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August 11, 2014 Special Dispatch No. 5819

Palestinian Columnist: Hamas Did Not Win The War, Only Brought Suffering Upon Gazans

August 11, 2014
Palestinians | Special Dispatch No. 5819

In an August 7, 2014 article titled "We Did Not Win," which was posted on the Amad.ps website, Palestinian columnist Dalia Al-'Afifi challenged Hamas' claim that it won the Gaza war. She wrote that Hamas had shown ignorance of Israel's rationale, had caused innumerable losses and damage to the Palestinians, and had erred in rejecting the Egyptian initiative. She added that the immense destruction in Gaza cannot be called a victory by any standards, and that Hamas' tactics are not likely to bring about an improvement in the Gazans' living conditions, not to mention promote the larger political goals of the Palestinian people.

The following are excerpts from the article: [1]


Dalia Al-'Afifi (image: Alwatanvoice.com)

"There is no doubt that this [current] Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip is different in all its forms, methods and contents, and even in the scope of the losses on both sides, from all the previous wars and intifadas that occurred in the course of the Israel-Arab conflict... The main Palestinian side that is leading the field campaign against the oppressive Israeli aggression in the present stage is the Hamas movement, and all it represents as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood [MB]. It was [Hamas] that led the campaign, even if the Islamic Jihad movement played a prominent role as well, and so did the other armed factions and elements, to some extent.

"The strange thing is that Hamas showed considerable ignorance of the rationale of the fascist Israel, and failed to understand many things. True, Hamas made some military achievements on the ground and achieved considerable success in terms of public morale. But it failed in the political management of the campaign, due to several reasons, [including] its views as a party and futile calculations [stemming from] its understanding of the power [relations] in the region – which caused the Palestinians considerable and avoidable casualties and material damage.

"The immense losses suffered by the Palestinians in lives and [damage to] property, whose tragic results are currently difficult to delimit or assess, prove that partisan interests largely overshadowed the interests of the Gazan public. Had Hamas' various branches and political and military leaders understood the Palestinians' living conditions in the last seven years, we would not have reached this situation [and suffered] these tragic casualties... mostly among children and elderly people – the highest number [of casualties in the history] of the Palestinian problem, even higher than in the two intifadas.

"Of course, some will say that this is the price of the homeland and of liberty. It is a price that the Palestinians have indeed been paying for 66 years, or for the last 100 years – but never has the number of losses been so high. Hamas could have inflicted pain on the enemy without bringing such a humanitarian catastrophe upon the Gazans, had it understood from the start the decisive significance of the Egyptian initiative and negotiated to improve the terms [of the ceasefire] and to achieve the legitimate humanitarian demands that it placed at the top of its list, namely ending the oppressive aggression and lifting the unjust siege. [Instead,] it regarded the Gazans and their concerns as [mere] ciphers...

"As a people under occupation, we Palestinians have the right to employ every kind of resistance sanctioned by international law in order to end this hated occupation. But there is [such a thing as] responsibility and delicate considerations, which resistance movements must place at the head of their priority-lists and calculations. Such tremendous destruction in a tiny area like Gaza... cannot be viewed as a victory, even had the Palestinians agreed among themselves about all their terms and demands, [a goal] they have not yet achieved. [Now] we will have an unconditional ceasefire, followed by a longer ceasefire which will eventually deprive Gaza of its ability to act – as though the objective of all the bloodshed and all the terrible suffering was to find a formula for improving the living conditions and the livelihood of the Gazans. [It seems that] the greatest demand and aspiration of the resistance is to lift the siege from Gaza, without linking this to any political demands regarding the [Palestinians'] national rights and principles. As we feared, [the hostilities] are likely to abate and end like this, without any of the Gazan's rights having been realized.

"Where is Hamas leading?... Will the ceasefire be renewed again and again, while rigid negotiations take place that will not yield much in terms of [realizing] the demands that were set? Or will we go back to pouring oil on the fire and beating the war drums, which will not change the equation but [only] take us back to square one?!

"Furthermore, we cannot ignore the fact that Egypt made every effort, in every way, to end the aggression – but Hamas erred and stubbornly rejected the Egyptian initiative from the start. [This,] in a bid to promote the role of Turkey and Qatar, in line with the MB's views, while engaging in an unfortunate attempt to marginalize the role of Egypt, [even though Egypt's role] is indespensible, for pan-Arab, historical, geographical and strategic reasons. Having failed [to achieve its goals], Hamas came back to Egypt – which has shouldered the Palestinian cause throughout [the history of] the Arab-Israeli conflict – [and participated in the negotiations] under the official mantle of the PLO.

"Hamas' media, along with the media of the MB, still insist on inciting against our big sister Egypt and on blaming it for the aggression and the continuing Gaza siege. They do not understand that the Arabs, and especially the Egyptians, read [the map] correctly and are well aware of what Hamas wants [to achieve] in its propaganda and political campaign against Egypt, which has been going on since the June 30, [2013] revolution [against the MB rule in Egypt].

"What concerns us today is the fate of the oppressed people of Gaza, who have lost every aspect of a [normal] life. Where will [we] find housing for all the families that have lost their homes and cannot find shelter except in public facilities? Who will undertake to find them new housing, and how long will it take to end the catastrophe, rebuild the ruins, and heal the deep wounds caused by the oppressive aggression and by the Palestinian side's mishandling of the campaign? This is where Hamas begins to shirk its responsibility and place the responsibility upon [the shoulders of] the PA and the national accord government, which [only] on paper."

 

 

[1] Amad.ps, August 7, 2014.

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