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Aoun’s last ditch effort at making Gibran Bassil Lebanese president

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Move to make son-in-law the new president is entangled in the maritime talks with Israel

Gulf News
Published:  August 20, 2022 
URL: https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/aouns-last-ditch-effort-at-making-gibran-bassil-lebanese-president-1.89997458

 
Michel Aoun and Gebran Bassil. Aoun wants to secure the presidency for his son-in-law and political heir Bassil. But the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) lacks the 65-vote majority in parliament needed to secure his nomination.Image Credit: AFP file

Constitutional jurisprudence is in full gear in Beirut, as Lebanese legal experts are asked whether their octogenarian president, Michel Aoun, can stay in office beyond the expiration of his six-year term, which ends on October 31, 2022. His supporters insist that he can, based on an article in the Lebanese Constitution, which prevents the inauguration of a new president unless sworn-in before a full-fledge cabinet of ministers, one that has received a vote of confidence from parliament. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, tasked with creating his fourth cabinet last June, is yet to form one.

If no government is ready, then there won’t be a presidential election in October, meaning an automatic extension of Aoun’s term. That means that Aoun would get to stay at Baabda Palace for an indefinite period, they say.

This claim is facing a strong counter-argument, led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who was never happy with the Aoun era and wants to make sure that it ends on October 31. His initiative says that if no full-fledged cabinet is in place between now and then, then Prime Minister-designate Mikati would temporarily assume presidential powers, meaning a definite end to Aoun’s term and the temporary transfer of presidential powers from a Maronite Christian to a Lebanese Muslim.

Aoun needs to abort the [maritime] decree that has been sitting on his office desk for more than a year, waiting to be signed. Aoun will only change his position if he is given assurances for Bassil by the Americans.
–

Aoun has given the Lebanese public contradicting statements, insisting that he has no intention of staying in power beyond his presidential term but also saying that he won’t leave the country in a political vacuum. Those close to the ageing president confirm that he really doesn’t want to stay in power but is simply using the extension of his term as a pressure card to secure the presidency for his son-in-law and political heir Gibran Bassil, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).

That is his real goal, and ultimate objective.

Bassil, however, lacks the 65-vote majority in parliament needed to secure his nomination. Losing faith in any domestic breakthrough, Aoun is now turning to the United States, hoping to secure support of the Joe Biden Administration for Bassil’s presidential bid. That is easier said than done, due to US sanctions imposed on Bassil under former President Donald Trump back in November 2019.

The president seems to believe that he can now put that on the negotiating table, along with the political future of his son-in-law. He is using Lebanon’s maritime talks with Israel as a pretext, commenced under UN auspices, with US mediation, back in October 2020.

Aoun’s impossible conditions

Those talks were initiated based on official claims of disputed territorial waters, registered formally at the UN. Lebanon had fixed its disputed waters at 860 sq km, only to suddenly change that claim to 2,300 sq km — nearly tripling the area — at the orders of Aoun. Lebanon’s negotiating team questioned the sudden change, saying that it had no legal pretext. So did Speaker Berri, who had handled talks with the US since 2011.

Aoun had personally pushed for this amendment, in coordination with his allies in Hezbollah, forcing the cabinet of then-prime minister Hasan Diab to put it into law, which ought to have been sent to the UN as Lebanon’s new terms of reference for any future round of talks with Israel. The decree was signed by Diab and his defence minister Zena Akar and then sent to Aoun for ratification into a presidential decree.

It has been on his table ever since. He has neither signed the decree, and nor has he aborted it. Aoun is using this as his last card, waiting for the Americans to come knocking on his door, seeking his formal abandonment of the new disputed territory, in exchange for lifting sanctions on Bassil and supporting his bid for president.

The Hezbollah factor

The US envoy Amos Hochstein was in Beirut in early August, where he said that Lebanese authorities had promised him to drop demands for controlling parts of the Karish gas field, (which is an Israeli reservoir), in exchange for full control of the Qana gas field in Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This is the position of the Mikati cabinet, but not of Hezbollah or of Iran. With no Hezbollah support, it will not pass in any future round of negotiations, regardless of what the president does or says.

Hezbollah hopes to drown the talks altogether, insisting on the expanded territorial waters that it knows Israel would never accept. It knows that Karish is an Israeli field that no Israeli leader can abandon.

Aoun, however, is promising the US that he can talk Hezbollah into a compromise. But in return, expects a hefty reward from the Americans. To date, Hezbollah’s demands have been clear: no gas field swap with Israel, no shared fields, and no direct talks, while specifically insisting on 2,300 sq km of disputed waters, rather than 860 sq km.

