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| Clockwise from L.: Gaza victims, Egypt's Morsi and Iran's Supreme Leader |
International
efforts to wrest a cease-fire from Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip are
gathering momentum.
The
two sides are putting forth widely divergent demands to halt five days of violence.
The violence saw Israel launch ceaseless air, tank and warship
strikes on the Strip and Hamas fire a stream of rockets into Israel, including
into the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas.
By this writing, 84
Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed and 720 have been
wounded. Three Israeli civilians have died from Hamas rocket fire and a dozen
have been wounded.
President Barack Obama
said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the
fighting. While defending Israel's right to defend itself against the rocket
fire, he also warned of the risks Israel would take if it were to expand its
air assault into a ground war.
UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon said Sunday afternoon he would head to the region and "appeal
personally for ending the violence." French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the day,
and an Israeli representative was in Egypt earlier in an attempt to negotiate a
peaceful settlement.
Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to pay a snap visit to Gaza as part of an Arab
League delegation to express support and solidarity.
Morocco’s King Mohammed
VI has meantime ordered the immediate setting up of a Moroccan field hospital
in the Gaza Strip.
The hospital will
comprise specialized medical units of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces, as well
as Moroccan civilian physicians and paramedics. The multidisciplinary
medical-surgical hospital will reinforce existing medical facilities there.
According to a senior
State Department official, Egypt has an important leadership role to play in
brokering a cessation of the violence between Hamas and Israel.
Egypt, the official
said, “has the relationships in Gaza; Prime Minister Qandil travelled there
yesterday and had the opportunity to meet with (Ismail) Haniyeh, and other
leaders in Hamas. So we believe that they have the stature, the credibility,
and the relationships to be able to persuade Hamas and its allies to stop…
There are other actors involved like the Turks and the Qataris and others who
also have a role to play. But Egypt’s role is absolutely pivotal.”
Ghassan Charbel,
editor-in-chief of pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, believes post-Mubarak Egypt under
President Mohamed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, “simply can’t
cut loose from Gaza’s destiny.”
Charbel explains in a leader comment penned in Arabic:
Other than the rationales
of geographic contiguity, security, stability and role, Egypt now has a regime
begotten by the revolution and entrusted to the Muslim Brothers by the ballot
box.
Consequently, Hamas
neither can nor wishes to deal with Morsi’s Egypt the way it dealt with Egypt
under Hosni Mubarak.
Israel’s onslaught on
Gaza showed the Arab Spring did not let the Palestinian cause fall from its
list of priorities. The offensive gave Arab Spring countries the chance to
reiterate that injustice to the Palestinians is in their hearts and minds and
will have pride of place in their priorities.
The region has changed.
More exactly, it is changing.
Despite lingering
uncertainties, apprehensions and machinations, the Arab Spring is probably the
most important regional event since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
From this perspective,
let’s ponder conditions in the two countries that initiated the Axis of Resistance.
Iran is buckling under
the weight of economic sanctions. Her role in the region is melting away after
colliding with the Arab Spring, specifically in Syria. Her nuclear program is
closely monitored by Western powers.
Syria, the Arab partner
in the Axis of Resistance, sees her regime loosing control on the ground and
becoming an Arab, Islamic and international pariah.
The Hamas movement,
whose leadership resided in Syria, was the Sunnite link in the Axis of Resistance
grouping Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. It was also the golden link in the chain
because it introduced the Axis’ missiles and modus operandi to the heart of
Palestinian territory.
Consisting of Hamas and Islamic
Jihad, the Palestinian offshoot of the Axis of Resistance played a key role
over the past two 20-odd years. Hamas and Islamic Jihad helped exasperate hopes
pinned on the Oslo Accords,
militarize the Second
Intifada, and undermine the successive clout and authority of Yasser Arafat
and Mahmoud Abbas. Their suicide attacks shored up Israeli hardliners.
With the two Palestinian
groups tagging along, Iran and Syria were able to gain veto power on any idea
of Palestinian-Israeli or Arab-Israeli peace.
The Arab Spring was a
bolt from the blue for Syria. But it allowed Hamas leaders residing in Damascus
to nose out the Arab Spring’s Muslim Brotherhood scent.
Although Hamas initially
refused to take a stand for or against the Syrian uprising, it was against the
grain of its political chief Khaled Meshaal to follow
in Hezbollah’s suit and take orders from Iran’s Supreme Leader. Hamas
consequently elected to emigrate from Damascus and align itself with the Muslim
Brotherhood Supreme Guide based in Egypt.
Israel’s blitz on Gaza
came on the heels of such momentous changes. Israeli warplanes pummeled the
Strip while Hamas and Islamic Jihad hit back with rockets targeting Tel Aviv
and Jerusalem.
Remarkably, Hamas
hastened to tell everyone trying to broker de-escalation that the address for
negotiations is Egypt.
Morsi’s telephone hasn’t
stopped ringing. Morsi has no choice but to seek a quick return to calm and
normalcy. He cannot see Hamas crushed in Gaza. And he cannot gamble away
Egypt’s international ties and financial aid either. He would not risk the
Brotherhood’s credentials for running Egypt.
