Just when some veteran Middle East peace processers and critics of Israel were making some progress trying to persuade the world Hamas was changing its stripes, the terrorist organization torpedoed talk about its new moderation with a gesture of friendship with Iran.
Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of Hamas’s Gaza terror state, arrived in Tehran on Friday for a visit that should disillusion those who assumed there had been a break between the two. The warm welcome given Haniya by the Islamist regime is an indication that the alliance between Iran and one of its terrorist auxiliaries is still very much in place. It also ought to be a reminder that Hamas participation in the Palestinian Authority’s government in the wake of its unity pact with Fatah will provide Iran with an influential ally that will render the prospects for peace with Israel moot.
Iran has been Hamas’s principal supplier of cash and munitions in recent years. But the flow of aid from Iran to Gaza has been affected by Tehran’s financial difficulties as international sanctions slowed its economy. That led some optimists to conclude Hamas had broken with Iran, particularly after its exiled leadership fled their Damascus headquarters as a result of the Assad regime’s difficulties. The perception is that Hamas was dumping Assad while Iran stayed loyal to the tyrant.
This may be a sign of a real break between the faction of Hamas’s leadership under Khaled Meshal that formerly sat in Damascus and the Gaza-based party. Meshal is the one who negotiated the agreement with PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and it could be the Iran visit is a signal the Gazans are not going to be sandbagged by the unity pact.
Nevertheless, the visit is proof the Hamas-Iran alliance is still alive and well. Iran has no intention of letting Hamas slip out its sphere of influence. Nor is there any real difference between the two on the issue that interests them both: the destruction of Israel. For all of the expectation that Hamas will abandon violence and adopt a more pragmatic stance on the peace process, there is no reason to believe their goals or their methods have changed. The Iran-Hezbollah-Hamas axis is a natural alliance that brings together Islamist rejectionists who wish to keep the flames of conflict burning. Though Hamas is Sunni and Hezbollah and Iran are Shia, they still need each other and have too much in common to break up.
Iran has not changed its goal of eradicating the Jewish state, and Hamas is still dedicated to this, too. Creating a new independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza will not only threaten Israel, it will be a strategic victory for Iran as well.
I think it is overwrought to say that Hamas is in Iran's "sphere of influence"–on certain issues they share goals and ideology (kill jooz) on other issues the split with Iran may go beyond Meshal to Hiniyah (kiill Allawites). We get they've sponsored terrorism. But "terror state" isn't descriptive in the 1 to 1 matchup of calling the Medellin cartel "a narcotics empire". Also as Israel permits autonomy to both Fatah and Hamas and maintains mechanisms of indirect and direct contacts with both, although Israel for sure will resist elevating a Fatahamistan (should the agreement ever be carried out) to state level it already accepts it de facto as a something or other.
Overwrought? Why? "On certain issues they share goals . . . ."?? Yes, on all of the key issues. I think you are quibbling. Sphere of influence is just that. It does not imply total control. Is there any doubt Iran has significant influence over Hamas??
Overwrought because it says that Hamas is a puppet and Iran a string puller. Unfortunately, I think that Hamas is in its own sphere of influence, shares common goals, and is happy to be funded by Iran. So yeah, I might be quibbling in that both state Israel is a cancer yadda yadda but my impression is that it isn't a master-slave relationship the way Poland was in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence or East Germany.
" should disillusion those who assumed there had been a break between the two. The warm welcome given Haniya by the Islamist regime is an indication that the alliance between Iran and one of its terrorist auxiliaries is still very much in place." n n The two what? The genocidal Shiites sitting in Tehran and the genocidal Sunnis sitting in Cairo? Why would a break between these two entities have any meaning on the ground, when it comes to whether Jews should be killed? n nOn the issue of Israel v Palestinians, it is a zero sum, black and white situation. Everybody knows this, and those (Jews and non Jews, States and NGOs) who would counsel Israel to come to an accommodation with a formal 'Palestinian' state are enemies of Israel and the Jews, for whom no 'mere' evidence can have any impact. The narrative is 'settled', and there is no depravity the 'Palestinians' can do that would reduce the pressure of these 'friends' upon Israel. n nIn the meantime, the focus on the minutiae of the comings and goings, statements and obfuscations, and the search for tiny tweaks of their positions through the parsing of their lies is just so much self-delusion on the part of those who truly hope for a peaceful resolution, and malignant manipulation of the environment by those who support the savage goals of the palestinians, but regard themselves as too nuanced and sophisticated to dance and hand out sweets when Jews die.
