Hamas in Gaza (merged thread)

[Rex Brynen]

And it would appear that, again this year, the UN's "summer camps of debauchery" are proving much more popular than Hamas' own summer camps (to the latter's annoyance):

Hamas, UNRWA compete over entertaining Gaza children
Xinhua
12:13, June 16, 2010

Mohamed Atallah, a teacher and one of the mentors in a major summer camp run by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) on Gaza beachside insisted that mentors are not teaching school children any politics, but only entertaining them.

On Sunday, UNRWA inaugurated its own summer camps in the Gaza Strip to entertain refugees' schoolchildren. Streets of Gaza City saw UNRWA vehicles and hundreds of UNRWA children holding summer camps flame.

UNRWA summer camps were inaugurated a day before Gaza-ruling Islamic Hamas movement started its own camps. Hamas said in a banner that its camps "are religious and cultural and not summer camps of debauchery," in reference to UNRWA camps.

"Here, it's not allowed to think or talk about politics, we differ from other summer camps run by other organizations," Atallah said, adding "we are not linked to any political group, but we try our best to help the children to get out of the horrible situation they had passed over the past several years."

Attallah was speaking to Xinhua as dozens of UN blue flags, placed on top of a huge square blue tent, were fluttering, and hundreds of Gaza refugees' schoolchildren were enjoying a good time on the white-sand beach.

...

Last year the kids at the UNRWA Gaza summer camps set the world record for the most kites flown simultaneously. This year they're trying for the world record for the most basketballs bounced at once. Clever stuff by some very dedicated UN staff, for some kids who could certainly do with the chance to enjoy themselves.

[Jedburgh]

ICG, 29 Mar 11: Radical Islam in Gaza

The recent Israel-Hamas escalation returns a spotlight to Gaza and the Islamist movement’s relationship with more militant organisations. Gaza arouses multiple concerns: does Hamas seeks to impose religious law; has its purported Islamisation stimulated growth of Salafi-Jihadi groups; and will al-Qaeda offshoots find a foothold there? Hamas faces competition from more radical Islamist groups, though their numbers are few, organisation poor, achievements against Israel so far minor and chances of threatening Gaza’s government slight. The significance of Gaza’s Salafi-Jihadis is less military capability than constraints they impose on Hamas: they are an ideological challenge; they appeal to members of its military wing, a powerful constituency; through attacks within and from Gaza, they threaten security; by criticising Hamas for not fighting Israel or implementing Sharia, they exert pressure for more militancy and Islamisation. The policy of isolating Gaza and ignoring Hamas exacerbates this problem. As the international community seeks new ways to address political Islam in the Arab upheaval’s wake, Gaza is not the worst place to start....

[davidbfpo]

I expect the role of Hamas has cropped up before and there appear to be several related threads. This week Kings of War have a commentary 'What to make of Hamas?', which opens with:

Hamas this week announced a shift in its ‘emphasis from armed struggle to non-violent resistance‘.

Link, with several links to sources:http://kingsofwar.org.uk/2011/12/what-to-make-of-hamas/

After all, Hamas emerged as a radical splinter from a more moderate movement; who is to say it cannot evolve in the opposite direction. But is this what is happening?

Clearly, it will depend on who you ask: much like everything else in the Middle East, or in politics in general,

And ends with:let’s find opportunities to deal with the challenges.

Nowhere is static, some will argue the 'Arab Spring' has shown that all too vividly and why should a movement like Hamas not change?

[davidbfpo]

A KoW podcast by Nina Musgrave, a Ph.D. student:http://warstudies.podomatic.com/entr...02_56_47-08_00

Her thesis is:

An analysis of the politics, tactics and strategy of Hamas since January 2006, when it became a democratically elected political party. It aims to analyse the political trajectory and internal dynamics of Hamas in light of its electoral success, and explore the extent to which Hamas’s new role as an elected entity has expanded its strategic options or constrained its movement.

Link:http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/department.../musgrave.aspx

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Lawfare for an excellent article, which the editor introduces with:

The United States rightly regards the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Palestinian organization Hamas as a terrorist group, but Hamas is also the de facto government of the Gaza Strip. There it juggles the responsibilities of governing Gaza and the associated need to mollify Israel with its self-image as an Islamic “resistance” movement. Making this difficult act even harder, Hamas faces a terrorism problem of its own. Gaza is home to a range of groups that see Hamas as too accommodating toward Israel and too lenient when it comes to imposing Islamic law at home. Beverley Milton-Edwards, a professor at Queen’s University Belfast and renowned expert on Hamas, assesses these Islamist rivals and the risks for Hamas of being too confrontational or too passive in dealing with them.

The author concludes:

Although the challenge Hamas faces from its Islamist foes at present is limited, it is unlikely that this Islamist opposition will wither away, and in the current regional climate, the criticism they lay at Hamas’s feet may be ignored at their peril. As with neighboring North Sinai, Gaza could eventually succumb to proliferating takfiri jihadist forces, further undermining the delicate security balance currently prevailing in that part of the Middle East region.

Link:http://www.lawfareblog.com/2014/05/t...islamist-foes/

Interesting interplay outside Gaza with Egypt too, which has its own problems in the Sinai.

[davidbfpo]

As the tension rises between Hamas in Gaza and Israel, with rockets fired into Israel and IDF missile strikes on 'militants' this review popped up via Twitter. There's also the murders in the West Bank and reprisals alongside the street rioting:

Given the current crisis, it is worth thinking through what a new Gaza war would look like based on evidence drawn from the 2008 war. In what follows then I conduct a type of thought experiment. I offer a summary of the Gaza War/Op. Cast Lead. I then provide some preliminary thoughts on the contours/outcome of a new IDF invasion into Gaza.

Link:http://zurilinetsky.wordpress.com/20...-to-repeat-it/

[davidbfpo]

A concise 2012 blog article by Professor John Schindler 'Gaza and the Utility of Force'. He starts with:

The recent winding down of the latest round of fighting over Gaza, the week of stand-off strikes which the Israelis have termed Operation Pillar of Defense, ought to raise questions for all Western militaries about what exactly force is for these days.

(It ends with) If Israel wants to find a happier fate it needs to think hard, and fast, about solutions to the Palestinian problem which do not center on the IDF.

Link:http://20committee.com/2012/11/23/ga...lity-of-force/