When Hamas Gained Control of Palestinians

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                     

Remember the year, 2000?  We all thought something terrible would happen, like computers would fall apart.  I still have my Y 2K bug sitting on top of my computer.  In a way, this year was prophetic.  The Oslo meetings started in 1993 and came to an end in September 2000 when many extremist Palestinian groups, with the backing of Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Authority (PA), launched a terrorist war against Israel.  These groups hijacked the peace agenda from ordinary Palestinians and forced Israel to focus on self-defense.

                                                                

• Yitzhak Rabin – Israeli Prime Minister during the Oslo peace process, Bill Clinton, President of USA, and Yasser Arafat of PLO Terrorism.  

The Oslo Accords marked the start of the Oslo process, a peace process aimed at achieving a peace treaty based on United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and at fulfilling the "right of the Palestinian people to self-determination." The Oslo process started after secret negotiations in Oslo, resulting in the recognition by the PLO of the State of Israel and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in negotiations.  This all was signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995.

Terrorism now escalated into an organized, systematic campaign of roadside explosives, ambushes and shootings.  The intifada's signature tactic, suicide bombing, had been the most lethal, causing 47% of all Israeli casualties.  Terrorists targeted Israeli civilians. Suicide bombers exploded in restaurants, dance clubs,  synagogues, Bar Mitzvah parties and public buses.  Snipers shot at commuters on the highways.  Attackers infiltrated private homes and launched rockets into schoolyards.   

During the Oslo negotiations, Yasser Arafat, the PLO and the PA had committed to disarming and dismantling terrorist groups.  Instead, they continued to arm terrorists, promote incitement and give terrorists financial and ideological support, hoping to force more concessions from Israel.                     

The PA. to this day. has officially celebrated suicide bombers as heroic martyrs and authorised public incitement in the media, schools and mosques to attack Israel and Israelis.  Many PA security officials doubled as terrorist operatives.  In January 2006, PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas announced he would continue the PA policy of paying suicide bombers' families with annual stipends.  In the same month, this radical Islamic group, HAMAS, won the majority vote in the PA elections. 

Hamas means the Islamic Resistance Movement.  It was founded in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (1987-2004) and Khaled Mashal (2004- 2017)  and then  Ismail Haniyeh (2017-2021).                

The founder of Hamas was a preaching Iman, but what he was preaching wasn't peace. Yassin, a quadriplegic who was nearly blind, had used a wheelchair since a sporting accident at the age of 12.  He was born near Ashkelon in 1937.  Although Yassin applied and attended Al-Azhar University in Cairo, he was unable to pursue his studies there due to his deteriorating health. He was forced to be educated at home where he read widely, particularly on philosophy and on religion, politics, sociology, and economics. His followers believe that his worldly knowledge made him "one of the best speakers in the Gaza Strip." During this time, he began delivering weekly sermons after Friday prayers, drawing large crowds of people. Reem Riyashi's suicide bombing at the Erez crossing on 14 January 2004, which killed four civilians, was believed by the Israeli military to have been directly ordered by Yassin. Yassin suggested that the suicide bomber was fulfilling her "obligation" to make jihad, and Israel's Deputy Defence Minister responded by publicly declaring that Yassin was "marked for death". Yassin denied any involvement in the attack.                                                         

Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin was a Palestinian imam and politician. He was a founder of Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian paramilitary organization and political party. Yassin also served as the spiritual leader of the organization. He was assassinated in 2004 in Gaza.  Yassin was actively involved in setting up a Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1973, the Islamic charity Mujama al-Islamiya was established in Gaza by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and the organization was recognized by Israel in 1979. In 1984 he and others were jailed for secretly stockpiling weapons, but in 1985 he was released as part of the Jibril Agreement. In 1987, during the First Intifada, Yassin co-founded Hamas with Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, originally calling it the "paramilitary wing" of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, and becoming its spiritual leader.                                               

In 1989, Yassin was arrested by Israel and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1997, Yassin was released from Israeli prison as part of an arrangement with Jordan following a failed assassination attempt of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal by the Israeli Mossad in Jordan. Yassin was released in exchange for two Mossad agents who had been arrested by Jordanian authorities, on the condition that he refrained from continuing to call for suicide bombings against Israel. The New York Times reported about his poor health at the time: "Sheik Ahmad Yassin, spiritual leader of Hamas, back home in Gaza after his release by Israel, is so frail he drinks only with help.

