CAN HAMAS AFFORD TO STOP?

third ruf draft


Hamas may have to carry the confrontation with Fatah to the West Bank. It'll wait to see whether Fatah would come through on sharing cargo. Fatah may not to want to share. After all, cargo is all it has left.

(Update: The Dahlan elements within Fatah have sold out to the harmful idiots. They've turned Fatah security forces into Elliot Abrams' Palestinian Contras. Let's hope Fatah has people within it who know that the harmful idiots have seen to this country's defeat and have tired us out financially. That it's unlikely that a new administration would continue the course set by the harmful idiots, especially if Iraq continues to bleed us financially.)

Hamas, though less able on the West Bank than in Gaza, may not have a choice but to seek confrontation in that part of Palestine. Why?

The Israelis should tighten the noose around Gaza, to help Fatah. That should make matters even worse for Gaza's population. These might blame Hamas for their destitution. Hitting this wall after its victory in Gaza, Hamas should carry the confrontation into the West Bank to confuse the issue as to who's responsible for the destitution of the Palestinians. Without military confrontation, the Palestininan public--both on the West Bank and in Gaza--might re-discover the cargo-getting Fatah, now that the Israelis have awakened to the need to favor one Palestinian generation , albeit (possibly) too late. With military confrontation, the public is liable to blame both Fatah and Hamas for its misfortune--not only Hamas.

Hamas might get lucky. The Israelis on the West Bank might join the fight alongside Fatah. This should turn the battle from intra-Palestinian to Palestinian nationalists against Israelis, traitors, and collaborators--the Palestinian Contras. Hamas might hasten the Israelis' intervention on behalf of Fatah by attacking them. It could do it from Gaza and have the Israelis retaliate. Pictures of dead children should go a long way in neutralizing Fatah's cargo advantage.

Or, better yet: Hamas could dispatch children on the West Bank to throw stones at the Israelis. These are easy to find since they're all over that part of Palestine, assuring protection for their colonial settlements and the humilation of the Palestinians. The Israelis would kill some of these children. A new Intifadha. And Abbas will look like the Contra Uncle Tom he and Dahlan ache to be.