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August 28, 2014<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/28/fearing-political-islam/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/08/28/fearing-political-islam/</a><br>
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big><big><big><b>Why Was Gaza
Betrayed?</b></big></big></big></div>
<h1 class="article-title">Fearing Political Islam</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle">by RAMZY BAROUD</div>
<div class="main-text">
<p>Ask any Arab ruler, and they will tell you of the great
sacrifices their countries have made for Palestine and the
Palestinians. However, both history and present reality are
testaments, not only to Arab failure to live up to the role
expected of them and stand in solidarity with their own
oppressed brethren, but also to the official Arab betrayal of
the Palestinian cause. The current war on Gaza, and the
dubious role played by Egypt in the ceasefire talks between
Hamas and Israel are cases in point.</p>
<p>Read this <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/31/world/middleeast/fighting-political-islam-arab-states-find-themselves-allied-with-israel.html?_r=0"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.nytimes.com']);"
target="_blank">comments by Aaron David Miller</a>, a
scholar at the Wilson Center in Washington to appreciate the
depth of the unmistakable Arab betrayal. “I have never seen a
situation like it, where you have so many Arab states
acquiescing in the death and destruction in Gaza and the
pummeling of Hamas,” Miller told the New York Times. “The
silence is deafening.”</p>
<p>Miller explains Arab silence in relations to their loathing
of political Islam which rose to prominence following the
so-called Arab Spring. Such rise saw the advent of movements
like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and al-Nahda in Tunisia
to the centers of power. The ‘Arab Spring’ challenged and, at
least temporarily, disabled the hegemony over power by
corruption-ridden, pro-western Arab elites, unleashing the
energies of civil societies that have been historically
marginalized.<a href="http://store.counterpunch.org/"><img
class="alignright wp-image-71068" alt="begging slogans3"
src="cid:part2.00080203.00040507@freedomarchives.org"
height="357" width="357"></a></p>
<p>Political Islam, especially that which is affiliated with
moderate Islamic ideology known as al-Wasatiyyah (roughly
translated as ‘moderation’) swept-up the votes in several
democratic elections. Like Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian
elections in 2006, other such Islamic movements followed suit
the moment the ‘Arab Spring’ pushed open a small margin for
democracy and freedom of expression.</p>
<p>The danger of political Islamic movements that don’t adhere
to an extremist ideology like that of the Islamic State (IS)
and al-Qaeda, for example, is that they are not easy to
dismiss as ‘extremists,’ ‘terrorists’, and such. At times, in
fact, often, they seem much more inclined to play the
democratic game than self-proclaimed Arab ‘secularist’,
‘liberal’ and ‘socialist’ movements.</p>
<p>Israel’s most recent war on Gaza, starting on July 7, came at
a time that political Islam was being routed out in Egypt and
criminalized in other Arab countries. It was the first major
Israeli military attack on Gaza since the ousting of
democratically-elected Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed
Morsi on July 3, 2013. Although the Israeli war morphed in the
course of a few days to that of a genocide (thousands killed,
thousands wounded, and nearly fourth of the Gazan population
made homeless), most Arab countries remained mostly silent.
