Wakseh: Civil War in Palestine (2006 to 2010) HAMAS vs. The PLO – The War The Media Ignores
Wakseh is the name given by Palestinians to the Civil War now being fought in the Gaza Strip between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO or Fatah) and the Iranian backed HAMAS or Islamic Resistance Movement. http://www.answers.com/topic/hamas
As a brief reminder, the PLO was formed in 1964 by Yasser Arafat and is recognized as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United Nations since 1974. The PLO was considered by the United States and Israel to be a terrorist organization until the Madrid Conference in 1991. In 1993 the PLO recognized Israel’s right to exist in peace, accepted UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, and rejected “violence and terrorism” and in response Israel officially recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization
HAMAS, on the other hand, is a terrorist organization that denies the Holocaust of World War II and is pledged to the destruction of Israel and the elimination of Jews throughout the world. http://www.answers.com/topic/hamas
HAMAS is a militant Islamic movement. The group is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and the creation of a Palestinian Islamic state. It was founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmad Yasin, and its leadership comes from an Iranian element of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas’s aims are militant: it takes the position that Palestine cannot be surrendered to non-Muslims. It opposed the 1993 peace agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. Beginning in 2000, the group intensified its violent acts against Israelis, including numerous suicide bombings and rocket attacks. http://www.answers.com/topic/hamas
HAMAS was founded for the sole purpose of disrupting the Middle East Peace Process and to bring the process of normalization between the Palestinian Authority (The Independent Palestinian Government) and Israel to an end.
Middle East Peace Process 1993 – 2000 The PLO & Israel
In 1993 the Government of Israel entered into negotiations with Yasser Arafat and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization).
These negotiations went on for 6 years, until 1999, when the last of a group of agreements were signed that provided for “a transitional period of self rule” based on a “set of on reciprocal steps by the two parties” which were intended to result “in the creation of two separate and independent states“, one the Sovereign state of Israel and a second Palestinian State. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html
The Principles that were first signed on September 13, 1993 state, “The Government of the State of Israel and the P.L.O. team (in the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace Conference or the “Palestinian Delegation”), representing the Palestinian people, agree that it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual legitimate and political rights, and strive to live in peaceful coexistence and mutual dignity and security and achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement and historic reconciliation through the agreed political process. Accordingly, the, two sides agree to the following principles” http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles
The principles called for free and democratic elections supervised by a Palestinian Police Force (Article III): “In order that the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip may govern themselves according to democratic principles, direct, free and general political elections will be held for the Council under agreed supervision and international observation, while the Palestinian police will ensure public order.” http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles
Article 4 of the Principles applied to the areas referred to as the “West Bank” and the “Gaza Strip” and stated that both geographic areas would be considered one political entity: “The two sides view the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as a single territorial unit, whose integrity will be preserved” http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles
MAP OF GAZA STRIP AND WEST BANK : RELATIONSHIP TO ISRAEL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:West_Bank_%26_Gaza_Map_2007_(Settlements).png
Article 6 of the “principles” noted the limited transfer of authority to the Palestinian Authority, “Immediately after the entry into force of this Declaration of Principles and the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Jericho area, with the view to promoting economic development in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, authority will be transferred to the Palestinians on the following spheres: education and culture, health, social welfare, direct taxation, and tourism. The Palestinian side will commence in building the Palestinian police force, as agreed upon. Pending the inauguration of the Council, the two parties may negotiate the transfer of additional powers and responsibilities, as agreed upon.” http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles
