Bloody Unity Government
Hamas is a radical Islamic fundamentalist group which is recognized by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. Since its establishment in 1987 Hamas has made it clear that it will continue its Jihad against the State of Israel until it occupies “from the river to the sea.”
They are not interested in any peace negotiations as stated in Article 13 of the Hamas Covenant:
“Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”
The organization was started in the shadow of the Muslim Brotherhood as its founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin was also the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza.
“The Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leaders decided to embrace Jihad and to establish Hamas.”
Dr. Kobi Michael, former deputy director of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs and an expert on Israeli-Palestinian affairs when asked about the murders of the three Israeli teenagers said:
“There is no doubt that the operators are from Hamas they are affiliated with Hamas, they a part of Hamas, they are deeply in Hamas… This is a terror organization with political aspirations and they don’t usually act in a hierarchal manner…”
Hamas quickly gained favor with most of the Palestinian civilian population in both Gaza and the West Bank because of their welfare organizations and early contributions to charitable programs.
Shortly after Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 in hope to further the peace process, Fatah established a government. Hamas “won exclusive control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.” Since then more than 8,000 rockets and mortars have been fired at Israeli cities (including Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem) from Gaza. The withdrawal from Gaza has only provided Hamas another launching pad for attacks.
Despite the formation of the Unity Government between Hamas and Fatah little has been done to prevent further terrorism from reaching Israeli cities. Israel’s General Security Service (Shin Bet) has prevented multiple attacks since the formation of the Unity Government. Shortly after the formation of the Hamas-Fatah Unity Government there have been almost daily rocket and mortar attacks with live shooting during the daily school commute from Gaza that target Israeli cities. This threatens the security of Israel and promotes the instability within the area.
The recent murder of three Israeli teenagers, Gil-Ad Shayer, 16 Naftali Fraenkel, 16 and Eyal Yifrah, 19, by Hamas terrorists is part of a much broader and intense background of constant Palestinian violence on Israeli civilians from the West Bank which includes over three thousand attacks in the past two years comprising of rockets, bombings, shootings, knifings, firebombs and rock attacks. These attacks will only escalate as Hamas gains power in the West Bank.
