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Can Hamas Be Defeated — Or Are We Fooling Ourselves?
Pro-Hamas students rally at the encampment for Gaza set up at George Washington University students. Washington, DC, April 25, 2035. Photo: Allison Bailey via Reuters Connect
Last week, Abdullah Ocalan asked his fighters in Turkey and Syria to lay down their weapons and declare a ceasefire. They agreed.
Who is Abdullah Ocalan? He is the leader of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US, and other countries. He has been imprisoned by Turkey under rather harsh conditions since 1999.
Whether the ceasefire will hold and lead to some degree of independence or at least easing of oppression by Turkey remains to be seen. If nothing else, this step by Ocalan shows that a leader can have an impact on his followers even from prison.
What is the connection to the Gaza situation? It has been clear to many players in the Middle East that Hamas cannot stay in power, and that it needs to be demilitarized. As we know, Israel has been calling for this since October 7. The US administration knows this, too. And Arab states are well aware that this is a necessity for ending the war in Gaza, though for the most part they are afraid to say so publicly.
Perhaps just like with the PKK, the process needs to be initiated from the top to the bottom.
It is unlikely that the current leadership in Gaza itself will take the first or any steps. Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, and his colleagues believe that their permanent residence in Gaza tunnels gives them at least a long term, if not permanent, lease on life and rule. Only one of the Palestinians who were recently released from Israeli prisons in exchange for Israeli hostages, publicly called for peace with Israel. He spent 40 years in an Israeli prison, he is quite elderly and not influential or known.
On the contrary, many released Palestinians were rushing immediately to their old jobs, i.e., terrorism. There is a zero chance that Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent resident in an Israeli prison who was responsible for organizing many deadly terrorist attacks, would do what Ocalan just did — call for disarmament and real ceasefire. The input needs to come either from Gaza’s population or from Gaza leaders living abroad and Arab leaders in the neighborhood.
The Gazans are too oppressed and dependent for everything on Hamas, so they keep quiet, though a recent poll shows a marked decrease in Hamas popularity.
Gazans put a lot of blame for the destruction of their homes and for looting of humanitarian aid on Hamas, though many of them also fervently hate Israel and Jews. The latter was particularly palpable during the transfer of hostages, alive and dead.
Qatar, the financier and enabler of Hamas, a state claiming to be “an honest mediator and broker of peace” should stop financing and supporting Hamas, and it should expel the Hamas politburo from its soil. Instead of making a real contribution by pressing Hamas to release all hostages unconditionally, it called last week for UNRWA to return to Gaza (or as they called it, to “Palestine.”)
Egypt will present a proposal for rebuilding Gaza at an emergency Arab summit in Cairo in the coming days. Whether it includes disarmament and/or expulsion of Hamas from Gaza, and at least temporary relocation of Gazans into Egypt, is doubtful. But any reconstruction of Gaza with Hamas remaining in any position of power is total waste and folly. Hamas does not care about Gaza’s population; its only goal is to destroy Israel. Egypt is hoping that Europe would underwrite this adventure, but the EU would be foolish to go for it while Hamas and its affiliates are in power.
I have no idea what prompted Ocalan to declare a ceasefire. He has been in prison since 1999 – 26 years, and he is in his 70s. Does he want to live out his final days in peace, does he think a good outcome is possible for his people, that enough people have died, or that the regional situation is changing with Israel defeating Hezbollah, Assad gone from Syria, and Iran weakened by Israel’s intervention?
We can only wish and hope that his new approach would inspire Hamas to do something leading to real peace. Unfortunately, we know one thing for sure from their recent rejection of a new peace deal: there will be no ceasefire until Hamas is gone.
In the 10h year of the rather slowly progressing Trojan War, things start heating up as described in the Iliad. Achilles, the greatest warrior of the Greek army, sits on the sidelines offended by Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks. Patroclus, Achilles’ closest friend, goes into battle and is killed by Hector, the son of Priam, the king of Troy.
Achilles, devastated by Patroclus’ death, calls for revenge and drags Hector’s body attached to Achilles’ chariot. Fellow Greeks are appalled by Achilles’ defiling Hector’s body. Achilles is inconsolable until Priam comes to beg Achilles to release the body of his son for a funeral. Priam also brings a hefty ransom. Achilles takes pity on the old grieving father, accepts the ransom, releases the body and sits down with Priam to mourn the death of Hector. Achilles agrees to two weeks of truce to allow for a funeral and grieving for Hector.
Hamas should study the Iliad to imbibe some compassion and empathy both for its “enemies” and its own people.
Dr. Jaroslava Halper has been a professor of pathology at The University of Georgia in Athens, GA for many years. She escaped from communist Prague because of antisemitism, and lack of freedom and free speech. The gradual increase of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in certain circles in her second homeland, and the devastating October 7 massacre by Hamas, led her to realize that more active engagement is necessary to combat antisemitism, including anti-Zionism.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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