The Palestinian Authority was charged with certain responsibilities in Article VII: “In order to enable the Council to promote economic growth, upon its inauguration, the Council will establish, among other things, a Palestinian Electricity Authority, a Gaza Sea Port Authority, a Palestinian Development Bank, a Palestinian Export Promotion Board, a Palestinian Environmental Authority, a Palestinian Land Authority and a Palestinian Water Administration Authority, and any other Authorities agreed upon, in accordance with the Interim Agreement that will specify their powers and responsibilities. After the inauguration of the Council, the Civil Administration will be dissolved, and the Israeli military government will be withdrawn. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles
The Israeli Government retained certain authority over the Gaza Strip and West Bank in Article VIII: “In order to guarantee public order and internal security for the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Council will establish a strong police force, while Israel will continue to carry the responsibility for defending against external threats, as well as the responsibility for overall security of Israelis for the purpose of safeguarding their internal security and public order. The withdrawal of the military government will not prevent Israel from exercising the powers and responsibilities not transferred to the Council.” http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles“
The principles included provisions for the resettlement of individuals displaced by the 1967 Arab – Israeli War and laid the ground work for establishing relations between the “Palestinian Authority” and the Governments of Egypt & Jordan: “The two parties will invite the Governments of Jordan and Egypt to participate in establishing further liaison and cooperation arrangements between the Government of Israel and the Palestinian representatives, on the one hand, and the Governments of Jordan and Egypt, on the other hand, to promote cooperation between them. These arrangements will include the constitution of a Continuing Committee that will decide by agreement on the modalities of admission of persons displaced from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, together with necessary measures to prevent disruption and disorder. Other matters of common concern will be dealt with by this Committee”. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles
Israel agreed to withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip & the West Bank: “After the entry into force of this Declaration of Principles, and not later than the eve of elections for the Council, a redeployment of Israeli military forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will take place, in addition to withdrawal of Israeli forces”. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Declaration%20of%20Principles.
Prior to signing these accords on September 13, 1993, Yasser Arafat, Founder of the PLO and the “President” of the Palestinian Authority, made the follow statement on behalf of the PLO, on September 9, 2003: “The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security”. “Numerous leaders within the PLO and the PA, including Yasser Arafat himself, have declared that the State of Israel has a permanent right to exist and that the peace treaty with Israel is genuine”. “The text of the Palestine National Charter as amended in 1968 contains many clauses calling for the destruction of the state of Israel. In letters exchanged between Arafat and Rabin in conjunction with the 1993 Oslo Accords, Arafat agreed that those clauses would be removed. On 26 April, 1996, the Palestine National Council voted to nullify or amend all such clauses, and called for a new text to be produced. A letter from Arafat to US President Clinton in 1998 listed the clauses concerned, and a meeting of the Palestine Central Committee approved that list. A public meeting of PLO, PNC and PCC members also confirmed the letter in Clinton’s presence. Nevertheless, a new text of the Charter has never been produced, and this is the source of a continuing controversy. Critics of the Palestinian organizations claim that failure to produce a new text proves the insincerity of the clause nullifications.” “Palestinians are no strangers to compromise. In the 1993 Oslo Accords, we agreed to recognize Israeli sovereignty over 78 percent of historic Palestine and to establish a Palestinian state on only 22 percent.” — Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator, August 5, 2000”. QUOTES IN THIS PARAGRAPH ARE FROM THE OFFICIAL PLO WEB SITE: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Palestinian_Liberation_Organization
HAMAS – Created to Prevent Peace
In 1993 Hamas’s military wing carried out suicide bombings in Israel in an attempt to derail existing agreements and to prevent further negotiations.
In early 2000 The Islamic Resistance Movement or HAMAS began rocket attacks and IED (improvised explosive device) attacks against Israel. Yes, the same IEDs used against American troops in Iraq & Afghanistan, IEDs manufactured in Iran. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas
HAMAS challenged Yasser Arafat’s authority to negotiate the 1993 agreements with Israel and has refused to recognize the “agreements” or to concede that the State of Israel or its Jewish citizens have a “right to exist”.
