Hamas Sees Abbas’s Statehood Bid as Step to Islamist Rule
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Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash 90
Why did some Hamas leaders come out in public in support of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s request to the UN General Assembly to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to “Non-Member Observer State”?
Because the Hamas leaders know that sooner or later the Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem will fall into their hands.
Hamas has not abandoned its dream of replacing Israel with an Islamic state, “from the river to the sea.”
This is what several Hamas leaders reiterated over the past week when asked why they had backed Abbas’s effort to establish a Palestinian state on “only” 22% of Mandatory Palestine.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives even participated in Fatah celebrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip marking the “victory” at the UN General Assembly last Thursday.
These representatives did not take part in the celebrations because they accept the two-state solution and are willing to live in peace alongside Israel.
Nor did they take to the streets to express their joy over the upgrading of the status of the Palestinians at the UN.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad celebrated because they think that the UN has paved the way for the establishment of an Islamist state within the pre-1967 lines. Like many Palestinians, the two Islamist groups are confident that the countdown has begun for the creation of an Iranian-backed entity in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Islamists’s message to the Palestinians is: “Let Mahmoud Abbas take now whatever he can because we know that in the future these lands will be under our control.”
Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials and spokesmen have even gone on record stating that their support for Abbas’s statehood bid does not mean that they have relinquished their dream of destroying Israel and “liberating the rest of Palestine.”
The Islamists are hoping to achieve their goal with the support of three parties: Iran, Qatar and Egypt.
Iran will continue to supply Hamas and Islamic Jihad with various types of rockets, while the Qataris will prove the funds. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President, Mohamed Morsi, will provide the political cover and support.
Following Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip, some Hamas leaders, including Khaled Mashaal, revealed that many of the rockets that were fired at Israel came from Iran.
Recently, Qatar pledged to support Hamas with more than $400 million, in order to boost the Islamist movement and assist it in tightening its grip on the Gaza Strip.
Morsi, for his part, has been actively seeking to legitimize Hamas and turn it into a major player in the Palestinian, regional and international arenas.
Ironically, if anyone is about to facilitate the process of establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state it is Abbas himself.
Abbas has already declared his intention to seek unity between his Fatah faction and Hamas in the aftermath of the UN vote.
Abbas has even indicated his readiness to travel to the Gaza Strip — for the first time since he was expelled from there in 2007 — to advance the “reconciliation” process with Hamas.
When and if Abbas manages to solve his dispute with Hamas, the Palestinians will be called to participate in new presidential and parliamentary elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a move that will undoubtedly result in another victory for the Islamist movement.
The UN vote last week has paved the way for the creation of a radical Islamist state that will be used by the Iranians and Muslim Brotherhood to advance their goal of wiping Israel off the map. That is why Hamas and Islamic Jihad have good reason to be celebrating in the streets.
Originally published by the Gatestone Institute.
tell a friendAbout the Author: Khaled Abu Toameh, an Arab Muslim, is a veteran award-winning journalist who has been covering Palestinian affairs for nearly three decades.
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10 Responses to “Hamas Sees Abbas’s Statehood Bid as Step to Islamist Rule”
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throw the bums out!
may all Israel’s enemies be rejoined with allah hadafuk in “paradise” swiftly and soon…
Hamas is the tool of the Islamic world to seek revenge against Israel for their humiliating defeats, their lack of prosperity (except for the depleting oil that saved them from obscurity), and their deceitful historical efforts to place themselves into the role of Abraham’s true descendants, one of many lies at the core of their ideology. In the aftermath of the Holocaust, and the secular nation building to be a nation among nations, we are continually disappointed by the non-Jewish world’s resentment of our successes, antagonism to our valid historical claims to the entire Eretz Yisrael, our defense against terroristic entities with imperialist ambitions to world domination, starting with the destruction of the Jewish state. We have been unable to believe in our destiny enough to take our birthright (Eretz Yisrael) and remove the Jihadist liars from our midst, from our full territory. We must overpower their desire for regional and global conquest (and economic, social, religious, and political subjugation), with a firm commitment to our land, our people, and our creator. Push Hamas into Egypt, push the west bank Islamist into Jordan, and make every deceitful effort on their part to uproot us a consequence to their sovereignty.
I think Hamas is the tool not of just the islamic world but the EU, UN and US
ANd Turkey and Qatar, sorry
We should have pushed them last week, when we had the chance. Maybe we will get a second chance. I agree with you 100 per cent. let their arab bros in Egypt take them in. THey have hundreds of miles of empty sandunes, it is a perfect place for them
Next time I would bomb them from the air, and tell them to leave, give them a few hours to run, and then continue bombing the infrastructure, the bridges, electrical grids, the factories, banks, markets.
I am so sick of cowardice. We are bending over while we have guns in our hands, now that is weird
I was born and raised in Monsey NY. The man you speak of is a mentally disturbed, deranged loner who has spoken loshon hora on many occasions.
Your comments constitute L”H. Nonetheless, do you think our claim to E”Y is weaker than the claim of any people to their land? Do you think Hamas doesn’t want all our land (and assets) and our subjugation/destruction, and that is their greatest goal and the one to which their supporters subscribe (under the guise of displaced refugees)? Do you think that Islam wasn’t founded and based upon a corrupted view of Abraham’s legacy, as a replacement theology/Supersessionism? Why do they place Ishmael on the Akeida? Do you really think that after over 2,000 years of no distinctive religious affiliations that any of them authentically maintained any connection to Ishmael? Now, because of their sheer numbers and the fear of their reprisals they manipulate the UN, EU, ignorant Jews, etc., into condemning Israel. Wake up. Get them out of our midst, away from our borders, and let them kill each other over their petty and inhuman grievances.