A few Remarks on Israel and Hamas - Richard Sale

 Pat Lang’s remarks on Israelis and Hamas were dead on target. In 2002, then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon immediately vowed to fight "Palestinian terror" and summoned his cabinet to decide on a military response to the organization that Sharon had once described as "the deadliest terrorist group that we have ever had to face." 

In June of 2002, I wrote the following:

 

“But Sharon left something out.

“Israel and Hamas may currently be locked in deadly combat, but, according to several current and former U.S. intelligence officials, beginning in the late 1970s, Tel Aviv gave direct and indirect financial aid to Hamas over a period of years.

“Israel "aided Hamas directly -- the Israelis wanted to use it as a counterbalance to the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization)," said Tony Cordesman, Middle East analyst for the Center for Strategic Studies.

“Israel's support for Hamas "was a direct attempt to divide and dilute support for a strong, secular PLO by using a competing religious alternative," said a former senior CIA official.

“According to documents from the Israel-based Institute for Counter Terrorism, Hamas evolved from cells of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928. Islamic movements in Israel and Palestine were "weak and dormant" until after the 1967 Six Day War in which Israel scored a stunning victory over its Arab enemies.

“After 1967, a great part of the success of the Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood was due to their activities among the refugees of the Gaza Strip. The cornerstone of the Islamic movements success was an impressive social, religious, educational and cultural infrastructure, called Da'wah, that worked to ease the hardship of large numbers of Palestinian refugees, confined to camps, and many who were living on the edge.
“Social influence grew into political influence, first in the Gaza Strip, then on the West Bank, said an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“According to ICT papers, Hamas was legally registered in Israel in 1978 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the movement's spiritual leader, as an Islamic Association by the name Al-Mujamma al Islami, which widened its base of supporters and sympathizers by religious propaganda and social work.

“According to U.S. administration officials, funds for the movement came from the oil-producing states and directly and indirectly from Israel. The PLO was secular and leftist and promoted Palestinian nationalism. Hamas wanted to set up a transnational state under the rule of Islam, much like Khomeini's Iran.

“What took Israeli leaders by surprise was the way the Islamic movements began to surge after the Iranian revolution, after armed resistance to Israel sprang up in southern Lebanon vis-?-vis the Hezbollah, backed by Iran, these sources said.

"’Nothing provides the energy for imitation as much as success,’" commented one administration expert.

“A further factor of Hamas' growth was the fact the PLO moved its base of operations to Beirut in the '80s, leaving the Islamic organization to grow in influence in the Occupied Territories "as the court of last resort," he said.

“When the intifada began, Israeli leadership was surprised when Islamic groups began to surge in membership and strength. Hamas immediately grew in numbers and violence. The group had always embraced the doctrine of armed struggle, but the doctrine had not been practiced and Islamic groups had not been subjected to suppression the way groups like Fatah had been, according to U.S. government officials.

“But with the triumph of the Khomeini revolution in Iran, with the birth of Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorism in Lebanon, Hamas began to gain in strength in Gaza and then in the West Bank, relying on terror to resist the Israeli occupation.

“Israel was certainly funding the group at that time. One U.S. intelligence source who asked not to be named said that not only was Hamas being funded as a "counterweight" to the PLO, Israeli aid had another purpose: "To help identify and channel towards Israeli agents Hamas members who were dangerous terrorists."
In addition, by infiltrating Hamas, Israeli informers could only listen to debates on policy and identify Hamas members who "were dangerous hard-liners," the official said.

“In the end, as Hamas set up a very comprehensive counterintelligence system, many collaborators with Israel were weeded out and shot. Violent acts of terrorism became the central tenet, and Hamas, unlike the PLO, was unwilling to compromise in any way with Israel, refusing to acquiesce in its very existence.

“But even then, some in Israel saw some benefits to be had in trying to continue to give Hamas support: "The thinking on the part of some of the right-wing Israeli establishment was that Hamas and the others, if they gained control, would refuse to have any part of the peace process and would torpedo any agreements put in place," said a U.S. government official who asked not to be named.

"’Israel would still be the only democracy in the region for the United States to deal with,’" he said.

“All of which disgusts some former U.S. intelligence officials.

"’The thing wrong with so many Israeli operations is that they try to be too sexy,’" said former CIA official Vincent Cannestraro.

According to former State Department counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson, "’the Israelis are their own worst enemies when it comes to fighting terrorism.’

"’The Israelis are like a guy who sets fire to his hair and then tries to put it out by hitting it with a hammer.’"

"’They do more to incite and sustain terrorism than curb it,’" he said.

:Aid to Hamas may have looked clever, "’but it was hardly designed to help smooth the waters,’" he said. "’An operation like that gives weight to President George Bush's remark about there being a crisis in education.’"

