Wheeling and Dealing ... Crass Interests Dominate

"In the end, the peace deal was exactly like previous arrangements stretching back more than four decades."

"Israel released prisoners and detainees for the living hostages. This time, the ration was a hundred to one, which is actually low by historical standards."

"The IDF ceased fire and withdrew from some territory, into which its enemies reconstituted themselves."

"This was lamented as 'mowing the grass' in Israeli security circles, meaning that from time to time, the growth of terror had to be dealt with, but after the mowing, it would grow back."

"This time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- with widespread Israeli support at the outset -- vowed that the Hamas green grass would not be allowed to grow back. This time, it would be scorched earth -- and under the earth."

"He persisted until Trump made him get on his riding mower and cede half of Gaza to Hamas, which is already fertilizing the ground with fresh blood." 

Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Post

Netanyahu called Trump the 'greatest friend' Israel had ever had in the White House  Reuters

 

There are plans afoot for a new security and stabilization force to become actively engaged in Gaza, in phase 2 of President Donald Trump's remarkable peace plan that brought a ceasefire in Gaza. Above all, the return of 20 live Israeli hostages. It sounds quite convincing, if one manages to overlook the presence of Turkish and Egyptian troops and Qatari money in Gaza, and speculate the necessity of disarming Hamas and getting on in good time ... and for a long time ... in deradicalizing the Palestinian civilian population in preparation for their long-awaited Palestinian state coming to fruition -- one which does not include the displacement of Israel to fulfill the Palestinians' full-throated 'from the river to the sea'.

 

That takes thought and a hard second look: Qatar and Turkey have both hosted on the most generously helpful terms, the 'diplomatic' arm of the leaders of Hamas. In both countries Hamas is considered to represent a legitimate freedom movement, one dedicated to disengaging Gaza from Israeli oppression and 'occupation'. How diligent can they be expected to be in disarming Hamas, in the context of their own Islamist dedication to jihad, after all? While Egypt and Saudi Arabia have outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas's big brother, both Qatar and Turkey are in complete support of the MB and all it stands for; the total eradication of Israel.

 

The Hamas leadership is, if nothing else, skilled in manipulating the West. That Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and its various public relations arms have fully infiltrated academia, politics, unions in the West, while Qatar has most generously endowed Western universities with unlimited cash, the disarming has been to the advantage of radical Islam whose agenda appears to be fogged by Western inattention to the slow and rapidly growing influence on university campuses, union halls, and the progressive left, to demonize Israel and diaspora Jewry and to hold them accountable for the conflict in the Middle East.

 

Gaza City has been reduced to grey rubble: Hamas's willing sacrifices   Reuters

 

Qatar in particular has bought its way into the corridors of power, following in the malign footsteps of China but for their own reasons. Qatar's public relations media Al Jazeera, has become a Hamas mouthpiece, airing and emphasizing condemnation of Israel for responding to the October 7, 2023 savagery when sadistic rapists and murderers exploited Israeli inattention and complacency in the belief that nothing threatened the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza since Israel had agreed to allow Qatar to bankroll Hamas and itself demonstrate good faith and trust by employing 20,000 Gazans in southern Israel kibbutzim.

 

With Gulf promises of funding for Gaza reconstruction, will there be any foolproof method of ensuring that the money is used for actual reconstruction of civic infrastructure and  homes for displaced Gaza civilians, and not diverted for the reconstruction of the terrorists' vast underground tunnel network, to rebuild its bases of operation and weapons caches, while recruiting and training and arming more graduates of the academy of Hamas's death cult focusing on following through with its mandate of killing Jews and destroying the Jewish state?

 

Hamas has been busy in fact, reconstructing itself as a fighting force, focusing for the present on rounding up its opponents within Gaza itself, the 47% of the strip that has been allocated temporarily to them, where the current imperative of punishing Palestinian civilians they blame as traitors on charges of aiding Israel, and where powerful Gazan clans have been intent in the last two years of conflict, on unseating Hamas's power base, hoping to continue Israel's war on Hamas for their own purposes of ridding themselves of their presence.

 

Video shows Hamas armed men dragging seven men into a circle of people in Gaza City, forcing them to their knees and executing them.    From Social Media/Reuters

 

Punishments meted out by Hamas operatives in breaking arms and legs of those they accuse of deserting the Hamas jihad enterprise, of surrounding areas in Gaza where clans dominate, to enter guns blazing, grenades exploding, to execute clan leaders, rounding up others for public executions to make certain that Gazans fully understand and remain complicit with Hamas back in charge as the dominating group that none must dare oppose.

 

As for President Trump who has given his assent to Hamas cleaning up and clearing away the 'bad guys' in Gaza belonging to family clans, his focus is on "A lot of cash, unlimited cash!", exulting at the prospect of the United Arab Emirates funding the Trump version of a Palestinian state. For its part, Saudi Arabia has threatened to withdraw its pledges for reconstruction funding should Hamas not be demilitarized and ousted from Gaza. Trump, while avowing his love and support for Israel, was enraged when the IDF attempted to assassinate Hamas officials in Qatar.

 

It is not to the benefit of Israel that President Trump's peace plan is moving ahead, but to Qatar's, the source of Hamas's funding and future. Israel's missile assault on Qatar moved Trump to declare that Qatar's sovereignty was inviolate, forcing Mr. Netanyahu to apologize for its effrontery in visiting violence on the very country that funds violence on Israel. If the Muslim Brotherhood has an assured haven, that place is in Qatar. Yet President Trump has seen fit to sign a military treaty with Qatar guaranteeing its inviolability. 

 

 US President Donald Trump and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani meeting during the ceasefire summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on October 13. Blondet Eliot/Abaca/Sipa USA

 

"Qatar was a tremendous help to getting this done. I hope people can realize that. It was very tough and very dangerous for Qatar. They were very brave." 

"His Highness Sheikh Tamim is respected by everybody. He’s respected by everybody, and in the most positive way."

"Not only because of power, because of his heart. He’s got a tremendous heart and he’s a great leader, and his country loves him."

U.S. President Donald Trump