“The Islamic militant group HAMAS has no intention of recognizing Israel’s right to exist and will not change its charter advocating the destruction of the Jewish state” http://it.tmcnet.com/news/2006/02/10/1360022.htm
“31 January 2006 (RFE/RL) — The Palestinian militant group The Islamic Resistance Group or HAMAS says it rejects international pressure to recognize Israel and disarm”. http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1065273.html
The fighting between HAMAS and Israel and HAMAS and the PLO continued to escalate until the death of Yasser Arafat in November 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat
The decrease in violence following Arafat’s death was brief, with the attacks resuming in early 2005. By 2006, the violence reached proportions similar to that in Jordan in 1970 and Lebanon in the 1990′s, the violence is described by Arabs as the “Palestinian Civil War”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah%E2%80%93Hamas_conflict
In early 2006 the entire International Community warned HAMAS that aid to the Palestinian Authority Government would be “cut off” unless “Hamas renounced violence, recognized Israel, and accepted previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements”, which Hamas refused to do. On April 7, 2006 the United States and the European Union and other Arab States, a group of Countries which had been the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) largest donors since it’s creation in 1996, announced they were halting assistance to the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/palestine-civilwar.htm
In February 2007 the PLO (Fatah) and HAMAS agreed to create a “Palestinian National Unity Government” or “NUG”, however, HAMAS continued its attacks in the Gaza Strip. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html
As the situation worsened the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas sacked Prime Minister Haniyeh and dissolved the government on June 14, 2007. He then declared a state of emergency and swore in a new cabinet on June 17, 2007. The new government was free of any attachments to Hamas. The international community threw its support behind Abbas. In addition to receiving the backing of the Arab League and the European Union, both Israel and the United States announced that they were prepared to lift the financial and economic sanctions against the PA that had been in place for over a year. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/palestine-civilwar.htm
At present there is no “blockade” or “financial or economic sanctions” in place against the legitimate Palestinian Authority Government in the West Bank. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/palestine-civilwar.htm
It was at this time that HAMAS moved militarily to cease control of the Gaza Strip. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html
In June 2007 HAMAS succeeded in a violent takeover of all military and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip. Thousands of PLO supporters were killed by HAMAS. The NUG was dismissed by the PLO and an independent government was formed by the PLO in the West Bank. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gz.html
At present Fatah (PLO) controls the larger West Bank, while HAMAS is in control of the Gaza Strip, a situation clearly not contemplated in the peace accords, which state that the West Bank and Gaza Strip shall be treated as a single political entity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah%E2%80%93Hamas_conflict
In January 2009 the Israeli military re-entered the Gaza Strip in response to the increasing missile attacks by HAMAS on Jewish cities located along the Gaza border. Israel, had not, as is frequently misreported, surrendered the right to reintroduce a military presence into the Gaza Strip – The Palestinian Authority has never been granted the rights of an Independent State as it has never met its obligations under the Principles signed in 1993. After a 3 week operation in the Gaza, Israeli withdrew its troops before the end of January 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/03/middleeast-israelandthepalestinians
While HAMAS continues its fight against their Palestinian brothers in Fatah/PLO they also are smuggling arms and missiles into the Gaza Strip from Iran and launching attacks against Israel.
Contrary to what the American and International Press would have you believe, HAMAS does not represent all Palestinians nor does it represent a majority of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. A significant number of the HAMAS fighters are not even Palestinian or even Arabic but are instead Iranians and Persian. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatah%E2%80%93Hamas_conflict
HAMAS is not the legitimate or legal government in the Gaza Strip. That “right” is correctly claimed by the Palestinian Authority Government of President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli Government made this comment 18 months ago, “”Another one-way ceasefire that leads to rocket attacks on Israel is not acceptable”, “There must be monitoring mechanisms in place to help ensure the smuggling of weapons to terrorist groups in Gaza comes to an end… I urge all parties to pressure HAMAS to turn away from terror and to support legitimate Palestinian leaders working for peace.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/03/middleeast-israelandthepalestinians
The Obama Administration has been silent and failed to support the Israeli Government’s call for an end to the violence. The Obama Administration, unlike all previous American Administrations, has abandoned Fatah/PLO as the representative of the Palestinian People through the Palestinian Authority Government and has instead embraced the Iranian based HAMAS who refuse to even concede that Israel has a right to exist.
