An Egyptian court sentenced acting leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group Mahmoud Ezzat, along with other co-defendants, to life in prison over charges for espionage with the Palestinian Hamas movement…reports Asian Lite News
Life imprisonment in Egypt is 25 years in jail.
EGYPT: Muslim Brotherhood leader gets life term
Ezzat and other members of the banned group have been charged with storming the Egyptian eastern borders, attacking security institutions, plotting with Hamas and Hezbollah to create chaos in Egypt to bring down the authorities, the prosecution read.
Ezzat now faces two death sentences and three life imprisonment sentences in different cases, Xinhua news agency reported.
Palestinians vote in local elections despite Hamas opposition
Palestinians voted in the municipal elections in the West Bank despite the opposition of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which has been ruling the coastal enclave since 2007…reports Asian Lite News
The local vote came after President Mahmoud Abbas cancelled the parliamentary and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories earlier this year, reports Xinhua news agency.
Hana Nasser, chairman of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission (PCEC), told a news briefing that more than 405,000 Palestinians have the right to cast ballots for representatives in 154 village councils in the West Bank.
Palestinians vote in local elections despite Hamas opposition
The polling stations were opened to voters in the 154 West Bank villages on Saturday morning, and closed at 7 p.m. Municipal votes in the major West Bank cities had been postponed.
Nasser called on the Palestinians, who have the right to vote, to participate in the municipal elections, saying all necessary arrangements had been made to facilitate the arrival of the voters to the polling stations.
“Around 1,600 local and international observers were watching the polling and will do the counting right after the ballots are closed in the evening,” Nasser told reporters. “The results of the votes counting will be immediately declared.”
In September, the Palestinian government of Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye decided to divide the municipal elections into two phases, with the first on December 11 and the second in March 2022.
The first phase of the municipal vote was held in the West Bank only, excluding the Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The elections won’t be held in East Jerusalem either because of Israel’s rejection.
Hamas and the less-influential Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in two separate statements that they reject the exclusion of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian municipal elections.
The two Islamic groups called on President Abbas to abide by the previous understandings to hold the general elections in all the Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.
Israel arrests more than 50 Hamas operatives after fatal shooting
Israel has arrested more than 50 operatives of a Hamas cell in the West Bank following a fatal shooting incident in East Jerusalem, the Jewish state’s Shin Bet internal security agency and the army said jointly…reports Asian Lite News
The people arrested on Monday were accused of planning to carry out attacks against Israelis, reports Xinhua news agency.
“A large-scale terrorist cell” had been uncovered in the past few months in the West Bank, the army said in a statement, adding that the cell members were planning to carry out attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Israel arrests more than 50 Hamas operatives after fatal shooting
“The thwarted terrorist cell possessed many weapons and explosives, including explosives suitable for building a number of heavy explosive terror belts”, the statement said.
Over 50 cell members were arrested in the joint operation following “the unique intelligence activity” and collaborations among the Shin Bet, police and military, according to the statement.
The Shin Bet said in a separate statement that the operatives “were involved in establishing the terrorist infrastructure.”
On Sunday, a 42-year-old Palestinian man from East Jerusalem carried out a shooting attack outside the al-Aqsa mosque compound, killing Eliyahu Kay, 26, who was buried in Jerusalem on Monday.
Rockets fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from Gaza City towards Israel. (Photo Mohammed Talatene_dpa_IANS)
The Israeli fighter jets struck a military compound and rocket launching site of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas Movement, which controls the Gaza Strip
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that the air force carried out strikes in the Gaza Strip which came in response to continued launches of arson balloons from the coastal enclave into the Jewish state.
The Israeli fighter jets struck a military compound and rocket launching site of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas Movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, Xinhua news agency quoted the IDF as saying.
“The rocket launching site was in a civilian area, once again emphasizing how Hamas endangers Palestinian civilians,” the IDF said, vowing to continue to respond as necessary to Hamas activities emanating from Gaza.
Israel’s state-owned Kan TV news reported that the incendiary balloons caused four forest fires in the country’s area close to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers operate an artillery battery from a position at the Israeli-Gaza border near Sderot, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence. (Photo Ilia Yefi
Earlier on Friday, the IDF said it had fired artillery shells at targets in southern Lebanon in response to Beirut’s firing of more than 10 rockets into Israeli territory.
Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israel’s anti-rocket Iron Dome defence system, and the rest landed in open areas.
