Official PA daily criticizes Hamas for not accepting Egyptian-brokered cease-fire
Op-ed by Muwaffaq Matar, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Why did you refuse the Egyptian [peace] initiative?”
“Hamas leaders describe the Egyptian [peace] initiative as ‘defeatist,’ and consider it a ‘surrender initiative’ – even though they know it is a copy of the 2012 Hudna (armistice) agreement between Hamas and Israel. So then, on what grounds did they, at the time, consider the Hudna [proposed] by the deposed president of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi, a ‘victory’ – even though [in the armistice] [Hamas’] resistance was referred to as ‘acts of aggression’ – while they [now] consider the Egyptian initiative of National Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as ‘defeatist’ and a ‘surrender?!’ The initiative’s central aims are to stop the Palestinian bloodshed and the destruction of their houses and property, and to prevent the US from giving Israel a ‘green light’ to do what it pleases in Gaza, with the excuse of protecting its citizens. But at the same time, it could have, despite its shortcomings, prevented the occupation government from expelling tens of thousands of civilians from the northern and eastern Gaza Strip, stopped the spilling of the blood of innocent people and stopped the counting of Martyrs (Shahids), wounded and homes brought down on the heads of their residents, as happened to the Batesh and Kaware families, may they rest in peace.
Yet external commitments and party interests proved stronger than national reconciliation, and struck down the initiative – as Netanyahu had hoped, to allow him to move ahead in achieving the cabinet’s strategic goals, which have not yet been declared. This man, ‘the fox,’ is ready to do anything that will keep him in power – all the easier when the polls have already given him additional strength, as most Israelis – 53% – oppose the ceasefire and halting military operations until their objectives are achieved…
We do not rule out the possibility that Hamas will agree to a ceasefire or to a new Hudna, provided it comes from regional players like Qatar or Turkey – even if its contents are the same, but [merely] formulated differently. This is because Hamas will never agree to the initiative of the new Egyptian government; for its leaders included in their calculations that one of their goals in this war was to raise the value of the Muslim Brotherhood’s stocks, which have crashed on the political stock market. Therefore, in the event that they agree to the [Egyptian] initiative, they will be seen as having left or severed their ties with their mother organization – the Muslim Brotherhood – to seek refuge in the shade of the new Egyptian leadership. In addition, despite its agreement to the National Consensus Government, Hamas will not agree to any initiative that fails to recognize it [Hamas] as the one and only decision-maker in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri’s statements, in which he conveyed his party’s opposition to the Palestinian leadership’s agreement to the Egyptian initiative, and his comments inciting against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, are concrete proof that some of this war’s objectives can be classified as propaganda for the next presidential and parliamentary elections.”
Headline: “Why did you refuse the Egyptian [peace] initiative?”
“Hamas leaders describe the Egyptian [peace] initiative as ‘defeatist,’ and consider it a ‘surrender initiative’ – even though they know it is a copy of the 2012 Hudna (armistice) agreement between Hamas and Israel. So then, on what grounds did they, at the time, consider the Hudna [proposed] by the deposed president of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi, a ‘victory’ – even though [in the armistice] [Hamas’] resistance was referred to as ‘acts of aggression’ – while they [now] consider the Egyptian initiative of National Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as ‘defeatist’ and a ‘surrender?!’ The initiative’s central aims are to stop the Palestinian bloodshed and the destruction of their houses and property, and to prevent the US from giving Israel a ‘green light’ to do what it pleases in Gaza, with the excuse of protecting its citizens. But at the same time, it could have, despite its shortcomings, prevented the occupation government from expelling tens of thousands of civilians from the northern and eastern Gaza Strip, stopped the spilling of the blood of innocent people and stopped the counting of Martyrs (Shahids), wounded and homes brought down on the heads of their residents, as happened to the Batesh and Kaware families, may they rest in peace.
Yet external commitments and party interests proved stronger than national reconciliation, and struck down the initiative – as Netanyahu had hoped, to allow him to move ahead in achieving the cabinet’s strategic goals, which have not yet been declared. This man, ‘the fox,’ is ready to do anything that will keep him in power – all the easier when the polls have already given him additional strength, as most Israelis – 53% – oppose the ceasefire and halting military operations until their objectives are achieved…
We do not rule out the possibility that Hamas will agree to a ceasefire or to a new Hudna, provided it comes from regional players like Qatar or Turkey – even if its contents are the same, but [merely] formulated differently. This is because Hamas will never agree to the initiative of the new Egyptian government; for its leaders included in their calculations that one of their goals in this war was to raise the value of the Muslim Brotherhood’s stocks, which have crashed on the political stock market. Therefore, in the event that they agree to the [Egyptian] initiative, they will be seen as having left or severed their ties with their mother organization – the Muslim Brotherhood – to seek refuge in the shade of the new Egyptian leadership. In addition, despite its agreement to the National Consensus Government, Hamas will not agree to any initiative that fails to recognize it [Hamas] as the one and only decision-maker in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri’s statements, in which he conveyed his party’s opposition to the Palestinian leadership’s agreement to the Egyptian initiative, and his comments inciting against [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas, are concrete proof that some of this war’s objectives can be classified as propaganda for the next presidential and parliamentary elections.”