive for them to behave. But I have my doubts—along with the rest of the sane world.  Never in the history of biological studies has a leopard change its spots.

Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the PA, has stated that he would not allow the “model of Hezbollah in Lebanon” to exist in the Gaza Strip. [He] said there had to be one authority, one law, one rifle, one set of weapons. That is Mahmoud Abbas’ position in principle, but so far Fatah figures have avoided raising those issues, focusing instead on the easier matters of transferring the government in the Gaza Strip.

He will have no choice but to compromise with Hamas, as they have no plans for compromise on their core  principles. Read the words of Hamas security chief last Thursday:

“The time in which Hamas discusses the issue of recognizing Israel is over. The discussion now is about ‘when to erase Israel’.”

This would be alarming to the citizens of Israel, if Hamas wasn’t utterly bankrupt and inept in all their efforts to destroy her to date. In their desire to harm Israel, Hamas has all but destroyed the Gaza strip.

The U.S. has called for Hamas to disarm in light of the agreement.

“Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognize the State of Israel, accept previous agreements and obligations between the parties—including to disarm terrorists—and commit to peaceful negotiations,” —US Envoy to Israel, Jason Greenblatt

Sinwar responded that Hamas would disarm “when Satan enters paradise,” and added, “There’s not one minute of the day or night when we aren’t building up our military might.” So, I guess it is safe to say that they have no plans to recognize the state of Israel.

The End is Near

This ends in one of two ways. The first possibility is that Abbas crumbles and his rival Mohammad Dahlan takes over. He is the one who forged this fragile peace between scorpions. The second possibility is that within a few months there will be another split and Hamas throws the Palestinian Authority, once again, out of Gaza. But the thing that Israel cannot afford is for this conflict to turn into another Lebanon—where you have a terrorist organization operating as part of a legitimate government (and in this case, the legitimate government is a terrorist organization as well, the PLO!).

Israelis are not too worried, as the one thing that these terror groups hate even more than Israel is each other.