The rockets, fired at the Israel-occupied Golan Heights and the Galilee Panhandle area in northern Israel, did not cause casualties.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh delivers a speech in Gaza City, on Jan. 23, 2018. The Islamic Hamas movement called on Tuesday for Palestinian national conference to discuss a new Palestinian strategy. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh stressed in a televised speech the need for a new strategy that addresses the U.S. and Israeli declaration aimed at striking the Palestinian issue. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar/IANS)
Geopolitical expert Fabien Baussart says the ideological fount from which Hamas has sprung is organically linked to Pakistan and its jihadist orientation, reports Asian Lite News
A recent revelation by an ex-Pakistani minister of how Islamabad has been helping Palestinian militants by providing training to them, has made geopolitical observers take notice of how Pakistan is confusing the already obfuscate matters in Middle East.
In an op-ed for the Times of Israel, geopolitical expert Fabien Baussart has argued that the role of countries like Iran, Qatar and Turkey in sustaining Hamas has been well documented, however, the role of Pakistan has remained off the radar.
This comes amid the recent outbreak of clashes between Hamas and Israel and the subsequent ceasefire, which no one really expects to endure.
Baussart, who is the President of the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), said the ideological fount from which Hamas has sprung is organically linked to Pakistan and its jihadist orientation.
“The Muslim Brotherhood from which Hamas has remerged and the Jamaat Islami which is the mother organisation of jihadism in Pakistan, are two sides of the same coin. This ideological link and affinity is one of the basis of the burgeoning relationship between the Pakistani state and the Hamas para-state.”
Aside from the ideological connection, Baussart said Hamas makes a great fit for Pakistan’s ambitions to exercise influence beyond its borders. “Since these constraints prevent Pakistan from doing things that normal states do to expand their influence, Islamabad (or more appropriately Rawalpindi, the city where all strategic policy is framed and implemented) prefers to use asymmetric methods to expand its footprint without leaving behind its fingerprints,” he added.
Accusing Pakistan of muddying the waters in the Middle East, Baussart said Hamas is of course not the only terrorist organisation in the Middle East that Pakistan has flirted with. The expert even pointed to the reports of Pakistani terrorists moving into Syria to fight on the side of Daesh.
He further said of late Pakistan has been doubling down in its advocacy of the Palestinian cause. Although the Pakistanis are very vocal about Israeli actions in Gaza but avoid openly endorsing Hamas.
“The ideological, sectarian and religious dimension of this nexus is only one part of the story. The other even more important aspect of this nexus is that it neatly dovetails with Pakistan’s larger strategic play in the region where it is trying to forge new alliances with countries like Turkey, Qatar and Iran, all of which are not only backing Hamas but are also arraigned against the Saudi-led bloc or Arab countries,” Baussart said.
According to the writer, Pakistan’s efforts to amplify the Palestinian issue at the UNHRC suggests a diplomatic power play against countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE. The development is taking place as these Arab nations are moving towards normalizing relations with Israel.
Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Thick smoke rises above buildings in Gaza City, following several Israeli airstrikes, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Photo: Mohammed Talatene/dpa/IANS
“Israel had only succeeded to destroy 3 per cent of Hamas tunnels and our fighters fixed them all,” Sinwar said in a meeting on Saturday….reports Asian Lite News
Yehya Sinwar, leader of the Islamic Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, said on that the tunnels damaged by Israeli fighter jets last month in the enclave were renovated.
“Israel had only succeeded to destroy 3 per cent of Hamas tunnels and our fighters fixed them all,” Sinwar said in a meeting on Saturday.
During the tit-for-tat violence in the Gaza Strip that began on May 10, the Israeli Army claimed that it had “neutralised” an extensive tunnel system dug by the Palestinian Hamas militants in the besieged enclave.
According to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the tunnels were built over five years and allowed Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, to move ammunition, fighters and food within the coastal strip.
The fighting finally ended on May 21 after an Egypt-brokered ceasefire took effect.
During the 11 days of fighting, more than 250 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
Severe destruction was caused to the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.
Now that a third Israeli-Hamas war has ended as inconclusively as the two previous wars, will both sides prepare for the next one, or let sanity sink in and chart a dramatically new course that will end the vicious cycle from which neither side can ever escape?…writes Dr Alon Ben-Meir
No keen observer of the brutal Israel-Hamas conflict can draw any conclusion other than that both sides have and continue to be delusional about their presumptive goal of destroying the other entirely. If past experiences offer any lesson, Israel can inflict massive destruction and casualties and even decapitate Hamas’ leadership, but Hamas will still survive, regroup, rebuild their arsenals, and emerge even stronger. And while Hamas can launch thousands of rockets, Israel can absorb such an onslaught and rise to exact an even greater price. To be sure, neither side can ever change the equation, but only set the stage for the next round.
What contributes to this impasse is that Israel assesses the result of the war in terms of how much destruction it has inflicted, how many militants it killed, and the extent to which it has degraded Hamas’ offensive ability. And since Israel considers Hamas as an irredeemable terrorist foe, it must therefore be contained by “mowing the lawn” every few years.
