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 Hamas
And The IRA
A new gameplan...
[Asaf Romirowsky] 2/16/06
When Palestinians
revealed their true colors electing Hamas to 74
seats in the
Palestinian Legislative Council, the Arab world was dumb-struck.
An Islamist terror group had finally snatched power from
the ruling old guard and woke up the world to a new Middle
East
reality. But does Hamas' victory really represent the decisive
shift where Palestinian politics began going down-hill?
Historians
and students of current affairs often compare the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict to that between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republican
Army (IRA), in which an organization claiming to represent
Catholics took up arms against Irish Protestants and the British.
For decades, the IRA's modus operandi was slaying thousands
of innocent men, women and children. It also utilized terror
tactics such as human bombs, which involved chaining one of
its unfortunate victims to the steering wheel of a lorry laden
with explosives, which was then exploded. The IRA was Western
Europe's most successful terror organization and has spread
its malign tentacles across the globe. The parallels with Hamas
are inescapable.
Since the
IRA has disarmed, the IRA's days of major violence are behind,
but certain comparisons are still instructive. Even when the
IRA agreed to a cease-fire or a hudna they not only
continued to plan but also implemented attacks. Splinter
groups such as the ‘Real IRA' continue to threaten and
undertake smaller scale operations, although it is unclear
whether
these are
in fact rogue operations or in fact sanctioned by the IRA
itself. And most importantly, throughout the many years
of negotiations,
the IRA continually threatened to return to violence if
its conditions were not met. So are Hamas and the IRA similar
in their actions and practices? Can the IRA case help us
predict
Hamas' actions?
The IRA's
willingness to accept a cease-fire was recognized as well received;
however, the IRA's possession of illegal weapons quickly generated
friction and tension that took years to overcome. Terrorist
expert Ely Karmon explains the IRA's enduring attachment to
arms and their difficulty with disarmament:
"No paramilitary
organization - even those which ostensibly support the Belfast
Agreement - is prepared to surrender its weapons. The Irish
Times reports that hundreds of tons of weapons are said
to be cached all over Ireland, ‘from bunkers in the midlands
and southwest of Ireland to concrete-lined holes under kitchens
in houses across Northern Ireland.'"[1]
It is also
worth noting that the single most deadly bombing, the Omagh
bombing of August 1998, took place after the signing
of the Good Friday Agreement and its overwhelming approval
by the Northern Irish electorate. The "Real IRA" was quickly
repudiated by all parties. Still, these events brought into
high relief the question of verifying IRA decommissioning,
a problem that brought the peace process to a standstill. The
IRA's vague promises of "putting weapons beyond use" were insufficient,
and the crisis of 2002, where devolution was suspended and
direct rule reintroduced nearly brought open warfare. It was
not until the spectacular bank robbery of December 2004, in
which the IRA was a suspect, and then the horrific beating
death of Robert McCartney in January 2005, that unprecedented
pressure was put on the IRA, even from Gerry Adams.
So based
on the IRA model are we to expect Hamas to reform and democratize?
Ironically before the elections it was the Fatah-controlled
Palestinian Authority that continually refused to disarm Hamas.
Now Hamas will become the Palestinian Authority. Having fought,
literally, to keep its weapons for many years, the chances
of Hamas voluntarily disarming are tiny, particularly since
their ideology calls for continuing warfare against Israel
and Jews.
All these
contrasts come back to the one major difference between the
IRA and Hamas -- religion. For the Irish, religion is not rooted
in all facets of life as it is in with Israelis and Palestinians.
Religion in Northern Ireland is understood as a cultural and
historical force, while in the Middle East it ties Israelis
and Palestinians to the same land. Furthermore, Hamas being
a religious organization claims religious justifications for
attempting to wipe out Israel. This factor is what differentiates
the two groups and will ultimately prove how futile Hamas'
reform efforts are.
There is
a domestic side to Hamas' victory. Hamas popularity did not
increase because of Abbas' weakness; it actually began even
before Oslo as a political counter force to Arafat's PLO. And
as Arafat's corruption grew, the support for Hamas within Palestinian
society became stronger.
One of Hamas'
biggest achievements is demonstrating its agility to differentiate
between the short-term objective of a Palestinian State within
the West Bank and Gaza and the long term objective of creating
an Islamist State on the land of Palestine that would eliminate
Israel. Maintaining this balance is what allowed Hamas to survive.
But regardless of tactics, eliminating Israel is fundamental
to Hamas' theology. For its part the IRA wanted England out
of Ireland, not England out of England.
During the "Oslo
- years of hope," while Arafat and the PLO were signing agreements
with the "Zionist entity," Hamas was focusing on blowing up
Israelis and the peace process. And while Arafat and his cronies
were living the good life on the backs of Palestinian society
it was Hamas' schools and medical facilities that served the
masses. Arafat knew he couldn't avoid the growing support for
Hamas; thus, he paid them off as well as giving them his blessing
for attacking Israel. As then Israeli Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen.
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak told Israel Radio on March 23, 1997, "organizations
such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad have an understanding from
the Palestinian Authority to carry out attacks." Furthermore,
in his early days in Egypt, Arafat was associated with the
Muslim Brotherhood so it was not a stretch for this seemingly
secular revolutionary to lend a hand to Hamas.
The Palestinian
Authority's lack of control over extremists during Fatah's
rule proved abortive and now under Hamas' leadership there
is no doubt that Israelis require an unabated need for more
security. The only positive outcome of these elections is now
when the PA attacks Israelis there can be no hiding behind
the canard of "extremists" who cannot be controlled. Furthermore,
when the IRA bid farewell to its arms it was welcomed with
open arms into the EU which translated into economical incentives.
Palestinians, however, value their ideology of hate much more
than they do such incentives, and they will not give it up
no matter what the cost.
Notes:
[1] http://www.ict.org.il/articles/articledet.cfm?articleid=73
-one-
This
piece first appeared at FrontPageMag.com
Copyright 2006 MEF
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