 
Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, tasked with creating his fourth cabinet last June, is yet to form one.Image Credit: Reuters

It is highly doubtful that Aoun has enough leverage to convince Hezbollah into abandoning its conditions. The two sides reached a tactic alliance in February 2006, where in exchange for Aoun’s support for Hezbollah arms, they would support making him president. Both have lived up to their sides of the agreement, and now, with Aoun’s term coming to an end, the Iran-backed party feels that it is under no obligation to accommodate Aoun any further.

It is an open secret that the party does not support Bassil for president, preferring instead their long-time ally Suleiman Frangieh of the Marada Movement.

When the maritime talks began in 2020, Aoun tried to impose himself on the negotiations, but came against a brick wall from Hezbollah. He called expanding the negotiating team by seeking to insert staffers from Baabda Palace, which was flatly rejected by Hezbollah. So was a suggestion to attach politicians and ex-foreign ministers to the Lebanese delegation, which would automatically make Bassil a member given that he is a former foreign minister.

Nasrallah is simply uninterested in giving the talks any legitimacy, wanting them to come to collapse. He has recently gone a step further, giving Israel a deadline by the end of September to stop potential drilling at Karish, threatening war if they don’t. On July 2, drones were flown over Karish, sent either by Iran or Hezbollah, bringing the two sides to a near confrontation. Those drones were “only the beginning,” warned Nasrallah. But that was on July 13, after the JCPOA talks had collapsed earlier this summer. Now with them back on the table in full gear, it is highly unlikely that Iran would push Hezbollah into any military confrontation with Israel, certainly not if the Vienna talks bear fruit.

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In his most recent comments, Hochstein said that he was “optimistic” about reaching a deal, based on promises he had heard from President Aoun on August 1. Mikati wants the deal to materialise, desperate for a success story to give legitimacy to his premiership. Aoun too wants them to bear fruit, but only if his conditions are met.

The Americans are trying to meet him halfway, promising that Israel would not start drilling before the talks are concluded. The US envoy added that there was also no intention of sharing disputed territory with Israel, a statement that hopes to soothe Hezbollah worries. Aoun replied that Lebanon’s position was now all waters up to Line 23 (slightly north of the Karish field), including the entire Qana field.

That, however, is still not enough for a deal to pass with Hezbollah.

For this deal to pass, Lebanon needs to formally abandon its claim to Karish, thus returning to the original 860 sq km of disputed waters. For that to happen, Aoun needs to abort the decree that has been sitting on his office desk for more than a year, waiting to be signed. Aoun will only change his position if he is given assurances for Bassil by the Americans — which to date, don’t seem forthcoming.

— Sami Moubayed is a Syrian historian and former Carnegie scholar. He is also author of Under the Black Flag: At the frontier of the New Jihad.

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Turkish support for Erdoğan’s governing party edges up in July – poll

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Ahval – Aug 05 2022
Last Updated On: Aug 05 2022

Public backing for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) rose in July.
Support for the AKP among Turkish voters increased to 33.8 percent last month from 32.8 percent in June, according to the results of an opinion poll held by Ankara-based research company Metropoll.
The stronger backing for Erdoğan’s AKP jarred with a decline in the president’s approval rating in July, Metropoll data showed. Some 41.5 percent of voters backed him last month compared with 44.2 percent in June.
Erdoğan has clashed with Turkey’s Western allies over the NATO membership applications of Sweden and Finland, accusing the two countries of harbouring terrorists and blocking their candidacies. His government secured pledges from them to extradite terror suspects at a NATO summit in late June in what many analysts said was a domestic political win ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections that must be held by June next year. But Erdoğan has been suffering from falling support due to economic troubles at home — inflation hit an annual 79.6 percent in July.
The popularity of the opposition nationalist Good Party (IP) fell to 14.5 percent last month from 16.6 percent in June. Support for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) rose to 24.9 percent from 23.6 percent.
The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the AKP’s partner in parliament, saw its support increase to 6 percent from 5.3 percent. The MHP needs 7 percent of the vote to enter parliament in an election, according to legislation passed in March that lowered the threshold from 10 percent. Backing for the pro-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (HDP) fell to 11.4 percent from 12.5 percent, Metropoll said.
Metropoll interviewed 2,091 people in 28 provinces of Turkey by telephone between July 11 and July 16. It said the survey carried a margin of error of 2.1 percentage points.

