by Reuven Berko
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are too busy with their rivalry to truly care about the Palestinian people's welfare • Both are also oblivious to the fact that Middle East geopolitics and global circumstances have marginalized the Palestinian issue.
An anti-Hamas rally in the
Gaza Strip this week
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Photo credit: AFP  |
Albert Einstein once said that the definition
of insanity was doing the same thing over and over, and expecting
different results. This saying, it seems, best depicts the Palestinian
Authority's relationship with Hamas: The rival Palestinian factions are
so busy with their internal conflicts and their shared hatred of Israel
that they are oblivious to the fact that the geopolitical circumstances,
both in the Middle East and worldwide, have taken a negative turn that
has undermined the Palestinian cause, while playing in Israel's favor.
While Hamas and the Palestinian Authority
remain at loggerheads over control of the Palestinian people, the
disintegration of Syria, Iraq and Libya has created a humanitarian
crisis in the Middle East and with it an unprecedented refugee crisis.
The two-pronged threat looming over the Sunni
countries in the Middle East -- the rise of radical Sunni Islam on the
one hand and the threat of a nuclear Shiite Iran on the other hand --
has dramatically and ominously shifted the pan-Arab balance of power;
the pro-Palestinian Arab system, meant to provide economic and military
support to the Palestinian's political and armed struggle against
Israel, has changed with it.
The changes in the regional priorities and
interests of countries such as the U.S. and Russia, and the actions of
rogue organizations operating in the Middle East, have placed solid and
stable Israel in a strategic position even the Arab countries seek to
preserve. Many of the Arab nations, some of which are fighting for their
very survival, are eyeing an alliance with Israel, be it overt or
covert, and their own strategic considerations far outweigh a
Palestinian narrative fabricated for the sole purpose of ramming Israel
and diverting the Palestinian people's attention from the wrongs
committed by their rulers.
The chaotic reality overrunning the Arab world
and the resulting upheaval Europe must deal with have left both
indifferent to the anachronistic narratives of the "occupation" and
Palestinian refugees. The regional disaster has dwarfed the Palestinian
tale into a minor anecdote.
The Palestinian Authority's adamant refusal to
accept any of the Israeli proposals to reignite the stalled peace
negotiations gives the impression that it is unaware of the fact that
the international community has lost interest in the Palestinian issue.
Hamas' armament efforts in clear preparation
for the next round of hostilities with Israel suggest its leaders are
oblivious to the animosity the residents of the Gaza Strip harbor toward
their regime, as well as to the fact that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey
and the other Arab and Islamic nations that have so far lent Hamas their
diplomatic, financial and military support, are facing a host of new
problems that require their attention, including the threats posed by
the Islamic State group and Iran's regional ambitions.
Recently, however, it seems the unrest
sweeping the Palestinian street and the dimmed effect Ramallah's
manipulation has on key players in the international theater are
beginning to take its toll on the Palestinian Authority's leadership.
For a long time, the Palestinians were able to deceive many into
thinking their issue was at the root of all global unrest, but then came
the real Middle East tragedy, and the Palestinians' anti-Israeli myth
was debunked.
In the current climate, it is clear that a
situation in which Hamas would be able to exploit the Palestinian
Authority's weakness to overrun Judea and Samaria is a nightmare
scenario for both Jordan and Israel. Affording the Palestinians
sovereignty status in the area in any manner that includes control of
the border crossings and seaports would allow an influx of Islamic State
terrorists and other radical Islamists into Judea and Samaria, and
would turn it from the only area in the Middle East that enjoys some
peace and quiet into a killing field.
It seems that the current, demilitarized
situation, in which the Palestinians rule their own territories -- with a
flag, an anthem and a passport to show for it -- is all they could ever
hope for. Any change in this status spells a hellish reality for
Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians themselves, and it can only
undermine any chance of ever striking peace in the Middle East.
Throughout history, the Palestinians have
always turned to the Temple Mount in a time of crisis. But not to pray
-- to use the holy and highly volatile site as a trigger for violence
and bloodshed. It is one of the oldest tricks in their book, meant to
cause an overall escalation that would shuffle the deck in their favor
regardless of the price it would exact in casualties.
Meanwhile, Jordan, the professed protector of
the Al-Aqsa mosque, is caught in the middle. Under the agreement with
Israel, Jordan represents Islamic interests on Al-Aqsa, and Amman
adamantly fights Palestinian attempts to sideline its influence on the
site and to establish a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem as part of
a ploy to undermine Israel's sovereignty in the city. The Palestinians
are trying to forcibly appropriate the Temple Mount, claiming they
represent Christian interests in Jerusalem, and asserting that "Jesus
was a Palestinian" and there was never a Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
Jordan understands Israel's measures against
the Islamists in Jerusalem, but faced with its own set of Islamist
problems at home, and given the millions of refugees on its borders,
Amman must release anti-Israel statements.
Nevertheless, the facts on the ground,
particularly Israel's building, have long ago ended the discussion on
any future division of Jerusalem. Truth be told, the Palestinians have
no claim on any part of the city. There was never a state called
"Palestine" and it was never occupied, and neither was the capital it
never had.
The Palestinian narrative on Jerusalem is
dissipating. During 2014's Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, Hamas
fired rockets at Jerusalem's mosques and churches, but somehow, Hamas
political leader Khaled Mashaal, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan claim that it is Israel that is threatening the Al-Aqsa mosque.
With the Islamic State group and Nusra Front
terrorists indiscriminately targeting mosques all over the Middle East,
razing them regardless of the harm that comes to their Muslim brethren,
it is hard to believe the Palestinians are genuinely concerned about
Al-Aqsa. On the contrary, it appears they are more than willing to risk
the holy site for their own political gain, making it easier for many to
believe Israel, the safest country in the Middle East, can protect the
Al-Aqsa mosque better than any of the other unstable Muslim regimes
around.
As for the Palestinians, Hamas would rather
invest in its weapons caches than in the Palestinian people's welfare,
and what little resources it has are diminishing by the day due to the
Egyptian crackdown on the smuggling routes from Sinai to Gaza; and the
Palestinian Authority is plagued by internal strife and discord over its
future political path, and it is too busy thwarting Hamas' putsch
attempts to truly care about the plight of the Gazans.
The situation in the Palestinian Authority and for Hamas
in Gaza is dire, and global circumstances do not bode well for the
Palestinian issue.
Reuven Berko
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=28341
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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