Israel, USA and other Western leaders are pressuring Hamas to accept cease-fire, but despite mounting casualties and powerful opponent, Hamas is refusing to accept cease-fire.
Hamas is a brain child of Israel, who helped to create it so that an extremist Muslim organization would be counterbalance to the secular PLO, which was showing signs of success.
Israel took Gaza from Egypt and West Bank from Jordan in 1967 War. In 1973 Israel issued a license to Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, to set up charity and religious organization in occupied territories called Mujama Al-Islamiya. With the support of Gulf States and Israeli Military, it prospered and developed vast network of clinics, schools and other welfare outlets. In 1987, with the blessing of Israel, it created a political wing Hamas. In the beginning Hamas leaders have regular contacts with the Israeli military.
Hamas started to show signs of independence and begin to get involved in violent resistance activities. Israel started to get worried, but Israel still considered Hamas useful to weaken PLO and divide Palestinian loyalties. But soon Hamas was becoming a powerful monstrous foe and blowing up on Israel’s face-just like America and West created Mujahedeen in Afghanistan who turned around and became self-created monster for the West.
Israel jailed Sheikh Yasin and later killed him with a missile. Hamas won elections in Gaza strip and Israel has been fighting Hamas for the last twenty years. PLO has no choice and it gradually moved away from secular ideology. The current president, Mahmmod Abbas, is indirectly endorsing status quo and does not want much upheaval, which suits Israel well.
Hamas’s alliances with Iran, Syria , and Muslim Brotherhood ex-President , Mr. Morsi, started to come back to haunt it. Egypt’s President General Sissi closed all the tunnels and borders to Egypt and it hit Hamas economically and militarily.
Hamas financially broke and unable to pay salaries of its 43000 civil employees, agreed to merge with PLO on the terms dictated by PLO. Israel did not like this merger of enemies and started to undermine it. It blocked the payments of salaries and loosening of any border restrictions as per merger agreement. Despite the merger with PLO, Hamas and Gaza residents were still suffering with scant daily living necessities and civil employees working without pay. Qatar offered to pay the salary of all the civil employees, but it was blocked by the USA on the grounds that it is against American Law to pay to terrorist organization.
James Baldwin writes in one of his article that, the most dangerous thing a society can do is to create a human being who has nothing more to lose-one will do it, you don’t need ten. The most precious possession of a human being is his/her dignity. Hamas and Gaza residents were cornered and have nothing more to lose. I do not think Hamas will accept cease fire unless it’s economic and border restriction conditions are met. The Israel and its Western backers have over-played their hand and are now in a rush to get ceasefire and return to status quo-a charade of endless negotiations while settlements are expanding.
What will happen after current episode? The two state solutions is a fantasy which has no relation to reality on the ground. The West Bank is immersed with settlements and Gaza strip is separated from West Bank with Israel in between. In reality there can be only one state-either Israel or Palestine. As the facts on the ground dictate, Palestinian cannot have a state, by default and by reality on ground; it can be only Israeli state. Sooner the Palestinians realize it, the better it is. They should abandon two state solutions, accept the Israeli state and demand equal citizenship rights. At some point, they may even have a majority in Israel; and they may be even in better condition than a Palestinian state in Gaza and West Bank choked by Israel all around it.
Fayyaz Sheikh
References;
Kenan Malik
http://kenanmalik.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/the-monster-that-israel-helped-create/
Nathan Thrall