Image Credit: Mohammed Omer, Rafah Today 2007-06-26.
Unless they stop, everything Hamas could gain politically will be squandered
BBSNews 2008-01-25 -- Rocket fire that according to Israel is the only reason for the Gaza siege stopped for at least 45 hours until today when five rockets were fired at Sderot by the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad.
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File Photo. Palestinian Hamas' "Executive Force" patrols on the border with Egypt.
Image Credit: Mohammed Omer, Rafah Today 2007-06-26. |
According to Yedioth, who broke the story, no rockets had been fired since 8:00 pm on Tuesday, the night that militants notified hospitals to be on alert for casualties that might result from people trying to cross the newly opened border with Egypt in case Egyptian troops fired on border crossers.
Mohammed Omer reports from Rafah that an Israeli air strike on a car overnight killed at least two Palestinians from Rafah. Both bodies were transferred into Abu Yousef Al Najjar hospital in Rafah. No injured were reported, but it's believed that both were Hamas members who were patrolling on the borderline according to Palestinian sources. Shooting can be heard from time to time, while Israeli warplanes are hovering, but Gazans are still flooding the border towards Egypt to get food, medicine and all they need from Egyptian Rafah and Al Arish.
It's not clear whether Israel fired upon the vehicle because of the rockets, or whether they are simply frustrated at the ability of Hamas to operate in patrolling the border area after largely being given the credit for masterminding the months long operation that resulted in bringing down a large swath of the concrete and metal wall that Israel built before its unilateral pullout of settlers and troops in 2005 from Gaza. Since then, Israel has maintained its occupation of Gaza by controlling all border crossings including at Rafah in an agreement with Egypt, as well as the sea off of Gaza and all of the airspace.
Last Thursday Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon said, "There is no need to negotiate with Hamas, if the rocket firings stop, we will cease operating in the Gaza Strip." This has been the general consensus among the West and Israel for some time.
Hamas has gained the world spotlight with a public relations coup that no amount of money could buy. The most respected world press has taken note of, from Time Magazine to the New York Times. Even the prestigious Financial Times said in an editorial today, "Israel's tactic of 'collective punishment' is illegal. Targeting a civilian population is prohibited by international law: there is no debate to be had about it."
Israel claims it will stop operating in the Strip if the rockets stop. Hamas should take them up on this offer, the Western world views Israel as being credible, if that is what they say, the world assumes this is what they will do. If Hamas can govern the rockets and stop them completely, and Israel continues to stop fuel shipments, humanitarian aid and medical care, and still keeps killing Palestinians with incursions and assassinations, the message to the world will be unmistakable.
Hamas should take the offer. The best that could happen would be that Israel will keep its word and stop the siege and the ongoing military incursions in the Gaza Strip. The worst that could happen is too horrible to contemplate.
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