        

Khaled Mashal is a former leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas. After the founding of Hamas in 1987, Mashal became the leader of the Kuwaiti branch of the organization. In 1992, he became a founding member of Hamas' politburo and became its chairman in 1992

Ismail Abdel Salam Ahmed Haniyeh is a senior political leader of Hamas since May 6, 2017 and formerly one of two disputed Prime Ministers of the Palestinian National Authority. Haniyeh became prime minister after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections of 2006.                                               

In August 1999, Hamas "external leadership" was expelled from Jordan by King Abdullah II. The King feared that the activities of Hamas and its Jordanian allies would jeopardize peace negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and accused Hamas of engaging in illegitimate activities within Jordan.  In mid-September 1999, authorities arrested several Hamas leaders, including Mashal and Ibrahim Ghosheh on their return from a visit to Iran, and charged them with being members of an illegal organization, storing weapons, conducting military exercises, and using Jordan as a training base, charges they denied. Mashal was expelled from Jordan, and initially made Qatar his home. In 2001, he moved to Damascus, Syria.

                                                          

      Cairo University audience of media people and students

Barack Hussein Obama II became president on January 2009. The first thing he did was fly to Cairo and speak at Cairo University on June 4, 2009.  He made it known that he expected Gazans to hold their 1st election for government and that they did, electing Hamas terrorists.  That's how the election turned out, honest or not.  Now they had so much power.    

    Fatah (PA) joined up with Hamas several times; with always the same problem, which group is the leader.  

The history of attacks of terrorism on Israel from September 28, 2000 to December 31, 2005 had totaled 25,779 attacks.  Was Obama aware of that?  They had had 147 suicide bombings causing 47% of all deaths.  

1,087 people were killed.  7,454 people were injured.  82% of Israeli dead and wounded were civilians from 2000 to 2004.                                                         

                                       Hamas fighting power

Did Obama check to see what group held the power before the elections?  Did he know the ideology of Hamas was of obliterating Israel?  That had been decided after the 1967 War in Khartoum by all the Arab nations.  Hamas felt that there was o solution for them except through Jihad-their Holy War.  It's in the Hamas Charter.  

Hamas had been actively attacking Israel 773 times already in 2003 and 2004.  More took place in 2005.  They were a major player in the terrorist war against Israel. He explained to the students his own Muslim background, probably thinking he had an "in" with them because of who his Muslim father and family were.  The election gave Hamas untold power that they never would have had so quickly.                                         

Hamas just finished an 11 day surprise attack that started on Jerusalem Day 2021. They even hit Central and Southern Israel in this war.   They shot over 4,000 rockets into Israel of which many were made right in Gaza about of supposed building supply materials.  Many fell right in Gaza, killing their own people who have never been supplied with bomb shelters.  The rocket launchers were hidden among civilian centers, making it more difficult for Israel's responses.  it's sickening to think that the world is demanding that  they be allowed to have their own state right along the border of Israel or even be allowed to claim East Jerusalem as their capital which is part of Jerusalem, Israel's capital.  Israel defensively responded and bombed over 70 miles of tunneling under Gaza.  They aim always for places where rockets come from, never for civilians like Hamas does to them.  It's a difference of very different scruples that they live by.                                     

     The Palestinian Government: history is to be together, then divorce, and repeat.  On 23 April 2014, Fatah and Hamas signed a new reconciliation agreement, which would see a unity government formed within five weeks, followed by presidential and parliamentary elections within 6 months. On 2 June 2014, President Abbas swore in the new technocratic unity government, headed by the incumbent PM, Rami Hamdallah. Here it is, 2021 and they are still not on the same page.  

The Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that world leaders should not rush to recognize the new government, calling Hamas a terrorist organisation that is committed to the destruction of Israel.

