MIDEAST UPDATE: 3.23.19 - The Other Peace Deal

The Other Peace Deal - by Khaled Abu Toameh - https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13931/palestinians-hamas-fatah-repression

 

Hamas and Fatah, the two major Palestinian parties ruling the Gaza Strip and West Bank respectively, have been at war with each other for the past 12 years. They disagree on many things, but when it comes to repressing and violating the human rights of their people, Hamas and Fatah have proven that they are comrades-in-arms.

 

In the past week, Fatah has been launching scathing attacks on Hamas for using excessive force to suppress Palestinians protesting economic hardship in the Gaza Strip. Fatah says that hundreds of Palestinians, including political activists and journalists, have been arrested or severely beaten by Hamas security forces.

 

The charges against Hamas are not baseless. Photos of wounded Palestinians have surfaced on social media. Some had black eyes and bruises over different parts of their bodies, while others appeared to have had their legs and arms broken by Hamas security officers.

 

The latest victim of Hamas's violent repression of the protests, which are being held under the banner, "We Want to Live!", is senior Fatah official Atef Abu Seif. Abu Seif, who is also a renowned novelist, was reportedly kidnapped from his home and badly beaten by Hamas militiamen on March 18. According to some Fatah officials, the assailants broke his arms and legs; Abu Seif is reported to be hospitalized, in serious condition.

 

Fatah has also published photos of dozens of Palestinian men, women and children who say they have been badly beaten by Hamas security forces during the recent protests organized by youth movements demanding a solution to the high cost of living, the high rate of unemployment and new taxes imposed by the rulers of Hamas on the two million residents of the Gaza Strip.

 

Several Palestinian journalists and human rights activists in the Gaza Strip have also fallen victim to Hamas's brutal measures, which seem aimed at crushing the protests and deterring Palestinians from speaking out against the rulers of the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave.

 

One of the human rights activists who was physically assaulted by Hamas security forces is Jamil Sarhan, director of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights. The human rights group said that the Hamas officers also confiscated Sarhan's mobile phone and arrested another one of its members, the attorney Baker Turkeman.

 

The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says that at least 17 journalists in the Gaza Strip have been targeted by Hamas in the past week. Seven of the journalists were arrested for their role in covering the protests: Osama Kahlout, Ehab Fasfous, Ahmed Sahmoud, Majed Kdeih, Juma'a Daloul, Mustafa al-Dahdouh and Ahmed al-Shinbari. The syndicate said that several journalists were beaten and had their mobile phones confiscated by Hamas security officers, who tried to prevent them from covering the protests. Another four journalists have been placed under house arrest, the syndicate added.

 

Hamas's repressive and violent actions against Palestinians protesting poverty and unemployment is not something that should surprise anyone, particularly those familiar with the authoritarian regime of Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. The real shock would have been if Hamas had allowed Palestinians living under its rule in the Gaza Strip to take to the streets to demand an improvement in their living conditions.

 

Since its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007, the part of the Palestinian Authority (PA) that is Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, has employed an iron-fisted policy against its political opponents and anyone who dares to challenge its rule.

 

Yet, in the West Bank, the same Palestinian Authority and its ruling Fatah faction, who are now strongly criticizing Hamas for its oppressive measures against protesters, are hardly distinguishable from their rivals in the Gaza Strip.

 

Like Hamas, the PA security forces in the West Bank have also been engaging in systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists and political opponents. The most recent victims of the PA crackdown on journalists are Hazem Nasser and Amer Abu Arafeh. Since just the beginning of this year, the Palestinian Authority security forces have already arrested at least nine journalists in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian Committee for Supporting Journalists.

 

Like Hamas, the PA has also been using force on protesters. During 2018, PA security forces used force to disperse thousands of Palestinians who took to the streets in the West Bank to protest President Mahmoud Abbas's sanctions against the Gaza Strip. The sanctions include, among other restrictions, cutting salaries and welfare payments to thousands of Palestinian employees and families in the Gaza Strip.

