As the almost month long war continues the Hamas and Abbas gamble to go to war seems to becoming unstuck. It has become more and more crystal clear that, to quote a US State Department Assistant Secretary speaking on National Public Radio on July 23, 2014, “Hamas wraps itself around with citizens so that citizen casualties are hard to prevent”. Hamas is being increasingly more isolated, even Hezbollah thinks their situation is unwinnable. Besides a few ragbag nations, their meaningful support has dwindled down to key officials of UNO, certain non governmental organizations and ever increasing bands of pro Palestinian groups that end up protesting against all Jews. Besides all this scores of Hamas fighters are surrendering and their rocket fire into Israel has decreased.
As the days go by it becomes more and more obvious what the Hamas and Abbas strategy has been. Quite starkly it has been to rake up civilian casualties, especially children and women. Then by placing weapons of war in homes, schools, hospitals and mosques to force the Israelis to destroy these thereby creating heaps of rubble from non military installations. Then they allow the media to do the rest. Also they rely on certain UNO officials to deliver the “right” interpretations to cover up their reprehensible actions. This will lead up to dragging Israel to the World Court charging them with War Crimes.
(If anyone needs reminding that Abbas is Hamas in a suit, see the blog, “Abbas and Arafat - The Same DNA - So Lets Get Real!). Jay H. Ell has also blogged, “What is Israel Supposed To Do” and “Hamas Narrative: Women and Children First - To Die That Is”, in relation to this tragic episode in Middle East history.
Let us examine the timeline of Abbas’s behavior that preceded this latest Hamas attack and see how it fits Jay H. Ell’s theories
TIMELINE:
2010: Abbas refuses to recognize the Israeli State.
2012: After extensive concessions from Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, once again Abbas refuses to recognize Israel and turns down the deal .
2012: In November of that year Abbas gets non member status for Palestine from UNO. This allows him to join UNO bodies and most significantly gives Palestine locus standi to charge Israel with war crimes at the World Court in the Hague.
2014: Speaking in Morocco on March 16 he described Israel as a “delusional myth”. Israel he continued was trying to create an historical basis for its existence. As a result there would be the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem.
April: Abbas gains membership of several international organizations with his new statehood.
June: On June 2, within 2 months of Abbas establishing Palestine as a bona fide member of international organizations, Hamas hands over governmental power to Abbas. The West Bank and Gaza are united once again. There is one Palestine under one administration. Abbas, whose Palestine has been recognized by UNO can speak and act on behalf of Gaza as well as the West Bank. This coup d’etat is executed without any consultation with the Palestinian electorate, undoing a previous election.
July: At the first possible opportunity, July 2, and on the flimsiest of pretexts, Hamas, now under Abbas’s premiership, declared war by launching rockets into Israel. In spite of a week long wait before Israel responded and three ceasefires offers, two humanitarian accepted by Israel, where attempts are feverishly made to broker a cessation in hostilities, Hamas continued fighting while simultaneously bewailing to the world about their ever increasing number of civilian casualties, mostly women and children and the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and mosques. They then forced Israel into a land invasion as Hamas operatives crawled out of tunnels into Israel looking to kill and kidnap. (To date 48 such tunnels have been found).
July: Just when the casualties, mainly civilian and especially women and children reached high enough numbers, well into July, Abbas who has been in “control” of Gaza, that has been part of Palestine for one whole month, stated that he is going to charge Israel with war crimes committed in Gaza.
July: On cue, following Abbas’s announcement, the Secretary General of the UNO, Bang Ki - Moon blamed Israel for causing too many, (how many is too many?), civilian casualties. This conclusion after he had been shown all the evidence to the contrary. He stated that the war is because of the “occupation” and that is why Hamas is resorting to violence. What a crock! Is it ok to bomb civilians and use civilians as a human shield because you perceive you are being occupied? And he is the head of what? Ki- Moon furthermore believes this has nothing to do with Islamic radicalism.
July; In record time the Human Rights Chief of the UNO, Navi Pillay had already come to an opinion as to what was happening in Gaza and maintained that there was strong evidence that Israel was committing war crimes there by killing civilians and bombing residences. Israel reacted strongly to the accusation. Israel had previously charged the Human Rights Committee with bias and boycotted it for 20 months. USA condemned the Pillay attack as “unfair” and it’s “finding” was challenged on National Public Radio by the USA State Department on July 23.
Noting this timeline it is apparent that a whole host of maneuvers are set up, in a short space of time whereby Abbas having just had nation status conferred on the West Bank then becomes, without an election, the head of Gaza and thus is in the position to lay a charge with the World Court. He will then will utilize Israel’s response to an unprovoked attack on its citizens where the callously unprotected citizens of Gaza will be killed, as the basis for charges of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, knowing that he will be backed by UNO office bearers.
To put in another way it appears obvious that this war was about Hamas setting up as many Palestinian casualties as possible and ensuring the destruction of non military targets, where the weaponry is situated, with a view to charging Israel with war crimes with the expected support of their UNO mouthpieces. And as sure as Arafat planned the second Intifada, with Abbas’s support, Abbas and Hamas planned this one.
WHERE IT ALL STANDS NOW
Obama is desperate for a ceasefire that neither side really wants at the moment. Hamas want to have more deaths and destruction so that they can have more evidence that they have had war crimes committed against them and Israel wants to decimate all their offensive capabilities. The fulfillment of this latter objective has assumed an ever greater priority in the light of new intelligence gleaned about the tunnels. Apparently information gained from the 46 captured Hamas terrorists is that there are tunnels that extend to nearby kibbutzim and open up under dining rooms and nurseries alike. On Rosh Hashonnah an attack had been planned where 200 terrorists would burst in and kill literally hundreds of civilians mainly women and children. So Israel is unlikely to agree to any cessation in hostilities until such time as all the tunnels are blown up.