Much ado about nothing. Is Hamas supposed to shun contact with Iran for some reason? On what basis? Because Israel disapproves? That's insane. Until and unless Israel ends its Occupation, and its Siege of Gaza – why should a single Palestinian be in the Israel appeasement business?
There's no occupation and there's no siege, but a brain like yours warped by hatred will never understand.
A siege is the surrounding and blockading of a town or fortress by an army bent on capturing it. Is the Israeli army doing this to Gaza? What happened to your mind Israeli100?
Still, non-occupation and setting a thousand Fatahamistan flowers a bloomiing is, as you note, Israeli policy. Sure hope they're onto something.
<DIV>Yes, I hear what you are saying besht2003. However, I for one feel that Israel did the right thing in leaving Gaza. Let them stew in their own juices, and then if necessary bomb the f—–g crap out of them when they persist in their terroristic actions. If necessary, go in with ground troops and kill as many Hamas leaders and troops as you can and then withdraw your troops. I have come to the conclusion that occupying/nation- building in Muslim lands is a no-win endeavor. I believe that Winston Churchill once referred to Muslims as being like rabid dogs. Muslims have a tendency to be so intoxicated with religious fanaticism/hate that I feel the wisest course of action is to avoid them as much as possible.</DIV> <DIV style=”FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt”> <DIV style=”FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif; FONT-SIZE: 12pt”>
If only Israel "Occupied" Gaza. It is gone gone gone with shared control over land crossings with NGOs and a naval blockade. Siege, hardly? Israel is strictly hands off. Last we looked, no, Palestinians were not in the Israeli appeasement business. And again, Bibi is letting them play out their game.
Mr "israeli100" is more likely to be a self-hating suicidal and genocidal radical Jew than an Arab – his kneejerk and adnauseum repetition of leftist slogans and cliches bespeaks time spent in the fashionable leftist cafes of Tel Aviv, rather than the slums of Gaza. nSo shout your newspeak all you want, fella, the healthy majority of the Jewish people in its historic homeland will continue to live and thrive, despite all its enemies, and despite Chomskyites like you.
Part I: If nothing else the latest crimes committed by the United Snakes (US/Israel) in Libya and Syria (as we speak) and by the IDF/IAF forays into Gaza only serve to bring the Hezbollah/Hamas/Iran federation closer together. Hezbollah has shown the IDF baby killers that well trained and armed Arabs (Hezbollah had night vision goggles and advanced 'state-of-the-art' Russian RPG-29 anti-tank rockets, summer of 2006).
less sugar, some more starch, bzzzzzzzzzztttttttttt!!!! a cocoa puffs kid.
Part II: The IDF suffered a humiliating defeat in that the RPG-29's disabled and/or destroyed most of the Merkava MK II tanks that Hezbollah targeted, some 22 of them. As for Israel's siege on Gaza. No, they haven't occupied it full time, that's true. But, anytime they want to go in there and murder stone throwing kids and farmers working their fields on the Israeli/Gaza border – they do it with great frequency. BTW: How, these IDF cowards can target a 12 year old kid throwing rocks while sitting inside a 60,000 lb. steel Merkava behemouth tank doesn't say much for the 'panty waist' sissies. One has to wonder how many (if any) of these tank commanders have ever fought another tank or F-16/F-15 pilot has ever fought another fighter jet. Probably none of them. The interesting thing is that these 'zero-sum cowards all wear 'hero's' medals on their fatigues. LOL!
yeah the rich rolling farmlands and peaceful flocks of sheep of gaza….what a maroon n n n