 

Scenes of Palestinian Authority police officers beating men, women and children are not unfamiliar. As in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in the West Bank have accused the PA security forces of using batons and tear gas against the protestors. The photos and videos documenting the recent Hamas violence against protestors in the Gaza Strip are similar to those from the West Bank, where PA security officers are seen assaulting demonstrators.

 

Like Hamas, the Palestinian Authority has also resorted to torture to crush political opponents and dissent. Human rights groups have documented dozens of cases of torture and harassment in PA prisons in recent years. According to a recent report published by Human Rights Watch:

 

"In the West Bank, some of the harshest treatment reported by detainees occurs at the Joint Security Committee detention facility in Jericho, where officers subject detainees to regular shabeh [in which a kneeling prisoner's hands are tied behind him to his ankles] and long stints in small solitary cells cut off from others."

 

The report concludes that when it comes to torture and human rights violations, there is no difference between the PA and Hamas:

 

"Both the Fatah-dominated PA in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza have in recent years have carried out scores of arbitrary arrests for peaceful criticism of the authorities, particularly on social media, among independent journalists, on university campuses, and at demonstrations."

 

The recent economic protests in the Gaza Strip have further exacerbated tensions between Fatah and Hamas, making it absurd even to talk about the possibility of reconciliation between the two rival parties. Hamas is defending its right to beat women and children and to break the bones of its political rivals, while the Palestinian Authority and Fatah are continuing to employ similar tactics against Palestinians in the West Bank.

 

Hamas is now accusing the PA and Fatah of exploiting the economic crisis in the Gaza Strip to call on Palestinians to overthrow the Hamas regime. Fatah, for its part, is accusing the "dark forces" of Hamas of acting on orders from outside parties to establish a separate Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip.

 

The US administration says it will publish its long-awaited plan for peace in the Middle East, known as the "Deal of the Century," after the general elections in Israel on April 9. Perhaps it would be a good idea if the US administration came up with a plan to make peace between Palestinians and Palestinians before attempting to make peace between the Palestinians and Israel. What is clear, meanwhile, is that the Fatah and Hamas leaders are more interested in warring with each other than improving the living conditions of their people. The two groups have already rejected the upcoming "Deal of the Century": for now, that is the only deal they seem ready to make.

 

 

 

 

Hamas War Crimes against Israel, Palestinians - by Bassam Tawil - https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13910/hamas-war-crimes-against-israel-palestinians

 

Hamas has again proved that it really is a terrorist group that oppresses its people and prevents them from expressing their opinions. It has also shown that when it is in trouble, it will do its utmost to divert attention from the problems it is facing at home.

 

As far as Hamas is concerned, one of the best ways to divert attention from the growing frustration with its rule is by attacking Israel and Jews. Then, Israel is forced to respond to defend itself. That will allow Hamas to tell its people that there is no room for internal fighting and disputes "because we are under attack by the Jews." No Palestinian would dare to criticize Hamas while Israel is supposedly "attacking" Hamas. Anyone who did so would be accused of being a "traitor" and "collaborator" with the "Zionist enemy."

 

That is exactly what happened this week, when two rockets were fired at the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The rocket attack came shortly after thousands of Palestinians had taken to the streets of the Gaza Strip to protest the horrific economic situation there -- that funds intended for them had apparently been diverted to finance terrorism -- and demand an end to Hamas's repressive measures against its people.

 

The leaders of Hamas were apparently disturbed by the large protests that took place in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders also seemed disturbed by the photos and videos showing Hamas members beating, shooting at and arresting hundreds of peaceful Palestinian protesters whose only "crime" was to demand a dignified life, jobs and a better future for their children.

 

Hamas leaders would probably love to see Israel retaliate in the Gaza Strip for rockets launched at Tel Aviv: such a move by Israel would silence the growing anger among Palestinians towards the Hamas terrorist organization that has been ruling them since the summer of 2007.