Conversely, Hamas measures the outcome in political and psychological terms and its impact on the Palestinian public. In that sense, Hamas can rightfully claim victory in this last war because they successfully usurped the mantle of the defender of the Palestinian cause and the “true guardian of East Jerusalem.” In addition, they inflicted a significant political blow on their rival—the Palestinian Authority—for its lame reaction to the disturbances in East Jerusalem.
That said, Israel and Hamas cannot ignore the plain reality that neither can make the other disappear. They have to decide where to go from here, and recognize that the status quo is not sustainable, as has been demonstrated time and again.
Increasing public pressure
In Gaza, the Palestinians are despairing. They suffer from poverty, 50 percent unemployment, a broken healthcare system, and shortages of medicine, food, gas, and electricity, along with casualties and destruction they have sustained during devastating wars. They want an end to the conflict with Israel, and although this sentiment is not freely expressed, Hamas’ leadership is fully aware that blaming Israel for the public’s plight resonates only up to a point. They must meet their public’s demands if they want to prevent widespread unrest.
Likewise, the Israelis are becoming increasingly frustrated with how Netanyahu has been handling the conflict with Hamas (this is the second inconclusive war with Hamas under his watch). The communities adjacent to Gaza have had more than their share of anxiety, fear, and disruptions in their daily lives. Most Israelis resent that they must rush to shelters for days to seek protection from rockets, all while the economy is badly affected and the cost of waging these wars is ever-escalating with no end in sight to the bloody cycle.
In light of the last war and its indeterminate result, Israel and Hamas may well be compelled to reconsider their relations and chart a new path to change the dynamic of the conflict, from which both can benefit.
First, a long-term ceasefire: The Israeli military establishment’s decision to instantly retaliate (disproportionately) to any Hamas provocation, as has been the case in every war, is not the answer any more. Israel, which helped created Hamas in the first place to counter-balance the PLO and has witnessed its evolution over the past three decades, must admit it simply cannot wish it away. It is time for Israel to agree on a long-term ceasefire (hudna) for 15-20 years, which Hamas has been seeking for several years. Israel has legitimate concerns that during such a long respite, Hamas will amass more rockets, build more tunnels, and substantially improve their offensive and defensive capability.
These concerns can be mitigated through deterrence or rewards. One is to entice Hamas that full compliance would lead to gradual lifting of the blockade and rebuilding of the infrastructure; two, the violation of the agreement will prompt Israel to inflict such a massive blow from which Hamas may not recover. In this regard, Hamas’ arsenal of rockets and other weaponry has been a major point of contention for Israelis. Under a long-term ceasefire, their current arsenal should be kept under lock and key, with the direct supervision of Egypt, which has long mediated between Israel and Hamas.
Two, rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure: President Biden’s announcement that the US and other donors will provide billions of dollars to rebuild what was destroyed during the last conflagration and further expand infrastructure is crucial. The building of schools, hospitals, housing, roads, and electrical grids are critical for every Palestinian in Gaza and also for Hamas’ leadership. Although Hamas challenged Israel in the past, knowing that they were inviting massive Israeli retaliation, given how dire the conditions have become in Gaza they will be increasingly less inclined to challenge Israel again, especially if they want to preserve their political gains from this latest war.
Obviously, the US with the support of other nations will establish an unfettered monitoring system to prevent Hamas from diverting any of the aid received for military purposes, especially building tunnels, manufacturing rockets, and training. That said, it will be wise to involve Hamas to participate in the reconstruction efforts to make it increasingly vested in the process.
Three, gradual lifting of the blockade: In conjunction with a long-term ceasefire, Egypt, with the strong support of the US, should work with Israel and Hamas on a plan that will gradually lift the blockade over a period of five years. The complete lifting of the blockade should be directly linked to Hamas’ renunciation of violence against Israel, and it must demonstrate that by preventing any hostile act against Israel by any group from inside Gaza. Moreover, Hamas must commit to distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood, because Cairo plays a central role in any ceasefire and its implementation and considers the MB as a terrorist organization.
This is the moment when Hamas’ leaders must realize that it is not enough to boast about the psychological and political victory they harvested from the war; they must translate that into practical gains. They have now a crucial opportunity to change the entire dynamic of the conflict by demonstrating moderation, and it will most prudent on the part of Israel to seize the moment and move beyond the old and tired notion that Hamas is simply incorrigible.
The above may seem too logical of an approach to solve such an endemic conflict between hardnosed adversaries where emotions run high, hatred runs deep, and distrust is all but self-consuming. However, I invite any Israeli or Hamas leader to show me if there is any other viable alternative that stands any chance of being mutually accepted.
(Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh delivers a speech in Gaza City, on Jan. 23, 2018. The Islamic Hamas movement called on Tuesday for Palestinian national conference to discuss a new Palestinian strategy. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh stressed in a televised speech the need for a new strategy that addresses the U.S. and Israeli declaration aimed at striking the Palestinian issue. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar/IANS)
Jamaat chief Sirajul Haq and other senior leaders of the party also addressed the rally where the participants chanted slogans of “Death to Israel”…reports Asian Lite News
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has urged the Islamic nations to forge strategic partnerships to fight for seizing control of Muslim lands across the world.
Pakistani newspapers reported that in a recorded speech played in a Jamaat-i-Islami rally in Peshawar on Sunday, Haniyeh urged the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan government to support the Palestinian cause with concrete actions. The rally was organised in support of Hamas and Palestine.
Jamaat chief Sirajul Haq and other senior leaders of the party also addressed the rally where the participants chanted slogans of “Death to Israel” and “We are ready to sacrifice our lives to liberate Al-Aqsa Mosque”, the Dawn newspaper reported.
“I hope Prime Minister Imran Khan would take practical steps for supporting the cause of Palestine,” Haniyeh said, urging the Muslim countries to establish strategic partnerships to get complete control over Al-Quds in Jerusalem.
In response to Haniyeh’s appeal, Jamaat chief Sirajul Haq endorsed him and said that the “existing circumstances have proved that the issue of Palestine and Kashmir could not be resolved through resolutions”.
“Time has come to move forward to liberate Palestine and Kashmir from the clutches of Israel and India,” Haq said.
“A small group of Afghan Talibans defeated the US allied forces in Afghanistan while the Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia having a 7.4 million strong army, are unable to deter the Israeli aggression,” Dawn quoted Haq as saying at the rally.
Gaza Strip's top Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar attends a gathering to watch the speech of Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in Gaza City, on May 1, 2017. Islamic Hamas movement presented a new political document in which it said it accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders in the West bank and Gaza Strip. Khaled Meshaal, Hamas chief, announced the new program in a news conference held in the Qatari city of Doha. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar/IANS)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged his country’s help in rebuilding Gaza on Tuesday, but stressed that the aid must not benefit Hamas…reports Asian Lite News
Yehya al-Sinwar, the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, rejected reconstruction plans that aim to edge out the Islamist group that rules the coastal enclave in favour of the Palestinian Authority (PA) headed by President Mahmoud Abbas.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged his country’s help in rebuilding Gaza on Tuesday, but stressed that the aid must not benefit Hamas,DPA reported.
Israel is said to be concerned that any aid deliveries to the blockaded coastal territory could be misused to arm Islamist Hamas, as happened after the last Gaza war in 2014.
The idea is instead to work with the PA, reducing the risk of abuse and strengthening the authority vis-a-vis Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US as well as the European Union.
Al-Sinwar told reporters in Gaza on Wednesday that Blinken’s remarks were aimed at widening the divide between Hamas and the PA. “We will never fall for this trick and lash out at each other,” he said.
Abbas’ moderate Fatah party has clashed with Hamas for years; Hamas drove Fatah out of Gaza in 2007, and the latter has since ruled only in parts of the West Bank that are not administered by Israel.
Blinken is in the region to help cement the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that has held since coming into effect early Friday.
It ended more than a week of Palestinian rocket fire and Israeli air strikes that left more than 250 people dead in Gaza and 13 in Israel.
Blinken held talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi later on Wednesday, and hailed the Egyptian efforts to reach and stabilize the ceasefire.
At the meeting, al-Sissi also emphasized the importance of working to restart long-stalled direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians “with effective US engagement,” an Egyptian official said.
“I am determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved: to restore quiet and security to you, citizens of Israel.” said Netanyahu…reports Asian Lite News
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country was determined to continue its fight against the Palestinian Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip after US President Joe Biden called for “a significant de-escalation”.
The White House said in a statement that Biden told Netanyahu on Wednesday “that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire” in the deadly violence, reports Xinhua news agency.
Netanyahu later in the day issued a video statement on Twitter, saying: “I am determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved: to restore quiet and security to you, citizens of Israel.”
The two leaders have held three previous talks over the phone since Israel launched its “Guardian of the Walls” offensive in Gaza on May 10.
Palestinian Territories, Gaza City: Rockets are fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from Gaza City towards Israel, amid the escalating flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Photo: Mohammed Talatene/dpa/IANS
According to the latest data by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 219 Palestinians, including 63 children, were killed in Gaza.
In the West Bank, 25 Palestinian deaths were tallied, including four children.
Israeli sources reported 12 people killed, including two children and a soldier.
Thousands of people are injured, mainly in the West Bank and in Gaza
Militant groups fired barrages of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israel, while Israeli fighter jets kept carrying out intensive airstrikes on buildings and infrastructure in the besieged enclave.
