Hamas: A Fatal Failure in Leadership and a Prize-Winning Puppet

Not sure what a proxy is? What a puppet looks like? Then read this, from the Jerusalem Post:

[An Egyptian government] official told The Jerusalem Post by phone that two senior Iranian officials who visited Damascus recently warned Hamas leaders against accepting the [Egyptian cease fire] proposal.

His remarks came as Hamas representatives met in Cairo with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman and his aides to discuss ways of ending the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The spokesmen said Hamas voiced its strong opposition to the idea of deploying an international force inside the Gaza Strip.

…

The Egyptian official said that the two Iranian emissaries, Ali Larijani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, and Said Jalili of the Iranian Intelligence Service, met in the Syrian capital with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadan Shallah.

“As soon as the Iranians heard about the Egyptian cease-fire initiative, they dispatched the two officials to Damascus on an urgent mission to warn the Palestinians against accepting it,” the Egyptian government official told the Post.

“The Iranians threatened to stop weapons supplies and funding to the Palestinian factions if they agreed to a cease-fire with Israel. The Iranians want to fight Israel and the US indirectly. They are doing this through Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon”.

…

[Egyptian political analyst Magdi Khalil] said that Hamas was not only jeopardizing Egypt’s national security, but had also destroyed the Palestinians’ dream of statehood. “By endorsing the Iranian agenda, Hamas has brought the Iranians to Egypt’s eastern border,” he said. “Hamas has also copied Hizbullah’s policy of entering into pointless adventures”. [emphasis added]

Now, you can argue all you want about Egypt’s role, but their population, albeit poor and concentrated in dense living areas, isn’t falling apart or at war anywhere near the extent to which the population under Hamas’ rule is. And, despite the anger that exists against Egypt for a perceived failure to assist or accommodate Palestinians, Egypt seeks to honor the word and spirit of the Camp David accords and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.

This New York Times op-ed, published today, explains more about the tension between the Arab nations, directed by Iran and aimed primarily at Egypt and Jordan.

On Egypt:

In Egypt, where leaders have been castigated for refusing to keep open the Rafah crossing to Gaza, officials have argued that they are bound by the agreement on border security that followed Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. But there is an underlying subtext to their message: that Gaza is not Egypt’s problem.

“Gaza is no longer Egypt’s responsibility, and Egypt is determined not to take it back,” said Abdel Raoud el-Reedy, a former ambassador to the United States who is the chairman of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs.

Egypt controlled Gaza, a 140-square-mile coastal strip, until the 1967 war with Israel. Now, Egypt is trying to negotiate a cease-fire there, because resolving the conflict is very much in its interests. Representatives of Hamas were in Cairo on Sunday and representatives from Israel were expected to arrive Monday, officials said.

Hamas wants the border open, but Egypt has refused, except for humanitarian passage for the injured coming out and medicine going in. Israel wants an international force on the Egyptian side of the border, to prevent smuggling through illegal tunnels, but Egypt has refused, saying that would undermine its sovereignty.

Rather than saying explicitly that Egypt does not want responsibility for Gaza, the authorities have stressed that Israel should be held accountable, while reaffirming their support for a two-state solution.

Why Palestinian leadership doesn’t do more to guilt Egypt about its failures in Gaza during its occupation there, I still can’t answer – every time I ask, I get the same response: well, Israel has been the occupier for 60 years. Which is just another way to refuse to blame Egypt or other Arab nations for their failures to the Palestinians.

Speaking of which, the NYT piece on Jordan’s current position: (read the rest of this post here)