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‘Shameful’ delay in Cabinet formation causing Lebanon’s decay: Top cleric

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www.StraitsTimes.com – 8-7-22

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros al-Rai wields significant influence in Lebanon. PHOTO: REUTERS

BEIRUT (REUTERS) – Lebanon’s top Christian cleric said on Sunday (Aug 7) it is “shameful” that politicians have yet to form a new Cabinet nearly three months after elections, blaming their chronic feuding for the country’s “decay”.
Many Lebanese see the long-entrenched governing elite as hamstrung by corruption and dysfunction, and blame it for pushing Lebanon into a financial and economic meltdown that has left eight in 10 people poor.
In his weekly sermon, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros al-Rai drew an unfavourable comparison between Lebanon’s progress in securing a maritime boundary deal with long-time foe Israel and the paralysis in domestic politics.

“Isn’t it shameful that the authorities make efforts to reach an agreement with Israel on maritime borders but refrain from forming a government? Has it become easier for them to agree with Israel than to agree on a government among the Lebanese?” he said.
“Isn’t the split in political power in Lebanon, and of the parties… the basis of the (country’s) political, economy, financial and social decay?” he added.
Mr Rai wields significant influence in Lebanon, where the political system is based on power-sharing among various Muslim and Christian sects, with the presidency reserved for a Maronite Catholic.
In calling out politicians over the crisis, Mr Rai appeared to be trying to break the deadlock.
The Maronite Patriarch said “ugly campaigns in the media” appeared aimed at delaying government formation and the election of a new president later on this year.
Mr Rai was alluding to an escalating dispute between President Michel Aoun and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who was renominated as premier after parliamentary elections in May and has been struggling to form a new Cabinet.
Mr Mikati presented a speedy draft Cabinet line-up to Mr Aoun in June and has stuck to it, although Mr Aoun has suggested a different make-up.
Last week, Mr Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement issued a wave of statements, accusing Mr Mikati of delaying Cabinet formation and even of accumulating wealth through corruption.
Mr Mikati’s office responded by saying Mr Aoun’s party was out of touch with reality in Lebanon.

 

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EU resumes funding for six Palestinian NGOs branded as terrorists by Israel

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Issued on: 07/08/2022 – 12:02 – rfi.fr 

Shawan Jabarin, director of the Palestinian Al-Haq human rights group, which has become eligible again for EU funding. AP – Majdi Mohammed

Text by:Rami Almeghari in Gaza

The European Union has decided to unfreeze funds allocated to six Palestinian NGOs, which the Israeli security establishment last year accused of having links with ‘terrorist’ Palestinian organisations.

A majority of EU member states voted in favour of the decision. Hungary voted against it.
Despite the vote, the EU Commission in Brussels did not announce that the funds would be unfrozen.
An official statement encouraged Palestinian NGOs to continue to count on the EU for funding of their own programs.
For more than six months, the EU, which is the largest donor for the Palestinian people, withheld a sum of 215 million euros, after Hungarian EU commissioner, Oliver Varhelyi, attempted to garner support for a condition obliging the Palestinian Authority to remove “anti-Israel content” from school textbooks.
Since last October, Israel has campaigned against six Palestinian NGOs including the Addameer Association for Human Rights, the Palestinian Women’s Union, the Agricultural Committees Union, the Besan Center for Research and Development, Al-Haq for human rights, and the International Movement for the Defense of Palestine’s Children.
Israel had accused these organisations of having ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist Palestinian group that has been involved in resistance against the Israeli occupation for several decades.
Widespread EU support for Palestinians
Among the EU member nations voting for the resumption of funding were France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Spain and Sweden.
A statement by those EU member states said that they would resume their working relations with the six Palestinian non-governmental organisations.
They also explained that they had not received any information from Israel to justify the allegations against those particular NGOs.
The statement noted that the existence of a strong, safe and free civil society in Palestine would reinforce democratic values and eventually lead to a two-state solution between Palestinians and Israelis.
In response to the EU’s decision, media spokesperson for the Union of Agricultural Committees in Gaza, Saad Ziyada, told RFI that the organisation was delighted.
“UAWC welcomes the recent statement issued by nine European countries in support of the falsely labelled Palestinian civil organisations by the Israeli government in an attempt to undermine their work and their legitimacy.
“Although it was much delayed, the statement is considered a positive step towards protecting the work of Palestinian human rights organisations.
“We call for further practical steps from these countries to demand the Israeli government to reverse the absurd designation and continue to protect and defend Palestinian CSOs.”