 

The rockets that were fired at Tel Aviv, and the ensuing Israeli military strikes against Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in the Gaza Strip, have indeed eclipsed the news about the clashes between Hamas and Palestinian protesters. Suddenly, everyone was talking only about the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv, and Hamas seemed to have gotten away with its beating and shooting at peaceful protesters.

 

In the past few days, thousands of Palestinians had taken to the streets of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to protest the wretched economic situation, exacerbated by a Hamas decision to impose new taxes on them. The unprecedented protests, which were carried out under the banner "We Want to Live!," apparently caught the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip by surprise.

 

The leaders of Hamas apparently had not foreseen the mass protests. Hamas leaders seem to have reckoned that their repressive measures against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were so harsh that no one would dare publicly protest against the deteriorating economic and humanitarian situation there.

 

That may explain Hamas's response to the mass protests, which by all accounts, was hysterical and extremely violent. Within 24 hours, Hamas militiamen and security officers opened fire on hundreds of Palestinian protesters, who chanted: "We are hungry!" and "Save Gaza from starvation!"

 

Palestinian eyewitnesses said that Hamas used hundreds of militiamen from its military wing, Ezaddin Al-Qassam, as well as security officers to crush the demonstrations. "Al-Qassam fighters assault, arrest, threaten, suppress, besiege and impose resections on freedoms," reported Mohammed Bassouni, a resident of the Gaza Strip.

 

Photos of wounded Palestinians (broken arms, bruises all over the body) have surfaced on some social media sites, showing the brutality of the violence that Hamas used to disperse the protesters. It is also worth noting that many of the Palestinians who were brutally beaten by Hamas were children.

 

The violence on the streets of the Gaza Strip is probably the worst since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip 12 years ago. Since then, Hamas has been holding nearly two million Palestinians living there hostage to its oppressive regime. Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a dictatorship where public freedoms are assaulted on a daily basis. Hamas has dragged the Palestinians there into a number of wars with Israel that have destroyed the lives of countless residents of Gaza.

 

In the view of many Palestinians, what Hamas is doing in the Gaza Strip is tantamount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

 

Meanwhile, the international community, specifically the United Nations, continues to allow itself to be deceived. Instead of calling out Hamas for its war crimes against its own people, the hypocrites at the UN, the international media and other international forums are continuing to point an accusatory finger towards Israel for simply defending itself against rockets and missiles that are fired towards Israeli civilian centers on an almost daily basis.

 

Recently, in a grotesque allegation, UN human rights "experts" claimed that Israel may have committed war crimes by shooting at Palestinian demonstrators who tried to breach the Gaza-Israel border fence and infiltrate into Israel. The demonstrators who were shot were mostly Hamas and Islamic Jihad members, as both organizations have openly admitted. In other words, Israel is being accused of war crimes for defending its border against terrorists attempting to infiltrate it in order to murder or kidnap Israelis.

 

Perhaps a small step, such as viewing easily available material, would set the record straight. These UN human rights "experts" might, for a change, glance at the videos and photos coming out of the Gaza Strip to see who is really responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity: Hamas. Its members are opening fire at peaceful protesters, who are taking their lives in their hands to end the harsh economic conditions created by their rulers' catastrophic policies in the Gaza Strip.

 

It is the leaders of Hamas, and only Hamas, who are committing war crimes in and around Gaza. They are committing war crimes against Jews, and they are committing war crimes against their own people. It is time for the human rights "experts" and foreign media to wake up to facts.

 

Hamas is now trying to cover up its crimes against its people by firing rockets at Israel. Instead of denouncing Israel for defending itself, the UN should immediately send a commission of inquiry to investigate Hamas for its war crimes. If the UN chooses not to do so, it, too, might benefit from taking a small step and viewing easily available material, such as the definition of "aiding and abetting" the commission of a crime.

 

 

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