Like water rushing along lines of least resistance, Hamas, the mid-East “boys from the hood” roll in where neighboring governments are weak and power is the gold they seek to plunder. First in Lebanon and now in Gaza, Hamas builds up its own power and then engages the ruling government in a militant manner.
Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian president, harshly criticized Hamas for its takeover of Gaza last week, referring to members of the group yesterday as "murderous terrorists." According to a report by the A.P.’s Diaa Hadid, Abbas accused Hamas “of trying to assassinate him when he planned a visit to Gaza a month ago, digging a tunnel under a road where his car was to pass and trying to fill it with more than 550 pounds of explosives. Hamas denied the allegation.
While that event may still be in question, there can be no doubt at all that Hamas now has control of Gaza and did indeed fire missiles into Israel. A clear pattern emerges as one looks at the events earlier this year in Lebanon when Hamas started a confrontation with Israel by repeatedly shelling northern Israel with rocket grenades. That pattern shows that Hamas receives its orders from Iran and Iran’s leaders have sworn to try to eliminate the Jewish state from the Arab world entirely. In essence, if they couldn’t get to Israel from the top, why not try its side?
The A.P. reported that Israeli aircraft fired missiles at two rocket launchers in northern Gaza, in the first aerial attack on the strip since Hamas vanquished Abbas' rival Fatah. No injuries were reported in the strike, which came in retaliation for militant rocket fire on Israel.
Israeli tanks, meanwhile, have apparently rolled about 600 yards inside southern Gaza, and at least four militants have been killed in a gun battle, Palestinian hospital officials said.
In the world of war this is all relatively minor stuff, obviously, but the skirmishes have within them the kernels necessary to ignite a much larger conflict.
President Bush wasted little time in quickly meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert in the aftermath of the turmoil that left Abbas, a Western-backed moderate, in control of one Palestinian government in the inland West Bank and his Islamist rival Hamas in control of the separate Gaza Strip on the coast.
Both Bush and Olmert pledged to be cooperative with Abbas. Whereas before there was a “wait and see” attitude from the West about Abbas, there is now no more time. He is a moderate and that is enough for the U.S., the European Union and Israel for now. They have all moved quickly to shore up Abbas. In one move, for instance, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced an end to an economic and political embargo on the Palestinians. Additionally, Israel appears likely to free up millions in tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, assuming it can ensure that the money flows only to Abbas' operation in the West Bank.
But simply handing the Palestinians a lot of money is hardly the large answer. Corruption and hatred of Israel are widespread amongst the Fatah. Prime Minister Olmert said he would not cave entirely to Abbas and his Party. While he indicated that he would talk to Abbas, he also said there would need to be several prerequisites for any progress toward peace. They included "a much more credible and serious administration" by the Palestinians, and one that will "fight terror in the most effective way…This is not something that the Palestinians can escape," Olmert said.
But there is a much larger issue here and both Bush and Olmert are fully aware of it. Iran wants Israel “wiped off the map” and now their own private army has once again placed itself on Israel’s border and reigns rockets down upon them.
In one of his more forceful statements on the subject to date, Bush said that he views Iran's statements as a "serious threat" to Israel and that "all options are on the table" to make sure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.
So summer has arrived and brought with it the heat of a new conflict. Small though the military activity has actually been, it is just the kind of tinder box that can get easily get out of control. We must remember this:
Hamas keeps the Mid-East stirred up. Hamas is ruled by Iran. Therefore, it is Iran that keeps the Mid-East on fire.
Maybe Sen. Joe Liebermann (D.-Conn.) is right and it is time to zero in on the center of the trouble-making in this region which is indeed Tehran. We need to stand up as one with our primary ally in the mid-East and help the Palestinians squash this threat to their own territory. We need to go further and stand with our ally as they watch with increasing anxiety a miserable government issue threats of extinction at them while carrying right on in the building of a nuclear weapon. Yes, the time rapidly approaches when the head of the snake, which is the Iranian government, must be lopped off; hopefully the people of Iran will do that themselves. Meanwhile the “moderate” Palestinians are now infinitely preferable to the current gang on Israel’s border with Gaza.