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Five Things to Know About Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Escalation in Gaza

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ajc.org/news/ – August 6, 2022

After several days of terror alerts, Israel announced that it launched Operation Breaking Dawn on Aug. 5 as part of an effort to reduce threats posed by the Iranian-armed and funded Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in the Gaza Strip, which had been planning a significant terror attack against the Jewish state.
Several Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in the northern Gaza Strip were struck. Among the terrorists killed in the strike were Taysir al-Jabari, a top Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander who was in charge of the group’s rocket arsenal and primary coordinator with Hamas.
According to Israel Defense Forces (IDF), al-Jabari had been planning significant attacks against Israel, including the use of anti-tank missiles. The IDF said that he had also directed hundreds of rocket attacks on Israel during the May 2021 conflict in Gaza.
The hostilities erupted as Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah was in Iran meeting with several senior officials in Tehran, including an advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi.
According to the IDF, since the latest conflict began, Palestinian Islamic Jihad has fired nearly 400 rockets. The military said that the Iron Dome has incepted 95.9 percent of projectiles fired toward populated areas. Magen David Adom says 21 Israelis have been hospitalized.
Here are five things to know about Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the escalating situation in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad rejects any peaceful solution

Founded in the early 1980s as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is the second-largest terrorist group in the Gaza Strip after Hamas. The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Israel.
Like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad is dedicated to the eradication of Israel and the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state. According to its “Manifesto of the Islamic Jihad in Palestine,” which was uncovered by U.S. investigators amid the arrest of the group’s North American head Sami al-Arian in 2003, the group rejects any “peaceful solution to the Palestinian cause” and affirms “the Jihad solution and the martyrdom style as the only choice for liberation.”
The group has a military arm, the al-Quds Brigades, which fires rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel and carries out terrorist attacks. During the Second Intifada, Palestinian Islamic Jihad “specialized” in carrying out suicide attacks in Israeli territory. Among the deadliest attacks it has carried out included a bus bombing on Israel’s Megiddo Junction in June 2002 that killed 17 and wounded 43; an August 2003 suicide bombing in Jerusalem that killed 21 and injured over 100; an October 2003 suicide bombing of the Maxim restaurant in Haifa that killed 21; and an April 2006 suicide bombing on a schwarma restaurant in Tel Aviv that killed 11 and injured 70.

A terror proxy of Iran

Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s primary sponsor is Iran, which has provided millions of dollars in funding, as well as training and weapons. It also maintains close ties with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon and Hamas, the largest terror group in the Gaza Strip.
While Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s co-founders – Fathi al-Shaqaqi and Abdelaziz Odeh – were originally inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood, they later became disillusioned with the Islamist group and turned toward Iran. The terror group adopted Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s principles of jihad and the idea that Palestine must be liberated through armed struggle. This identification with Iran’s Islamic Revolution led Iran to support it militarily and economically. This included bonuses for every terrorist attack against Israel and training of Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives, along with Hamas and Hezbollah, have been trained by Iran to use Fajr-5 and SA-7 missiles and carry out suicide bombings.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader al-Nakalah met with Ali Akbar Velayati, the top advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, in Iran ahead of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. In his meeting, Velayati stressed close ties, saying, “We have a close and serious relationship with the Islamic Jihad movement and the Palestinian resistance.”

Rockets and terror tunnels

While Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has been the main threat to Israel, especially when it comes to rocket fire, Palestinian Islamic Jihad has also been responsible for rocket fire on the Jewish state.
During the May 2021 conflict in Gaza, Palestinian terror groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, fired over 4,000 rockets at Israel.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad has also been involved in attacking Israeli forces along the Gaza perimeter fence as well as developing a network of tunnels to attack Israel.
In April, Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters showed off their terror tunnel network to international media, highlighting that they have both defensive and offensive tunnel systems.
According to a Palestinian Islamic Jihad official, the offensive tunnels are “used for taking Israeli soldiers captive, repelling Israeli ground offensives and carrying out various field operations.”
Israel has long expressed concern that these tunnels could be used to capture soldiers or civilians that could be used as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges or carry out attacks inside Israel proper. Israel has invested millions in boosting security around the Gaza Strip, including building an underground steel wall to prevent tunnels from reaching Israeli territory.

