What Comes After Hamas?
More than a year has passed. That’s how long it has taken to take out the trash in the Gaza Strip.
Soon after the horrific attacks by Hamas, demonic in origin, Israel issued a statement that once they won the war and cleaned-out Gaza, it would never again be what it was. I kept my eyes focused on that statement and shut-out the nonsense from Western diplomats. And the statement has proven to be true. Hamas is finished and now everyone is wondering what or who will govern the area.
(I admit that it’s a disappointment that Israel won’t annex the area and repopulate it with Jewish homes. The Arabs can find a home somewhere else.)
It’s been floated of course that the foxes will be let back into the henhouse. Early on, Hamas proposed that they along with the PA would administer the area.
LOL.
Then it was going to be the Palestinian Authority itself. Problem there is, it’s still the same old terrorist PLO organization it always was.
So, who?
Israel probably doesn’t want to be the administrator over 1.5 million Palestinians. Again, problem solved if they move out of the area, but no one has that kind of moral clarity and will.
So long as Israel maintains a military presence there—and they will—it isn’t critical. Word came this week of a name being tossed around.
Muhammad Dahlan.
A senior figure in the Fatah (political wing) of the PLO, Dahlan has been in exile in the UAE for some time. If there is such a thing as a moderate in that crowd, he would be it.
He claims he doesn’t want any such role, but was only focused on humanitarian efforts during the war. But don’t kid yourself.
Born in Khan Yunis, one of the battlefronts during the war, Dahlan was part of the next generation Palestinian leadership. Coming to prominence after the Oslo Accords, and the creation of the Palestinian Authority, he was for some time head of the preventive security forces in Gaza and minister of civilian affairs.
After the Second Intifada broke out (courtesy of the sinister Arafat), Dahlan was associated with terror activities against Israel, but in 2011, he was expelled from Fatah when he was suspected of plotting a coup against the equally sinister and corrupt Mahmoud Abbas, Arafat’s one-time right-hand man.
One interesting point in all this is, Dahlan’s chief rival, Marwan Barghouti, sits in an Israeli prison. He has been mentioned as a bargaining chip in the event of a hostage swap. It’s obviously in Dahlan’s best interests that Barghouti stays put.
The internal Palestinian politics in all this is off the charts and as oily and gross as you can imagine. The fact that there is jockeying for position is despicable. But my views are not popular and would be considered fringe even by conservatives. As always, I am more Ze’ev Jabotinsky or Menachem Begin than Yair Lapid or Shimon Peres. In other words, a tendency to let up on one’s mortal enemies leads to more death and mayhem. It’s been that way since the Israelites entered Canaan and didn’t finish off the occupiers like God told them to do.
So, because of that, here we sit looking at another Palestinian entity administering the Strip. A poll took exactly a year ago showed Dahlan with only four percent support among Palestinians, 36 percent for Barghouti, 19 percent for Ismail Haniyeh, and 16 percent for Sinwar. Well, two on that list are now dead, thank God.
It is also possible that the resurrection of the Abraham Accords will lead to a slightly better security situation, especially if Saudi Arabia gets involved.
Unfortunately, the “moderate” Dahlan subscribes to the “occupation” narrative and says Israel has waged a “destructive war” on the Palestinians. He also calls for a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. That won’t fly for at least the next generation of Israelis.
In the early 2000s, Dahlan was accused by Israel of participating in an attack on a bus carrying children near Kfar Darom, in Gush Katif.
So, it appears that the most moderate of the Palestinian leadership is still a snake. At some point, Benjamin Netanyahu will pass from the scene.
More evidence that only the Messiah can sort all this out.