Hamas Playing Games …Again

BBC’s Gaza correspondent Rushdi Abualouf on July 5 noted that Hamas is saying that it “delivered positive response on US Gaza ceasefire plan”.  Islamic Jihad, a Hamas ally said that it supported the ceasefire talks, but demands guarantees that Israel will not “resume its aggression”.  That statement  from the Jihadist group is informative; it indicates that the group has not accepted the reality that Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel is the root cause for Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel is not the aggressor, and until Hamas and the other factions within the Palestinian leadership agree to abandon the use of terrorism as a tool to achieve their goal to end what they call “Israel’s occupation”, then it is difficult to see how any ceasefire can be nothing more than providing time for Hamas and other militant groups to re-arm and regroup. Any ceasefire agreement therefore will likely be short-lived.

History has shown that. All past attempts to resolve the Palestinian issue have failed because Hamas leaders continue to be motivated by the Islamic Charter which calls for Israel’s destruction.  While there may be moderate voices within the Palestinian leadership, they remain outnumbered by those who adhere to the principles of Jihad against the ‘far enemy’; Israel and the United States.

Speaking during his Presidential campaign, President Obama once said that “we cannot keep doing the same things again and again, and expect different results” The same can be said for the Palestinian conflict.  Israel cannot keep negotiating peace agreements with those who are determined to “wipe Israel off the face of the map”, and expect lasting peace.  For Israelis to finally have a state in which its citizens can live without the fear of terrorist attacks like those they suffered on October 7, 2023, Israel must reserve the right to respond with disproportionate military actions to any attacks against its citizens or interests.

To help ensure that this or future ceasefire agreements endure, Prime Minister Netanyahu must seek to eliminate those bad apples within the Palestinian leadership who continue to advocate for terrorism against the state of Israel.  Only when the Palestinian leadership is void of Jihadists, can Israelis hope to live in peace.