Friendly Discussions (and Fierce Partisanship)
There it is, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal issuing an invitation to PA president Mahmoud Abbas for unconditional talks to resolve issues between Fatah and Hamas. An invitation to Gaza, to pursue discussions certain to result in an amicable conclusion, re-cementing the previous (edgy) relationship between the factions. Might that mean that the wary Khaled Meshaal is himself planning to visit Gaza? Leave his hidden location in Damascus?Risk being taken captive by the IDF? Even the massed militia in Gaza of Hamas, along with assistance from al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade wouldn't offer sufficient deterrence to ensure this man's safety. So, although issuing that invitation to the fly to enter the spider's den, it will be with his old nemesis that Mr. Abbas is majestically being invited to confer, as though rubbing his nose in his loss of the Gaza Strip would further endear Hamas to Fatah.
"We invite Mr. Mahmoud Abbas to come to Gaza to talk directly without any conditions ... to work together to find a solution to the problems in Gaza and the West Bank", claimed Mr. Meshaal in an interview with Britain's Sky News. The solution, as must be clear to any onlooker - as it appears to be to the great mass of the Arab federation - is for Hamas to clear out, to disappear from the geography and permit Israel and the Fatah PA to reach agreement.
As though the Palestinians weren't fractured enough with their rogue militias, Hamas struck the defining blow when it seized Gaza with characteristic violence, splitting the Palestinian territories beyond comprehension for those claiming to have the best interests of the Palestinians in mind. An already impoverished population succumbed to greater depths of need thanks to that brilliantly self-serving stroke.
Hamas considers ongoing rocket attacks into Israel to be "ordinary reaction towards the Israeli occupation". Whereas the "ordinary reaction" toward the ongoing assault against its people has created the disastrous response of defence-against-offence whereby the IDF attempts to isolate and capture, or target and kill those launching the rockets, and are characterized by Hamas - and by extension the world at large - as state-sponsored terror.
Yet, while much of the West responds to Israel's desperate attempts to control the situation, protecting the integrity of its geography and its people from these rocket attacks, the Arab world itself, appears more moderate in the balance of their approach to the situation. They are not pleased with Syria's dark and meddlesome role in encouraging, protecting, training and arming terrorists. Nor Syria's embrace of Iran, with all the tentacled implications thereof.
The Saudi daily, Arab News, published an editorial clearly critical of Syria, stating that Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia recognize Syria's part in failing to control Hezbollah, to encourage them to move toward reconciliation in Lebanon. Syria's relationship with Tehran was cited as being worrying to moderate Arab states. And there is a recognition that Syria is "taking sides" in the Palestinian rift, harbouring the Hamas political leadership.
Clearly, there are times when one's allies are anything but.
Labels: Middle East, Terrorism
posted by Pieface @ Monday, March 31, 2008
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