They mouthed-off some random condemnations that meant so very
little. Egypt, however, went even further.</p>
<p>Soon after the Israeli war ‘Operation Protective Edge’ began,
Egypt proposed a most suspicious ceasefire, one that even the
Times found peculiar. “The government in Cairo .. surprised
Hamas by publicly proposing a cease-fire agreement that met
most of Israel’s demands and none from the Palestinian group
(Hamas),” wrote David Kirkpatrick on July 30. Hamas, the main
Palestinian party in the conflict, which is also declared by
Egypt’s government as ‘terrorist,’ was not consulted and only
learned about the proposal through the media. But, of course,
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the Egyptian proposal;
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a main rival of
Hamas, and a strong opponent of armed resistance (and
arguably, any form of Palestinian resistance, really) welcomed
the ‘brotherly’ Egyptian gesture; other Arab rulers rushed to
commend Egypt’s Abdul Fatah al-Sisi for his astute regional
leadership.</p>
<p>Of course, the whole exercise was a farce, meant to
eventually blame Hamas and the resistance in Gaza for refusing
an end to the conflict (which they didn’t start and were its
ultimate victim), and to prop up Sisi as the new icon of peace
and moderation in the region; the kind of ‘strong man’ with
whom the United States government liked to do business.</p>
<p>It all failed, of course, for one single reason, the Gaza
resistance held its ground, costing Israel serious military
losses, and igniting worldwide sympathy and respect.</p>
<p>But no respect came from traditional Arab governments, of
course, including those who praise the legendary ‘sumoud’ –
steadfastness – of the Palestinian people at every
opportunity, speech and sermon. The renewed success of Hamas,
which arguably had been fading away into oblivion after the
overthrow of Egypt’s brotherhood, and the severing of ties
with Damascus and Tehran, was puzzling, and immensely
frustrating to these governments.</p>
<p>If Hamas survives the Gaza battle, the resistance will
promote its endurance before the Middle East’s supposedly
strongest army as a victory. Netanyahu will suffer dire
consequences at home. Ties between Hamas and Iran could be
renewed. The ‘resistance camp’ could once more rekindle. The
moral victory for the Brotherhood and the moral defeat of Sisi
(and his prospected regional role) would be astounding.</p>
<p>An alliance of sorts was founded between several Arab
countries and Israel to ensure the demise of the resistance in
Gaza – not just the resistance as an idea, and its practical
expressions, but also its political manifestations as well,
which are felt far and beyond the confines of Gaza’s besieged
borders.</p>
<p>Former Israel lobbyist and current vice president of the
Brookings Institution in Washington, Martin Indyk <a
href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-10/israel-finds-silent-backing-among-arab-nations-hostile-to-hamas.html"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.bloomberg.com']);"
target="_blank">has an explanation</a>. “There’s an
‘alignment of interests’ between nations that aren’t allies,
yet have ‘common adversaries’,” Indyk told Bloomberg. “As they
see that the US is less engaged than it was before, it’s
natural that they look to each other – quietly, under the
table in most respects – to find a way to help each other.”</p>
<p>Naturally, the latest round of ceasefire talks in Cairo
failed because the party that is hosting the talks deems the
leading Palestinian resistance group Hamas, ‘terrorist’ and
would hate to see a scenario in which Gaza prevails over
Israel. If the resistance demand of ending the siege is met,
especially the demand of reactivating the Gaza seaport and
airport, Egypt would be denied a major leverage against Hamas,
the resistance, and the Palestinian people altogether.</p>
<p>And if the resistance wins – as in holding the Israeli
military at bay, and achieving some of its demands – the
political discourse of the Middle East is likely to change
altogether, where the weak will, once again, dare challenge
the strong by demanding reforms, democracy, and threatening
resistance as a realistic way to achieve such objectives.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the Hamas victory in the Palestinian
Legislative Elections in 2006 had revived the possibility of
political Islam in achieving its goals via the ballot box,
which was a harbinger of the rise of political Islam
throughout the region following the ‘Arab Spring.’ Any victory
for Palestinian resistance can also be considered equally as
dangerous for those who want to maintain the status quo
throughout the region.</p>
<p>Some Arab rulers continue to declare their strong support of
Palestine and its cause. ‘Operation Protective Edge,’ however,
has exposed beyond a doubt that such solidarity is just a mere
show of words; and that, although discretely, some Arabs wish
to see Israel crush any semblance of Palestinian resistance,
in Gaza and anywhere else.</p>
<p><i><strong>Ramzy Baroud</strong> is a PhD scholar in People’s
History at the University of Exeter. He is the Managing
Editor of Middle East Eye. Baroud is an
internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an
author and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His latest
book is My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story
(Pluto Press, London).</i></p>
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