Elections had a lot to do with the attack. At the 1996 general election, Fatah won 55 of the 88 seats from multi-member constituencies, with the number of representatives from each constituency determined by population. Some seats were set aside for the Christian and Samaritan communities. 51 seats were allocated to the West Bank, 37 to the Gaza Strip. Five out of 25 female candidates won a seat.   Following the Fatah–Hamas conflict that started in 2006, Hamas formed a government ruling the Gaza Strip without elections. Gazan Prime Minister Haniyye announced in September 2012 the formation of a second Hamas government, also without elections.  Four year term of local councils in Palestinian Authority expired in January 2009. Council of Ministers called for local elections to be held on 17 July 2010, but after Fatah proved incapable of agreeing on list of candidates, the call for elections was canceled on 10 June 2010. The election was postponed and was later held in 2012 after several delays.  That's when Hamas continued their take- over.  

Israeli Palestinian Arabs make up 20% of Israel's population.  They have their own political groups and vote in Israel's elections.  The West Bank, East Jerusalem  and Gaza Palestinians have their own legislation.  

The 2021 Palestinian legislative election for the Palestinian Legislative Council, originally scheduled for 22 May 2021, according to a decree by President Mahmoud Abbas on 15 January 2021, was indefinitely postponed on 29 April 2021. Announcing the postponement on Palestinian TV, Abbas said "Facing this difficult situation, we decided to postpone the date of holding legislative elections until the participation of Jerusalem and its people is guaranteed.

Mahmoud Abbas was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority on 9 January 2005 for a four-year term that ended on 9 January 2009. The last elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council were held on 25 January 2006. There have not been any elections either for president or for the legislature since these two elections; elections since these dates have only been for local offices.

The legislative election was to have been held in the areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. Hamas welcomed the announcement, as did the UN and the EU, and a number of countries. Hamas, Fatah and other groups agreed on 9 February on the "mechanisms" for the elections, which includes an electoral court and commitments to open voting. The international community previously set conditions for the Palestinian government, following the Principles set forth in 2006 by the Quartet on the Middle East: nonviolence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements, including the Roadmap, by both sides.

The Palestinian Central Elections Commission (CEC) was conducting the elections. CEC Chairman Hanna Nasir said in January 2021 that "about two million Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip are eligible to vote. On 2 March 2021, after the expiration of the deadline for registration to vote, the CEC said that 2.6 million of the 2.8 million eligible voters in the West Bank and Gaza, 93% of the total, had registered.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas  postponed rare parliamentary elections amid a dispute over voting rights.

He said they could only happen if Israel allows Palestinians to vote in "Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem".  Israel declared Jerusalem a unified city-Israel's capital, some time ago in June 1967 after the Six Day War.  In July 1980, the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law as part of the country's Basic Law, which declared Jerusalem the unified capital of Israel.

Israel has not made clear whether it will allow this without restrictions.  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced on Thursday night that the Palestinian elections have been postponed until Israel allows the vote to take place in East Jerusalem.  According to the commission, around 150,000 residents will be able to vote in what Palestinians call the “Jerusalem suburbs” — towns and villages that ring the capital. Israel defines these areas as lying in the West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority see them as part of its “Jerusalem Governorate.”

Parliamentary and presidential elections - the first since 2006 - were scheduled to take place in May and July.

It was not immediately clear whether the presidential vote would go ahead.

It comes as Mr Abbas is facing unprecedented challenges from political rivals which could weaken his party's chance of success.

• If elections are shelved, it would deal a blow to Palestinians hoping for a show of national unity after years of deep splits. . Intra-factional violence in the wake of the last elections left them ruled by two governments - one led by Mr Abbas' Fatah party in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the other by its Islamist militant Hamas opponents in the Gaza Strip..

Hamas recently warned Mr Abbas against cancelling the elections.  He did it anyway.  They have always had disagreements.  

It's always Israel who is expected to give up land.  It's gone from losing 77% of the promised land to Jordan, and then almost 1/3 of what was left to "The West Bank." Now they want part of Jerusalem.  Being close now is horrific since they have not stopped shelling Israel with their rockets.  Ask Sderot and Ashkelon about it.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Accords

Israel 101, magazine produced by StandWithUs-2010

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslo_Accords

https://www.timesofisrael.com/khaled-mashaal-tapped-as-hamass-international-director/

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-cairo-university-6-04-09

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Palestine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Palestinian_legislative_election

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_Jerusalem

https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-say-most-in-east-jerusalem-can-vote-regardless-of-israeli-approval/