TheAltWorld Reviving the Big Lie
Hamas should be wary of the cease-fire deal being touted by Egypt and Qatar
I hope Yahya al-Sinwar and the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip take plenty of time to consider the US-inspired proposals conveyed by Arab mediators for a temporary ceasefire and prisoner exchange before the Israeli army proceeds with an invasion of the city of Rafah.
This initiative, and the hasty reconvening of talks to work out its details, is aimed at bailing out the Israeli occupier state, the Zionist enterprise as a whole, and the administration of US President Joe Biden, who has supported the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since it started, and continues to do so.
Fake promises are being thrown around about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, reminding us of that big old lie: the ‘peace’ promise that accompanied the treacherous Oslo Accords.
Hamas’ on-the-ground leadership should be extremely wary. It must not entertain — even if only tactically — any thought of disarming, dissolving the Qassam Brigades, and turning into a purely political party in exchange for a nebulous prospect of a Palestinian state on paper.
The recent flurry of exchanges and visits by Egyptian , and Israeli officials, with Qatari participation, reflects fear and confusion within their ranks — and in Israel, its US patron, and the Western world in general.
There are several good reasons for this.
These Arab mediators, and the Biden administration that backs them, failed to secure the opening of the Rafah crossing to supply a single bag of flour to the starved people of the Gaza Strip. How can they expect to ‘guarantee’ a cease-fire agreement, or prevent Israel from violating it or going on to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and step up its war of extermination?
Meanwhile, the US is experiencing serious domestic unrest due to its support for Israel. Its students — and future leaders — are in open revolt against Zionist control of official policymaking and the crackdown on freedom of expression, which is supposed to be a core US value and underpinning of its global leadership.
Israel’s demands for the protests to be suppressed only led to their expanding.
Netanyahu is using the threat to invade Rafah as a card to secure a face-saving deal after he failed to destroy the resistance and, especially, to assassinate Sinwar, despite the time given to him by the US which has now exceeded 200 days. He could not take control of Khan Younis (half the size of Rafah) after a four-month battle, and his troops fled from Shujaiya and the Zaitoun district and before that Jabalya, Beit Hanoun, and the central camps. He will never succeed in controlling Rafah.
The resistance battalions are in a state of high alert and preparedness, having learned much from their experience in the northern and central areas, and will have surprises in store for invading Israeli forces.
A ‘poisoned’ deal on Israel’s terms would only serve to alleviate Israel’s internal political implosion, abort the student protests in the US, and prevent them from spreading throughout the West and worldwide — not least to the Arab world and especially Egypt.
It was the student uprising in Egypt’s universities in the early 1970s — which I witnessed first-hand – that forced President Anwar al-Sadat to revert to the course set by Gamal Abdel-Nasser, architect of the war of attrition on the Suez Canal front, and train the Egyptian army to strike into occupied Sinai and overrun the Bar-Lev Line in the October 1973 war.
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