Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons
Written By: Musa Al-Shuqairi
Hamas form of resistance failed to achieve substantial results and placed the population it presided over in an impossible situation. Leaving the heavy-hearted emotions and condolences aside for a moment, one cannot help but wonder what was/is the Hamas leadership plan (hoping they have one). So assuming that Hamas is sticking to the resistance route (a route that has unlimited support, despite the huge suspicions about the commitment of the Islamic political factions to it), doesn’t resistance need a clear plan with: (a) Objectives (b) Execution methods and (c) Potential calculated results, to qualify as a legitimate resistance movement?
Going through the Hamas trail of thoughts, the resistance latest (and sole) technique of firing home-made rockets (whatever those are) supposedly serve the following purposes:
– Announcing to the Zionists that we are committed to the route of military encounters and armed struggle to free our homeland, and we are willing to fight relentlessly.
– Creating fear and causing discomfort among Zionists and breaking their “security myth”. (Enforced by our own myth that security is a priority to the Zionist state…but that’s a different story). (Other suggestions from Hamas insiders are also welcomed…)
Now, notice how these objectives are highly “emotional” – (Sends a message and breaks a myth). The Zionists are not really suffering any significant material losses. They may try to overreact to entice compassion, but ON THE GROUND, there are minimal gains achieved in our favour. In reality, the whole Hamas resistance strategy is really vague and from a military point of view can be even considered arbitrary and weak. Anyone claiming otherwise needs to measure the situation by war parameters (casualties inflicted and grounds gained). The emotional stuff is great, but in ground battles emotional gains and cries of “we will fight till the last man” do not carry much significance (a fact that has already been proven by the courageous battles and endless martyrs from Beirut to Jenin). Until Zionist settlers start packing their stuff and permanently evicting Palestine, the Hamas objectives are not being met.
This is not even an effective resistance in the Hizbollah mode – a series of qualitative operations with set objectives, that targets Zionist army personnel, backed up by the most organized form of guerrilla fighters, who are equipped with state of the art combat weaponry. Hamas leadership despite all the rhetoric has FAILED to create a competent resistance (regardless of the reason) beyond arbitrary rockets and militia parades, yet insisted on staying trapped in the no-man zone.
Hamas leadership has failed miserably in managing the struggle with the current miserable variables. Here are the facts that we are being continuously reminded of by the wailers on all media outlets:
1- The Zionists are a brutal immoral entity that will take any and every opportunity to mercilessly slaughter Palestinians. They are always willing to use beyond excessive force, and they have the means to do so.
2- The Zionists have the absolute green light from the Americans, to do whatever they want.
3- The Zionists have the absolute green light from all the Arab leaders, and they are in complete coordination with the all the neighboring Arab states and the so-called Palestinian authority.
4- There is no such thing as the “international community”, “the united nations” “the world human conscious” or the “peace loving countries” – as proven by the Iraq situation.
5- There is no such thing as the “Arab street”, and the collaborating Arab regimes are not going to be toppled overnight by the Arab mobs outraged by the scene of a child torn in half. A shake of the head and a sheikh spitting into a megaphone is the epitome of the Arab street motion (Also learnt from Iraq).
It seems very clear that those in charge (and pretty much everyone else) are aware of those trivial facts, so with that said what is the strategic benefit (philosophy) behind firing rockets? Pride and courage? And how are you going to gain compassion of the (non-existent) international community and Muslim world (obviously your main plan) when the non-stop footage keeps showing martyrs in uniform?
Was it a gamble by a political party clinging to its newly-found power or a part of a universal plan that will take the armed struggle to a whole new level? At least 300 souls are hoping it is the latter.
