This piece was originally Published in the Times of Israel on June 6th, 2014 and was written by Seth Greenwald. Seth Greenwald is an active writer for the Times of Israel, a pro-Israel activist, and a CAMERA intern.
As Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reaches the tenth year of his four-year term, he has achieved the “impossible,” a brokered “peace.” Abbas has established friendly relations with one of his greatest adversaries, and that is not Israel. For the first time in nearly a decade, the “former” terrorist organization, Fatah, has agreed to form a unity government with the terrorists of Hamas. Considering the fact that Abbas has spent many months attempting to broker peace talks with Israel, this seems like the perfect way to establish peace with the Jewish State.
Hamas and Fatah have been at odds for roughly eight years, following a history of Civil War in which over 600 were killed, more than 1000 were wounded, and cities were reduced to rubble. So much has changed since innocent Palestinians were killed, terrorists bombed terrorists, and cities were destroyed. Now, their previously mutual animosity towards each other has been pushed aside and terrorists have united to kill more innocent Israelis. What has not changed is that Palestinian and Israeli civilians are still casualties of war, and rockets continue to damage civilian areas in order to combine forces against the “Zionist entity,” or the Jewish State of Israel.
Not many details are yet known regarding the terrorist government claiming to unite for peace, but one thing is for certain. Ismail Haniyeh, current Prime Minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, said at a rally on Tuesday that Palestinians would now be newly empowered to fight Israel.
“Palestinian reconciliation aims to unite the Palestinian people against the prime enemy, the Zionist enemy. It aims to pursue the choice of resistance and steadfastness,” Haniyeh told supporters in the southern town of Rafah.
The reports further state that the Hamas-built security in Gaza and Abbas’ Western-armed security forces wouldn’t be reconciled until after elections, yet the armed wing of Hamas known for firing roughly 13000 rockets from Gaza to Israel over the past 10 years will remain intact following the vote.
Contributed by CAMERA intern Seth Greenwald, Sophomore at Clark University