The end of Israel’s love affair with Hamas

In late 1970s and 1980s Israel facilitated the creation of Hamas, in 2023 it wants to eliminate the ‘terrorist group’

In late 1970s and 1980s Israel facilitated the creation of Hamas, and in 2023 it wants to eliminate what it calls a ‘terrorist group’ responsible for October 7 attacks killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking 200 hostages. The story of Israel’s ‘love affair’ with Hamas however ended in early 1990s when the Jewish state which helped raise that organization in order to cut PLO down to its size realized its mistake.

More than three weeks of bloodshed in Gaza and West Bank in which 8,000 Palestinians, including 2000 children and 1,400 Israelis, have been killed, the Jewish state is now determined to eliminate Hamas and hand over Gaza to the Palestinian Authority to be supervised under the United Nations. Can Israel eliminate Hamas which has wide popular support in Gaza and had won 2006 elections from that territory? The myth of ‘greater Israel’ exists but what Israel is up to in Gaza and West Bank proves its plan to permanently annex the two occupied territories. Armed by American and backed by some Western powers, Israeli leadership under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t care if its ground operation in Gaza to liquidate Hamas turns into its graveyard.

About a new set-up in Gaza by eliminating Hamas, Israel and the United States want to make sure that no attacks against the Jewish state can be launched in the future. For instance, in the program ‘This Week” at the American TV channel ABC, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ostensibly supported an interim setup in Gaza by arguing: “Well, it’s got, it has to be transition to something else… Hamas is a terrorist organization. And this is not the Palestinian people. At the end of the day, Israel wants Hamas to be gone from Gaza.” Echoing Austin’s remarks about transition in Gaza, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken who proudly narrated his Jewish roots while talking to Israeli Prime Minister the other day stated: “There are different ideas out there about what could follow, but all of that I think needs to be worked, and it’s something that needs to worked even as Israelis deal with the current threat ensuring that Hamas can’t do this again. But that doesn’t revert to Israeli governance of Gaza, which they do not want and do not intend to do.” Israeli opposition leader Yasir Lapid endorsed the idea of a long-term solution of Hamas’s monster in Gaza by arguing: “I think in the end the best thing is that the Palestinian Authority, which was defeated by Hamas in elections there is 2006, goes back into Gaza.”

The strategic mindset of Israel following Hamas’s lethal attacks on October 7 is two-pronged. First, Gaza is cleansed of Hamas and replaced with the Palestinian Authority which is termed acceptable and less threatening. Second, to revive the process of Arab recognition to Israel particularly Abraham Accords-II with Saudi Arabia. Within Israel, despite the formation of unity government, there is strong criticism against the manner in which Netanyahu has dealt with the crisis emanating from Hamas’s colossal rocket attacks against Israel. If there was early warning about that attack, why did the Israeli government fail to prevent the ground, air and sea incursion of Hamas into southern parts of Israel, causing 1400 casualties and abduction of more than 200 civilians and military personal?

If Hamas has been exposed on its failure to anticipate massive Israeli retaliation resulting in the killing of 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza and 800 in the West Bank, the Jewish state is also exposed on its breakdown of intelligence system in dealing with the October 7 attacks. If Hamas took a dangerous path by attacking Israel, the Jewish state lost the high moral ground which it had achieved as a result of attacks from Gaza. Israel by launching its massive retaliation and killing thousands of Palestinians since October 7 lost the sympathy which it had gained from Hamas’s attacks. Now, Israel is again called as a ‘pariah’ state involved in the genocide of Palestinians. The debate in the United Nations on October 24 on the situation in Gaza reflected how arrogant Israel is about the criticism and condemnation of its brutal air attacks on civilians in Gaza and its refusal to let humanitarian assistance reach the besieged 2.3 million people of that territory. Furthermore, constant warning by Israel that northern Gaza should be vacated by Palestinians in order to let ground attack take place is another evidence of cruel mindset of the Jewish state.

Efforts for elimination of Hamas by Israel needs to be analysed from two angles.

First, Hamas which retains its legitimacy in the Gaza Strip cannot be eliminated by using hard power in the form of ground operation by Israel. Likewise, imposing Palestinian Authority on Gaza which had lost elections in 2006 will be an artificial solution. At the end of the day, Israel will have to reconcile with the fact that its strategy to patronise Hamas against PLO in late 1980s was counterproductive and produced more and more violence. Eliminating Hamas would create a vacuum in Gaza to be filled in by any other hardline Palestinian group. Israel’s failure to deal with the Palestinian issue could be gauged from the fact that till early 1990 it used to consider PLO as a terrorist organization, a policy which it abandoned as a result of the Oslo process leading to the historic PLO-Israeli accord of September 13, 1993 whereby both granted mutual recognition to each other.

Second, Israel’s plan to eliminate Hamas and fill the vacuum by re-launching Palestinian Authority with the support of Arab states like Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia exposes Arab hypocrisy. It is not only Israel which has caused enormous pain to Palestinians, their Arab neighbours are also responsible for the tragedy of Gaza and West Bank. No Arab state has rendered practical help to the beleaguered population of Gaza and will be ready to collaborate with Israel in further marginalizing the Palestinian cause. In the Arab world, it is only Palestinian community which has suffered the most and is known for courage and boldness. Whereas, majority of Arab states have either compromised with Israel or are in the process of recognizing the Jewish state. Israel is so confident in denying Palestinians their right to have a state as mentioned in the UN partition plan of 1947 that it is now planning to permanently annex Gaza and West Bank. That is possible if Palestinians living in Gaza are pushed into Egypt and from West Bank into Jordan. That is how the concept of ‘greater Israel’ will have a practical application.

A human catastrophe, meanwhile, is being witnessed in Gaza after more than three weeks of bombing, siege and blockade by Israel which has cut off water, electricity, medicine and fuel supply and blocked Internet access of 2.3 million residents of that territory.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2023.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.