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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Egypt Ban Could Push Hamas into New Fight with Israel |
| 2014-03-07 |
| [An Nahar] An Egyptian court ban on Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, activities could push the increasingly isolated Paleostinian Islamist movement into another battle with Israel, analysts say. The latest move marked a further deterioration in ties between Egypt and Hamas, which has close links to the Moslem Brüderbund of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Timeprinciple, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... and is now the target of a sweeping crackdown by the military-installed government. Since Morsi's overthrow, the Egyptian authorities have destroyed hundreds of tunnels along the border with the Hamas-ruled Gazoo Strip which had been used to bring in fuel and construction materials, as well as weapons and ammunition. The loss of the tunnels has deepened the economic crisis in Gazoo, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2006, and a senior Hamas official warned the court's move could prompt a new confrontation with Israel. "The situation between Egypt and Hamas has reached the point of no return," said Mukhaimar Abu Saada, political science professor at Gazoo's Al-Azhar University. "For Hamas, the choices are extremely limited: reconciliation with (Western-backed Paleostinian) President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... , or open confrontation with Israel to embarrass Egypt and win the sympathy of the Arab world," he said. "The latter option would be costly and risky." On Tuesday, the Egyptian court banned Hamas from operating in the country and moved to seize its assets after accusing it of colluding with the Moslem Brüderbund to carry out attacks. Gazooks celebrated in the streets when Morsi became Egypt's first freely elected leader in June 2012, a year and a half after Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was toppled by an Arab Spring uprising. But last year, the Egyptian army overthrew Morsi following massive protests against his divisive ...politicians call things divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive,they're principled... rule and has since designated the Moslem Brüderbund a terrorist organization. The destruction of the border tunnels is costing Gazoo $230 million (170 million euros) a month, Hamas says. Government workers say they have not been paid in four months. Bassem Naim, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, told AFP the court ruling was "shocking", and said he hoped it would not translate into "restrictions on people's movement". Egypt has severely restricted access through the border town of Rafah -- Gazoo's only gate to the world that is not controlled by Israel -- ostensibly for security reasons. Ezzat al-Rishq, a Hamas official close to the movement's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, said the ruling "will open the door to new (Israeli) aggression and war against Gazoo". A fragile Egypt-mediated ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that ended a bloody eight-day conflict in November 2012 has brought more than a year of relative calm, with Hamas policing its borders to prevent rocket fire by rogue krazed killers. Gazoo-based political analyst Hani Habib downplayed the court ruling as "a formality which will have little additional impact," saying border restrictions are nothing new and that Hamas has no offices or major assets in Egypt. But Adnan Abu Amr, a politics professor at Gazoo's Ummah University, said: "A final, definitive break between Egypt and Hamas would mean increased pressure on Gazoo, meaning that it could blow up in Egypt or Israel's faces." Political analyst Naji Sharab said the best option for Hamas would be to reconcile with Abbas's Fatah party, its Paleostinian rival based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But that would require Hamas to moderate its core belief that Israel must be destroyed and accept U.S.-brokered peace negotiations -- which it has staunchly refused to do. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 the conflict between hamas and fatah does have an ideological component but its also personal and tribal; hundreds or even thousands of fatah operatives have been killed or tortured by hamas and visa versa simply put, hamas and fatah hate each other |
| Posted by: lord garth 2014-03-07 08:44 |
| #1 I wish Hamas would---especially now when |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-03-07 07:02 |