Cordesman said that a similar attempt by Egyptian intelligence to fund Egypt's fundamentalists had also come to grief because of "misreading of the complexities."
An Israeli defense official was asked if Israel had given aid to Hamas said, "’I am not able to answer that question. I was in Lebanon commanding a unit at the time, besides it is not my field of interest.’"

Asked to confirm a report by U.S. officials that Brig. Gen. Yithaq Segev, the military governor of Gaza, had told U.S. officials he had helped fund "Islamic movements as a counterweight to the PLO and communists," the official said he could confirm only that he believed Segev had served back in 1986.

Comments

[N M Salamon]

Thank Colonel Lang and Mr. Seale effort [successful]to clarify the actions pertaining to the establishment of HAMAS, an issue which was almost an urban legend for some years now.

Another blowback caused by UNEDUCATED POLITICAL OPERATORS.

The other blowback from this affair is the loss of legimacy of FATAH, the Palestine faction supported by Israel and the USA.

Is there hope for peace in ME land, when the POLITICAL LEADERSHIP is totally incomprenhansive regarding Arab culture, Arab religion, far right Israeli politicians' misinterpretation of REALITY?

[Andy]

Israel also aided Iran during the 1980's. I'm sure there are other examples. These examples show the danger of prioritizing short-term interests over long-term strategy, which is one of several diseases that afflict Israeli strategic thinking.

[Fred]

“After 1967, a great part of the success of the Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood was due to their activities among the refugees of the Gaza Strip. The cornerstone of the Islamic movements success was an impressive social, religious, educational and cultural infrastructure, called Da'wah, that worked to ease the hardship of large numbers of Palestinian refugees, confined to camps, and many who were living on the edge. "

So Hamas was practacing COIN since 1967? According to today's NYT "Today half a million Israeli Jews live in lands captured during the June 1967 Middle East war."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/06/world/middleeast/06settle.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1278428458-pt6Hd73bgnKxaj9uur81xA

"Brig. Gen. Yithaq Segev, the military governor of Gaza,..."

I wonder how many Americans are aware the only 'democracy' in the Middle East has had a military governor in Gaza since '67 - or am I missing something?

[jon]

Blowback is a bitch.

[Jackie]

Years ago I was talking to someone who was going off about Hamas. I informed him Israel was partly responsible for Hamas. He looked at me like I had two heads.

[Patrick Lang]

Jackie

There is absolutely no doubt about it. pl

[Jackie]

Col.,
Do you mean "there is absolutely no doubt about it" that I have two heads!

Sorry for poking fun at you. Most of our fellow citizens are unaware of the Hamas deal.

Did you read the NYTimes article today about how the US Treasury treats donations to Israel's settlements as tax deductible. If this double standard stopped, I think we could finally see a push for peace.

[Patrick Lang]

Jsckie

Was your point not about why McChrystal was fired? I understood you to have said that you thought he was fired for "badmouthing" the Afghanistan War and I insisted that he was fired for disrespect. pl

[Mark@Hoodia Gordonii]

I just hope the war between these two races will end eventually. It is very sad to hear a lot of casualties and deaths because of this war that is going on between them.

[cauxang]

Maybe Cynthia, maybe not Jackie?
Previous thread.

[Patrick Lang]

Jackie, Cynthia

I mixed these two things up. We had a difficult day yesterday. I had to take my dog, Ashby to the vet for another operation and it was hot as hell here. Sorry. pl

[Jackie]

Col.,
I hope your dog is okay and it cools down soon.

[Patrick Lang]

Jackie

He had another tumor. That was removed and he had to be "fixed" as the vet thinks that the tumor was testosterone "pumped." pl

[somebody]

Mark, it is not about race. They are the same race with crusaders thrown in on one side and Eastern Europeans thrown in on the other. It is not about religion either. Zionism is first and foremost default secular nationalism in conflict with orthodoxy, though based on religious identity. It is default nationalism because in the disintegration of the Austrian Hungarian Empire and in the unification process of Germany, nations were defined by language and heritage not by state as in France. It is about colonialism, the cold war and the Islamic Green Belt theory turned into the Clash of Civilizations. So it is about US strategy.
What would you say, is peace in the interest of the US or is it tension?

[Patrick Lang]

somebody

"is peace in the interest of the US or is it tension?" More nonsense. Is it fulfilling to babble like this? Do you really think the US wants a continuation of the Arab/Israeli struggle? pl

[William P. Fitzgerald III]

Pat Lang,

It's hard to tell what America wants. However, if we are to be "known by our deeds alone", our actions over the decades indicate that we do want a continuation of the conflict. I think thats a valid conclusion despite the occasional crocodile tear over Israeli behavior and minor shifts in policy. Of course, many in this country are not in favor of a continuation, nevertheless,the will of the nation as embodied by the Congress and the executive branch has resulted in policies that will keep the conflict going.

WPFIII

[Patrick Lang]

WPF

"indicate that we do want a continuation of the conflict."

No. We are merely inept and easily manipulated. pl