The ‘State’ of Hamas
An Israeli soldier was killed Wednesday and two others wounded during a firefight with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The incident comes nearly one month after the terrorist group Hamas took complete control of Gaza.
Now, Israel and the U.S. are hoping to counter Hamas by arming the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but Hamas is imposing an Islamist order in Gaza.
On June 14 Hamas gunmen battled Fatah security forces in Gaza City and drove the American- backed Fatah out of the Gaza Strip.
Since the Oslo peace process began 14 years ago, the U.S., Europe and others have given billions of dollars in aid - including weapons, armored vehicles, and even buildings. Now all those things are in the hands of the victorious Hamas.
Caroline Glick of The Jerusalem Post says Hamas gained a treasure trove of intelligence information from the ransacked buildings of the security forces and that Hamas is sharing that information with Iran.
"It is fully funded and backed and ordered around by Teheran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," Glick said. "And it is impossible to underestimate the dangers that come from having this kind of Iranian proxy bordering Israel and Egypt -- both for the national security of Israel and for the national security of Egypt.
The reaction of the U.S and Israel to the Hamas takeover of Gaza is to prevent it from taking over the West Bank as well. And that means an almost desperate attempt to support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party.
The problem is that the more Abbas is linked to Washington and Jerusalem, the less popular he becomes with his own people.
When U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice comes back to the Middle East next week, Hamas supporters may hold mocking rallies similar one held in June where banners flew in the air of Rice embracing Abbas.
"President Mahmoud Abbas is a part of a conspiracy to starve and blackmail our Palestinian people. We promise no one can starve our people. Hamas has enough strength; we can force our position on anyone," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri.
For his part, Abbas warns that Hamas is working with al-Qaeda in the Gaza Strip - a charge Hamas denies.
But the images of Hamas members giving tours of Abbas' home in Gaza don't build confidence in his ability to unite and lead the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, with Gaza crossings to Israel and Egypt closed, Gazans are suffering from a lack of food and supplies. But Hamas leader Islam Shawan warns Gaza's unrest will spread to Jordan and Egypt if Hamas is not recognized.
"We are under siege for years," Shawan said. "There are assurances and indications that some parties in the region will deal with today's reality. And these parties are interested to have a strong entity that can stabilize in Gaza, because without it the whole region will not be stable."
Glick believes the U.S. and Israel will regret a long delay in acting against the Gaza threat.
She said, "By pushing Israel not to take action against Hamas and by pretending there is a Fatah option that doesn't exist to retake control of Gaza, America is actually doing the exact opposite of what its own strategy is because it is enabling, facilitating, actively assisting the establishment of a base for global jihad, which is quite simply another Afghanistan under the Taliban.