Ramallah: Hamas believes that the latest Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip has two aims — to export an internal Israeli crisis and to evaluate the Egyptian reaction under President Mohammad Mursi to the escalation.
“The motive is to feel the Egyptian official and public pulse,” said Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas official spokesman in Gaza.
“We in Hamas believe that the Israelis are keen to find out how the Egyptians would respond to an Israeli military attack on Gaza.”
In recent speeches, Mursi has stated that he adopted Gaza’s problems and under such circumstances, “Israel would attack either Gaza or the Occupied East Jerusalem,” said Barhoum in an interview with Gulf News.
“Egypt is fully active in all matters related to Gaza, however Gaza still needs more Egyptian expressions of support to rein in the Israeli occupation and stop its aggressive acts,” he stressed. “Egypt has changed once and for all. There will be no chance for Egypt to return to earlier policies under the ousted President Hosni Mubarak.”
Hamas supports the current Muslim renaissance, claiming that it is only time until the imposed blockage on Gaza is lifted.
“We are currently more optimistic and hopeful than ever and look forward to the very near future when the blockade will end,” he stressed. “The recent Israeli escalation on Gaza is meant to kill this optimistic spirit with Israel sending a message to Gazans that there will be no room for optimism.”
Hamas claims that Israel is suffering an serious internal crisis and that the recent escalation is meant to export this crisis to Gaza. This assumption was supported by the Israel’s Prime Minister’s recent order for new and early parliamentary elections.
The Israeli escalation in Gaza has failed because it was confronted by the armed wings of the Palestinian factions led by the Ezzedeen Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing. “Palestinian militants have sent the Israeli enemy a clear message about the high level of coordination which exists between the armed wings on the field and the media,” he said.
Barhoum said that the Israeli mentality is based on murder and bloodshed and that their actions are also aimed at evaluating the capabilities of the armed resistance in Gaza. “Israel should be aware of the fact that its military forces were not operating in the field all alone and that the Palestinian armed wings will not forgive a single drop of blood shed in Gaza,” he said.
“The Israeli escalation in Gaza also aims to fail and kill the Palestinians’ UN bid, Palestinian internal reconciliation, and international sympathy towards the Palestinians,” he said. “Israel attacks everything related to the Palestinian cause and militarily works aim to prevent Palestinians from achieving any accomplishments.”
The attitude of the international community has not changed and still shows full support to Israel, however the attitude of the public in those nations has changed. “Those voices are making the difference,” he said. “We separate the official attitude from the public stance of the nations.”
According to another commentator, Hani Habib, a political analyst from Gaza, the increase in fighting occurred because Israel uses available opportunities to kill activists on its wanted lists, knowing that the armed wings will react. Israel targets the cadre of the military wings, but not known and top leaders.
“The escalation is usually limited and controlled within the frame of the desire of both sides, Israel and Hamas, to restore the informal cease fire,” he said. “Neither Hamas nor Israel is interested in real escalation.”
Habib said that Israel knows that there will be an Egyptian possible reaction if Israel launches a wide range military operation in Gaza and that therefore, “Israel will not take the risk of a full scale operation to test the Egyptian reaction under the new leadership which had announced commitment to already signed peace agreements with Israel,” he told Gulf News.
“There is no Israeli interest in antagonising Egypt and putting it in an embarrassing position leaving it no room but to show full support for the Palestinians,” he said.
Habib said that with the announcement of new parliamentary elections in Israel, there will be no chance for the Israeli government to launch a large scale military operation in Gaza as such the operation will be interpreted as a part of Netanyahu’s election campaign, not an answer to the rocket launchers.
“The current status quo in Gaza is ideal from the Israeli perspective because the rockets do not make any change to the power balance in the area,” he said.
“It is Israel which usually breaches the informal cease fire but in a careful and well calculated method knowing the Palestinian reaction in advance,” he said.
Fatah meanwhile, believes that Israeli recent escalation in Gaza targets only the Palestinians’ UN bid to upgrade status of Palestine to a non member state by intensifying the tensions, dragging the Palestinians to the cycle of violence, and mixing the papers.
Ahmad Assaf, Fatah official spokesman in the West Bank told Gulf News that the Israeli escalation in Gaza is a part of its daily and systematic policies to fail the Palestinian political and diplomatic initiatives.
“The Palestinians are wining unlimited international support at the UN, and that will be manifested in the coming vote,” he said. “Israel knows the result in advance and that leaves Israel no chance but to intensify the tensions to run ahead and mix all the papers,” he said.
“The Palestinians’ UN bid is all about the Palestinian basic and uncompromising rights and whatever Israel does will never reverse the Palestinian move at the UN,” he said.
He said that Fatah condemns the Israeli escalation in Gaza with the strongest terms, but those Israeli military policies will do just nothing to the Palestinian’s UN bid.