Hamas has given a host of demands before they will enter into a permanent ceasefire. A speech by Khaled Mashaal, head of Hamas, who is not in one of the concrete bunkers in Gaza reserved for the leaders, but in a hotel in Qatar, made it quite clear that the fighting would continue for a long time, till Israel lifted its blockade.
Egypt is not that interested but is the main possibility to broker some type of cease fire. Bang Ki- Moon may as well go home unless he is being used to talk some sense into Hamas. As far as Israel is concerned the UNO is compromised .Two of its hospitals in Gaza have had rockets found in them a circumstance that qualifies them to be placed on the short list of war criminals, let alone be honest brokers.
(Several UNO facilities have been hit.The latest tragedy being, where a large number of Palestinians, seeking sanctuary, were killed or injured. This has been touted as the biggest “proof” that Israel is guilty of war crimes. At present only two facts are known about this catastrophe. The first is no-one is sure whether it was a Hamas rocket that did the damage and secondly Hamas rockets were being fired from close to the facility, if not in it, and the Israelis admit to firing in return to eliminate the source that was attacking their citizens. Yet the media are reporting this as a major blow to the Israelis and a strong argument supporting Hamas’s cause.)
But this engagement will end sooner or later and the question is then what? Possibly it will terminate by a unilateral withdrawal by Israel once it has achieved its objectives. Then there has to be an endgame.
Hamas.
Hamas’s endgame is the destruction of Israel. That is what is in their written mission statement. It is time some-one took them at their word and accept that is what they really want instead of all the apologists maintaining that is not what they really want. Their immediate tactic is to destabilize and demoralize Israel while grandstanding to the world that they are victims. They also want to garner international support and weaken Israel thereby. Their short term endgame is thus to lay charges of war crimes against Israel and the strategy to get there has been carefully worked out as outlined above. To stop their attack on Israeli citizens they would want free access to the world with an unimpeded ability to replace the rockets they have just used. They think with the growing casualty list that they are engineering they will force Israel to stop. Netanyahu has made it quite clear that he will not till his objectives have been achieved.
Israel.
Short term, Israel would have bought a couple of years of peace. It also knows that Hamas is more isolated than ever. The latter has one major ally, office bearers at the highest level in the UNO. However, in terms of Israel’s own objective of a permanent peace it is not going to happen. Also, congruent with its own value system to witness Gaza as a heap of rubble and hundreds dead is causing much soul searching and pain. However, for the first time Israel are in the public relations battle with a fair chance. Jay H. Ell believes they should stay aggressive and take Palestine to the world court and charge them with war crimes. These crimes are crying out to be investigated. Within Israel and throughout the world there is a major constituency that is mindful of the Palestinians’ terrible plight and would like to be reassured that Israel is not responsible for the collateral damage.
WORLD COURT.
Israel should thus turn Abbas’s tactic on its head. Palestine is now a nation. Abbas is its head, at least since June 2014, of both Gaza as well as the West Bank. So Abbas’s Palestine is responsible for Hamas’s actions. It did nothing to stop them and supported them. Israel should Ignore the UN’s investigation into war crimes and go ahead with its own. If the Court subsequently has conflicting cases it has to resolve them or consolidate them. Hamas’s war crimes extend to what they did to their own citizens as well. Anyway the UNO investigation into the most recent war will be political and not legal and smears, insinuations and biases are irrelevant in a court of law.
Israel should pursue this action thoroughly. The process will take years and will act as a dampener to Hamas shooting rockets without provocation. (Bearing in mind that is one of the crimes that they are being charged with). The Court will not take into account Hamas wailing that firing rockets is its only recourse to be heard. That is a political argument not a legal one. The crisp point is Hamas fired rockets into civilian populations for weeks on end - a flagrant war crime and crime against humanity.
The World Court’s composition seems to be more balanced than that of the other UNO bodies and legal people, like Judges, often take themselves seriously and the law is the law. Israel has nothing to lose as that is where this is going. They may as well be Plaintiffs as well as Defendants. Israel has a political as well as moral obligation to do so. Also every “accidental” civilian death should be acknowledged and all circumstances investigated and either explained and any illegal action punished. They are bound to be unfortunate “mistakes” because this is a war after all. A war that Hamas started.
There are incredible legal brains in Israel and beyond that I am sure others would be dying to help. Alan Dershowitz immediately springs to mind. And who knows the citizens of Palestine may get sick and tired of being used as political footballs and demand peace themselves. In fact, in spite of what has happened just over 50% still want an immediate ceasefire.
But nothing meaningful is going to happen around a table with Abbas and Hamas. Also at the end of the day Israel is going to have find a more flexible mind than Netanyahu’s to close any permanent deal.
HATE INCREASES
Meanwhile radical Imams throughout the rest of the world are preaching hatred and it is acknowledged that anti semites, generally, throughout Europe in particular, are using the situation to launch anti semitic attacks. So much so that the Foreign Ministers of Italy, France and Germany issued a rare joint statement condemning anti semitic statements at pro Palestinian rallies. There are West Bank riots in relation to the bombing of the UNO facility that nobody really knows the circumstances of. Although the usual mantra is “We have nothing against the Jews just the Zionists”, there are a growing number of anti semites that are using the actions of the Zionists to attack Jewish citizens of their own country whether they are Zionists or not.
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