[News] Hamas' next move is critical: Palestinian resistance faces greatest test yet

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220809-hamas-next-move-is-critical-palestinian-resistance-faces-greatest-test-yet/>
Hamas' next move is critical: Palestinian resistance faces greatest test yet
Dr Ramzy Baroud
------------------------------

August 9, 2022 at 1:30 pm
[image: image.png]

Today, Israel assassinated
<https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/09/middleeast/israel-operation-militants-west-bank-nablus-intl/>
a
top Palestinian commander, Ibrahim Nabulsi, in Nablus, along with two other
fighters, Islam Sabbouh, and Hussein Taha. This bloody action is
intrinsically linked to the bloody events
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/05/israel-strikes-gaza-amid-tensions-following-arrest-of-palestinian-militant>
in
Gaza over the last few days.

One of Israel's main objectives of the war on Gaza was to demonstrate that
Tel Aviv hasn't lost its ability to strike Palestinians in the time and
place of its choosing. So, instead of waiting for Palestinians to respond
to the arrest
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220804-islamic-jihad-calls-for-release-of-al-saadi-as-military-wing-threatens-israel/>of
Sheikh Bassem Al-Saadi in Jenin, Israel 'preemptively' struck Gaza, instead.

Within merely three days, Israeli forces killed
<https://theconversation.com/amid-death-and-destruction-the-latest-conflict-in-gaza-highlights-the-depths-of-its-humanitarian-crisis-188351>
over
40 Palestinians, many of whom were children, and wounded over 300, mostly
civilians. But since Israel cares little about Palestinian lives, all that
it mattered to Tel Aviv was the killing
<https://www.albawaba.com/news/15-children-killed-latest-israeli-attacks-gaza-1486621>
of
two leading Palestinian Islamic Jihad commanders, Tyseer Al-Ja'bari and
Khaled Mansour, among others.

The above can be demonstrated in the words of the Israeli Minister of
Public Security, Omar Bar-Lev, who said
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israel-kills-three-palestinians-in-nablus-including-top-fatah-commander/>
today:
"As we did in Gaza recently, and Nablus today, we will carry on this way in
any time and place."

But by striking at Palestinian resistance in all Occupied Palestine, Israel
has instead demonstrated the resistance's ability to unify their ranks in
both the West Bank and Gaza. It unwittingly proved that Palestinian 'unity
of arms' is possible.

For this unity to be appreciated more, a very quick history recap is
required:

The Palestinian Intifada
<https://www.voanews.com/a/thirty-four-years-after-first-palestinian-intifada-peace-with-israelis-remains-elusive-/6343819.html>
of
1987 manifested Palestinian popular unity with a minor emphasis on armed
struggle. In the Intifada of 2000
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170928-remembering-the-second-intifada/>,
Palestinians demonstrated the unity of their armed struggle, with less
emphasis on the popular aspect. But since the death
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20512259> of Yasser Arafat
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20150823-memo-profile-yasser-arafat-24-august-1929-11-november-2004/>(2004),
the advent
<https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/mahmoud-abbas-begins-17th-year-as-palestinian-president/2469645>
of
Mahmoud Abbas (2005), the legislative elections
<https://sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33269.pdf> (2006), and the brief
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220614-hamas-and-fatah-battle-for-gaza-following-hamass-landslide-election-victory/>
Fatah-Hamas clashes
<https://justvision.org/glossary/hamas-fatah-conflict> (2007),
Palestinians have lost both popular and armed unity. Due to the absence of
political unity – with Fatah ruling in the West Bank, under Israeli
military occupation, and Hamas ruling in besieged Gaza
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180810-what-everyone-should-know-about-israels-siege-of-the-gaza-strip/>–
Palestinians seemed to lack every communal and collective aspect of their
struggle.

[image: Israel forces carry out strike in Gaza - Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle
East Monitor]]

Israel forces carry out strikes in Gaza – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East
Monitor]

May 2021 was a major reversal
<https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210525-gaza-conflict-forged-new-sense-of-palestinian-unity-analysts>
of
that trend, where in one stroke Palestinians managed to both redeem their
popular unity and to inject armed struggle as a form of resistance in both
the West Bank, particularly Jenin and Nablus and Gaza.

In its three-day war on the Gaza Strip, starting
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2022/8/5/israel-pounds-gaza-killing-10-including-pij-commander-live>
on
5 August, Israel wanted to prove that it is still the dominant force and
that it holds most of the cards. But inadvertently, Tel Aviv proved the
opposite. After all, the war on Gaza was an extension of the ongoing armed
resistance in Jenin. In fact, today's assassination
<https://www.albawaba.com/news/israeli-forces-kill-al-aqsa-brigades-leader-ibrahim-al-nabulsi-1486792>
of
the top leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus expands the parameters
of the Israeli fight, but also Palestinian unity.

Nabulsi has been a thorn in the side of the Palestinian Authority since the
Brigades are the military arm of the Fatah movement.

Even though Israel is claiming small victories, it has sowed the seeds of a
different kind of battle, where Gaza is no longer fighting alone and where
Jenin is no longer an isolated refugee camp in the northern West Bank.

Israel knows the risks, of course, but it feels that the time to strike is
now because it is aware of the political transition in Palestine, with the
expected demise of 87-year-old Mahmoud Abbas and the rise of another
leader/collaborator. An armed rebellion in the West Bank during this
transition could be disastrous for both Israel and the PA. Israel wants to
ensure that the leaders of this potential rebellion are eliminated or
incarcerated in advance, preferably the former.

There are many moving pieces and Israel is moving equally fast so that it
doesn't lose the element of surprise. The resistance appears, for now,
disoriented as the Israeli killing machine is moving from one region to the
other quickly.

The next few days are critical. If the Palestinian resistance does not
regain the initiative, even darker days await. All eyes are on Hamas in
particular, as the strongest and most popular of all of Palestine's
resistance groups. Hamas' next move is not only critical to the ongoing
fight, but to the very future and reputation of the movement.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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