The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) seeks to invest the results of the recent military battle with Israel in ending the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip, but this does not seem easy in light of Israel’s intransigence and insistence on linking the reconstruction of the Strip to the return of 4 prisoners held by the movement.
Hamas is keeping 4 Israelis, including two soldiers who were captured during the war on Gaza in the summer of 2014, without disclosing their fate or health status, while the other two entered the Strip in unclear circumstances over the past years.
Hamas announced its victory in the latest military confrontation with Israel (between May 10 and 22 last), which ended with a ceasefire that observers describe as “fragile”. Observers also do not rule out the outbreak of a new military confrontation in light of the continuing tension.
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Statements made by Hamas President in Gaza Yahya Sinwar – the day before yesterday, Monday after his meeting with the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wencesland – raised concern among observers of the Palestinian issue, as Sinwar described the results of the meeting as “bad”, and warned Israel against continuing to impose the siege. on the sector.
And last Sunday, a well-informed Palestinian source revealed to Anatolia that the leadership of the “Palestinian resistance” decided to give Arab and international efforts an opportunity to “make achievements in the issue of the siege imposed on Gaza and end the suffering of its residents.”
scenarios
Political analysts are unanimously agreed that Hamas is determined to break the siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip since the summer of 2007, using various methods, if the mediators fail to achieve this.
Writer and political analyst Mustafa al-Sawaf does not rule out the outbreak of a new military escalation in the event the “mediators” fail to reach a settlement acceptable to the Palestinian factions, but he believes that “the current data in the Gaza Strip indicates that the resistance is determined to achieve what it wanted.”
He added that “the resistance gave the mediators an opportunity to play their role, but it seems that they did nothing, which puts us in front of scenarios, one of which may be a military escalation.”
Commenting on the Hamas leader in Gaza describing his meeting with the UN envoy as “bad”; Al-Sawaf said, “Sinwar’s statements confirm that the UN envoy came bearing the conditions of the occupation, which are trying to link the file of Gaza reconstruction to the file of the Israeli prisoners held by the resistance, so I think that the UN envoy left without achieving any progress.”
He continued, “The Palestinian factions will choose the most appropriate ways to respond to the blackmail of the occupation and the balloon equation is like a missile, and they will respond to the Israeli raids, and will not accept the imposition of new rules of engagement.”
And he indicated that “the option of returning to rough tools in the face of the occupation – such as incendiary balloons and others – is strongly present, and any Israeli military response to these popular means will be met by a response from the resistance.”
“What the resistance will do in the coming days is an advanced step, and it will be gradual, and the occupation knows that after that, it will be a different matter if it persists,” he said.
the siege
For his part, political analyst Hani Al-Akkad says that the stubborn Israeli position on lifting the siege on Gaza “makes the resistance in a difficult position, which could lead it to a new military confrontation.”
He added that “the messages between the Palestinian resistance and the occupation have not stopped since the end of the last aggression, and they are almost daily, in different forms through which they arrive.”
Al-Akkad pointed out that “these messages are normal after every round of fighting, especially since the agreement that took place is for a mutual ceasefire, without resolving many files.”
He pointed out that “Israel’s violation of the cease-fire, its bombing of Palestinian sites, its preoccupation with the people in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and its adoption of the balloon equation like a missile, also disturbs the resistance and changes the accounts for it.”
Al-Akkad went on to say that most of the messages of the resistance came from the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and this indicates the strength of what it wants to convey to Israel, and the messages of the resistance factions and Hamas – so far – are tactical messages, intended to threaten Israel and prevent it from imposing a new equation , as he put it.
A professor of political sciences at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Abeer Thabet, agrees with her predecessors that the situation may deteriorate into a new armed confrontation if the Israeli intransigence continues.
She added, “We may be facing a new confrontation, if the Israeli intransigence continues to achieve Palestinian demands and lift the siege on Gaza, and the mediators fail to achieve any breakthrough in this regard.” She believed that the continuation of the internal Palestinian division weakens the position of the resistance.
She added that international solidarity by a number of parties to abort any Palestinian effort; He also contributed to the failure of the political investment of what happened during the last battle.
She explained that the change of the Israeli government and the turmoil that preceded it were also among the important reasons that weakened the local and international political efforts aimed at achieving the equation of calm between the Strip and Israel.