HAMAS’ missile attacks on Israel continue: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2003/me_hamas_02_20.html , http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2003/me_hamas_05_29.html , http://en.ce.cn/World/Europe/200801/22/t20080122_14321655.shtml , http://www.abbaswatchman.com/NEWS%20HAMAS%20SETS.html ,
In 2009 it was reported that over 8,600 rockets had been launched by HAMAS into the Israeli cities of Sderot, Ashkleon, Ashdod and Beersheba. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
The missile attacks are, in fact, defined as “war crimes” by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch because the attacks target innocent civilians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel
The United Nations reported that in one month alone HAMAS launched “some 800 rockets and mortar shells into Israel”. In February 2010, just 3 months ago, “The HAMAS government in Gaza on Saturday backtracked on its apology earlier this week in which it expressed regret for harming Israeli civilians in rocket attacks. The apology had signaled a rare deviation from HAMAS’ violent ideology, and the subsequent zigzag reflects the Islamic militants’ conflicting objectives. HAMAS, which seized Gaza by force in 2007, is trying to reach out to the West in hopes of winning recognition and getting Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza. However, HAMAS or The Islamic Resistance Movement is also reluctant to discard its violent ideology for fear of losing credibility at home.” http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/02/06/hamas-backtracks-apology-israeli-rocket-attacks/
THE CURRENT QUARANTINE OF THE GAZA STRIP
Today, June 6th, 2010, Israeli is not conducting an “Economic Embargo” of the Gaza Strip as has been claimed.
Israeli has not enforced an “economic embargo” of the Gaza Strip since 2007 and HAMAS’ initial attack on the Palestinian Authority Government in June of that year. That 2007 embargo was put in place at the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah). http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6768931.stm
The Governments of Israeli and Egypt have ”blockaded” the Gaza Strip since June 2007 and the renewed civil war between HAMAS and the PLO (Fatah). Israel maintains that the blockade is necessary to limit Palestinian rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on its cities and to prevent HAMAS from obtaining other weapons. Egypt maintains that it cannot open the Rafah crossing since opening the border would represent Egyptian recognition of the HAMAS control of Gaza, undermine the legitimacy of the Palestinian National Authority and consecrate the split between Gaza and the West Bank. The “blockade” concerns arms. Humanitarian aid still flows into the Gaza. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6768931.stm
GAZA STRIP AID 2008 – 2009
For a list of the aid being sent into the Gaza Strip and which Countries are sending it see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932009_Gaza_Strip_aid
Over $4.5 billion in aid was promised to the Gaza Strip in 2008 -2009. Remember, Gaza is the size of Washington D.C.. Unfortunately, HAMAS has prevented much of the aid from being delivered – not the story being reported on your evening news is it?
On 12 January, HAMAS raided some 100 aid trucks entering Gaza, stole their contents and sold them to the highest bidders. On 20 January, gunmen from HAMAS’ armed militant wing seized 12 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid that had been donated by the Jordanian government to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to Jordanian and Palestinian Authority officials. On 3 February, 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels were confiscated by HAMAS police personnel from an UNRWA distribution center. On the following day, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator demanded that the aid be returned immediately. In a separate incident on 5 February, HAMAS seized 200 tons of food from UNRWA aid supplies. The following day, UNRWA suspended its activities in Gaza. HAMAS issued a statement stating that the incident was a misunderstanding between the drivers of the trucks and had been resolved through direct contact with the UNRWA. On 9 February, UNRWA lifted the suspension on the movement of its humanitarian supplies into Gaza, after the HAMAS authorities returned all of the aid supplies confiscated. Some local Gaza NGOs providing emergency aid stated that HAMAS had ordered them to stop operating because it suspected they were affiliated with rival group Fatah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932009_Gaza_Strip_aid , http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/aidgaza.html .
