By Ted Belman ——Bio and Archives--January 12, 2009
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In August 2005 I wrote Disengagement will bring war not peace
No rational man would ever concede on any of these issues yet Sharon is in negotiations concerning all of them. The consequences of having the free flow of arms and terrorists in and out of Gaza and the West Bank are so obvious, so certain and so frightening that no one would contemplate it much less permit it. Yet Sharon is doing just that.
In effect Sharon is saying that no price is too high to end the occupation.
In November 2005, I wrote The Rafah Agreement is against the law, common sense and prudence
Israel agreed notwithstanding that the Disengagement Law passed by the Knesset, says that “Israel will oversee and guard the external land envelope.” This agreement therefore violates this law.
If we accept at face value the words of our enemies, including the PA, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and Syria, and we should, violence will be stepped up. This is not intended to achieve a better deal for the Palestinians. Rather it is intended to keep Israel occupied while Iran develops the A-bomb and to keep the conflict going in order to have a rallying cry for Jihadists in their war against the West. The same goes for the “insurgency” in Iraq.
Even if Jerusalem could be solved, the conflict will continue as long as Iran wants it to continue. The Rafah Agreement will serve to increase the violence and make peace more difficult to achieve (if it was ever possible) rather then to lead to peace and security as Rice suggests.
There is no substitute for “utterly defeating” the terrorists (including the Palestinians) and those that support them.
Rice then demanded, over Israeli objections, Hamas be permitted to contest elections.
After the elections in Jan ‘06, Rice Admits U.S. Underestimated Hamas Strength
Secretary Rice pointed out that the election results surprised just about everyone. “I don’t know anyone who wasn’t caught off guard by Hamas’ strong showing,” she said on her way to London for meetings on the Middle East, Iran and other matters. “Some say that Hamas itself was caught off guard by its strong showing.”
With increasing vehemence in the last few days, administration officials have defended their decision to back Mr. Abbas with American aid and to rebuff Israel when it warned that the election should not be held as long as Hamas participated while refusing to lay down its arms. Those officials continue to lay most of the blame on Mr. Abbas for not offering a positive alternative to Hamas.
In June ‘07, US and Israel permitted Hamas to takeover Gaza in a coup. I even asked Did the U.S. order Abbas to take a dive?. Later I wrote US planned to defeat Hamas and included an article from The Guardian in which it suggested that the US forced Hamas to engineer the coup. The US also provided sucker’s bait by positioning $500 million in military equipment in Gaza. It was ripe for the plucking.
Many doubted my theory but events have proved it correct.
The reason behind these moves was to rend asunder the Hamas government enabling the Westbank first option and to delegitimate and dissolve such government. All this was a prelude to the current war. After winning the election, Hamas had to be gotten rid of.
Garth Porter in a current article in Asia Times, Bush plan beat obstacle to Gaza assault explained it thus
But the George W Bush administration helped Israel eliminate that obstacle, by deliberately provoking Hamas to seize power. That plan was aimed at getting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to dissolve the democratically elected Hamas government - something Bush had tried unsuccessfully to do for many months.
Bush intended to build Fatah up to be able to take on Hamas but Abbas was a reluctant partner.
I highly recommend this article for the whole story.
Now, as the battle rages, Rice is at the forefront of demanding that Hamas be defeated. It is ironic that the architect of the Rafah Agreement and the Hamas election victory, should be the one to undo them.
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Ted Belman is a retired lawyer and Editor of Israpundit.org. He made aliyah from Canada in 2009 and now lives in Jerusalem.