By Noman Hanif, PhD
With the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas announced. It is time to step back and reflect on the continuing politics which unfortunately is much more sinister. The situation is following according to the policy prescriptions set out by the Brookings Institute, the primary advisor on the situation to the US government. The Task force recommended that Gaza and West Bank be joined politically in order to make the two state solution viable and Hamas given political legitimacy in the West Bank by the PA through back channel intervention by the Egyptians. The escalation by Hamas gave them this legitimacy and Khalid Meshal (Hamas’s political spokesman) in an interview to Al Arabs newspaper explicitly stated Hamas’s intention to join the political process. The absence of the PA in the West Bank and scenes in Ramallah at present where people have been allowed to hoist Hamas flags and come out in support for it is indicative of allowing support for Hamas according to the US plan. In February the Times of Israel reported that Ahmed Dahlan the PA security chief had sent a letter to the US administration indicating that Hamas had agreed to follow international law and all the previous engagements with the Israelis by the PA.
This suggests that the current escalation was not accidental but part of a policy to hurt Netanyahu by reminding him of Hamas’s capabilities and to allow Hamas to claim victory on their side and help them achieve unification with Fatah in the West Bank. This escalation was a scenario deemed necessary by the Brookings Task Force to bring the situation back to US control and in line with US policy with its puppet Sisi of Egypt inserting itself as the proxy interlocutor for the Americans. Hamas are complicit in this game. The Muslims need to move back from emotional positions and avoid falling into the political traps. The two state solution is the West’s long held strategy to rob the Muslims and Palestinians of their land and solidify the poison of Israel at its very heart.