The World should not forget is the refusal of HAMAS to even negotiate with the Palestinian Authority Government or to reliquish its militant opposition to the existence of an Israeli State. The Palestinian Authority Government has stated the following: “Reconciliation Efforts with Hamas: … and in light of our dire need to unify ourselves and empower our internal front, we must make every possible effort to put an end to Palestinian disunity. The question to be posed, however: Have we not made every possible effort to achieve this goal?The answer is yes. We signed the Reconciliation Document, which had been a fruit of the Egyptian efforts and dialogue between all factions. Earlier, we had signed the Mecca Agreement. President Abbas also promulgated a decree, calling for the conduct of presidential and legislative elections in January 2010 as stipulated by the Basic Law. Nevertheless, the Hamas Movement refused all these initiatives… we may request that the forthcoming Arab Summit Conference and the Islamic Conference Organisation denounce the party that rejects the Palestinian reconciliation effort…. this action will disclose and expose the real positions of the Hamas Movement as well as its utilisation of resistance and religion. It will also expose the Arab and Islamic regimes which use Hamas’ forcibletake-over of Gaza for the sake of their own regional and international interests.” http://www.electronicintifada.net/downloads/pdf/100311-…r.pdf (beginning on page 10.) or through thge link at the bottom of this article: http://www.anarkismo.net/article/16106?userlanguage=it&save_prefs=true
Summary of Facts
1) HAMAS is not the legitimate government of the Gaza Strip as HAMAS seized control through military violence. The Liberal Media continues to mention the elections of 2006 when HAMAS made political gains, however, they consistently fail to note that the Government elected in 2006 was dissolved and replaced on June 17, 2007.
2). Israel is not acting alone. Both the Israeli and Egypt Governments are enforcing a “blockade” of the Gaza Strip. A blockade not an economic embargo as is falsely claimed.
3). All shipments of goods into the Gaza Strip are searched before being allowed entry. The Israeli and Egyptian Governments are trying to prevent the illegal shipment of guns and rockets into the Gaza Strip, illegal weapons which HAMAS has used against both Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza.
4). HAMAS opposes the peace treaty brokered by Yasser Arafat (PLO/Fatah) between 1993 and 1999 and maintains their fanatical commitment to the destruction of Israel and the death of all Jews. A position frequently echoed by HAMAS’ main sponsor, Iran.
5) HAMAS has called for the destruction of not just Israel, but also of the PLO (Fatah) for what HAMAS calls the treasonous peace negotiations with Israel. Let us not forget that HAMAS has also called for “Death to America, The Great Satan”.
6). HAMAS has been guilty of misappropriating humanitarian supplies after they have reached the Gaza Strip and have prevented International Aid workers from distributing supplies to the villages HAMAS associates with the rival PLO (Fatah) group.
7). Israel violated no international laws when it boarded the ships at sea. Why these alleged “humanitarians” refuse to allow inspection of their cargo is beyond explanation. Why would any humanitarian group object to making sure that weapons had not been smuggled onto their ships? Weapons that might be used, not just against innocent Israeli citizens, but the innocent Palestinians as well, the innocent Palestinians the self proclaimed Humanitarians claim to want to help.
As HAMAS is actively working to destroy the Israeli Peace Process and to militarily defeat those Palestinians who want to pursue a peaceful co-existence with Israeli, why are these alleged “humanitarians” siding with Hamas? They are not siding, as they so frequently claim, with the peaceful People of Palestine.
A WARNING TO AMERICA’S JEWISH COMMUNITY: KEEP SUPPORTING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IF YOU WANT – JUST TELL YOUR RELATIVES IN ISRAEL TO PACK THEIR SUIT CASES – THE CATTLE CARS WILL BE LEAVING TEHRAN SHORTLY AND THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS WILLING TO STAND SILENTLY BY AND WATCH AS YOU ARE LOADED ONTO THE TRAINS AGAIN … HISTORY IS ABOUT TO REPEAT ITSELF … SUPPORT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND YOU MUST BE PREPARED TO STAND ALONE. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE STAND WITH THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND THOSE PALESTINIANS WHO DESIRE A PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE – THE OBAMA ADMINSTRATION DOES NOT.
OBAMA PREFERS TO EMBRACE HAMAS AND BOW TO IRAN!
Filed under: HAMAS, IRAN, Israel, Israeli Blockade of Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | Tagged: Blockade, Gaza Strip, Hamas, IRAN, Israel, Palestine, Palestinian Authority Government, PLO, West Bank | Leave a comment »
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