The Hamas Official Who Told the Truth

..at least on this one occasion (hat tip: Tim).

In a rare case of self-criticism, a senior official in the Hamas-led government said the Palestinians have bungled the aftermath of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and called on residents to stop blaming Israel for all their woes.

 

Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led government, urged Palestinians to look beyond the conflict with Israel in searching for the causes of internal violence and lawlessness sweeping through the Gaza Strip.

—-

A year ago, Israel was completing its withdrawal of all troops and settlements from Gaza after a 38-year occupation. The withdrawal raised hopes the Palestinians would rebuild the impoverished coastal strip as the first step toward gaining full independence in Gaza and the West Bank.

 

However, rival Palestinian factions have been locked in a violent power struggle, and fighting with Israel has continued. Tensions with Israel have only worsened since Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections in January.

 

“Our extreme joy at their departure made us forget the most important question: What is our next step?” Hamad wrote. “We heard that a promising future was waiting for us and for Gaza – and so we were optimistic that the blood of our martyrs and injured and the suffering of the entire country hadn’t been in vain.”

 

He said the easiest explanation to justify the “failure” is to blame the Israelis.

 

“As a consequence, we became limited in our thinking – unable to think except within a very small cycle,” he wrote. “We were never able to be active about events, and on the rare occasion that we succeeded, we were not able to use it to move the process forward.”

Hamad said his article was a personal opinion and did not represent the position of the government (even though he’s the spokesman for the government -ed.).

About the Author

An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.

Filed Under: General

Tags: Palestinian