Expanding Terror Hotbed in West Bank

In recent months, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, along with other terror groups, have increased their presence and activities in the northern West Bank, particularly in Nablus and Jenin. Terrorists with Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, al-Quds Brigades, have stepped up attacks on Israeli settlers and Israel Defense Forces soldiers and installations. This comes as the Palestinian Authority, which coordinates security with Israel, has increasingly lost control of the security situation in that region amid popular discontent with the P.A. and its leader Mahmoud Abbas by the Palestinian public.
Jenin has been seen as a hotbed of terrorist activity, with several terrorists carrying out attacks against Israel from the area earlier this year.
As a result of this increasing terror threat, Israel arrested Bassem Saadi, a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader in the West Bank, on Aug. 1, which further escalated tensions with the terror group as it threatened retaliation against Israel, including the launch of an anti-tank missile attack, leading to a preemptive Israeli strike on Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in the northern Gaza Strip on Aug. 5.

“Islamic Jihad wants to destroy the State of Israel and kill innocent Israelis”

In his first address since the launch of Operation Breaking Down on Aug. 5, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that his government has “zero-tolerance” for any attempted attacks from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory.
The Israeli leader said that “Terrorist organizations will not set the agenda in the area adjacent to Gaza, we will not tolerate any threat against our civilians.”
Further, Lapid said that “Islamic Jihad is an Iranian proxy that wants to destroy the State of Israel and kill innocent Israelis. The head of Islamic Jihad is in Tehran as we speak.”
“We will do whatever it takes to defend our people.”
Similarly, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi said during a visit to Israel’s Southern Command that the military has two main goals.
“One is to prevent all attacks, and two, to critically attack the Islamic Jihad organization, here, in Judea and Samaria, and all other sectors,” Kochavi said.
“We will not allow any organization in any arena to harm the sovereignty of the State of Israel,” he added.

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Egypt parliament slams foreign reports about death of Alexandria detainee

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Gamal Essam El-Din , Thursday 11 Aug 2022 – english.ahram.org.eg

The Egyptian parliament’s Human Rights Committee slammed on Thursday foreign reports on the sudden death of a man detained by police in Alexandria, saying the reports are “unbalanced and politicised.”
 

 
A file photo of the Egyptian parliament. Ahram File Photo

 
 

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The statement said that politicised foreign reports often deliberately ignore the steps being taken by the Egyptian government to support human rights from a comprehensive approach.
“Not only do these [government] efforts aim to improve the treatment of prisoners in police stations, but also seek to improve their living conditions,” said the statement.
“The prosecution’s efforts in this respect reflect the state’s policy of transparency about human rights conditions in Egypt, “said the statement.
Egypt’s Ministry of Interior denied in a statement on 2 August that a citizen was tortured to death in Alexandria’s Al-Montazah police station.
“The fake reports about the torture incident were propagated by the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organisation,” said the statement, adding that “the citizen, alongside with two others, were arrested on 20 July upon the prosecution’s request on the charge of trafficking in drugs.”
“The citizen, a tuk tuk driver, felt pain on 27 July and was taken to Abu Qir hospital, where he suddenly died,” said the interior ministry’s statement, adding that “the citizen was a drug addict and prosecution authorities are still investigating his sudden death in Abu Qir hospital.”
The Egyptian parliament’s Human Rights Committee said “flawed and politicised reports ignore that Egypt is currently implementing a new human rights strategy that focuses on improving living conditions in Egyptian prisons and police stations.”
“Part of this strategy is to rehabilitate prisons and qualify inmates to live a useful life after the end of their punishment period,” said the statement.
The statement also strongly criticised interviews conducted with George Ishak, a member of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), with some foreign channels in violation of the rules adopted by the Council in investigating claims of torture.
The committee’s statement called on the media and civil society organisations to not be misled by outlawed and terrorist organisations spreading claims and misleading reports that aim to push citizens lose confidence in security and prosecution authorities.
“We also would like to emphasise that the Egyptian parliament’s Human Rights Committee is sparing no effort in supervising human rights in Egypt, particularly in terms of paying regular visits to prison cells and police stations to review conditions of prisoners and inmates and make sure that policemen and authorities observe their human rights,” the statement concluded.

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Egyptian parliament approves comprehensive cabinet reshuffle

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www.windobi.com – August 13, 2022 by 

 

 

Today, Saturday morning, in its plenary session, Egypt’s parliament approved a comprehensive cabinet reshuffle that includes 13 ministerial portfolios, the first amendment the country has seen in nearly three years.
The changes include the portfolios of military production, irrigation, health, higher education, immigration, tourism, antiquities, commerce, industry, civil aviation, manpower, culture, local development and the public sector.

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Analysis: Palestinian Islamic Jihad, even more extreme than Hamas

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Ariel Levin-Waldman
August 07, 2022 at 02:25 AM

i24NEWS reporter

Attia Muhammed/Flash90Members of the Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Palestine Islamic Jihad, take part in a military parade, in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on June 24, 2022.

We ‘don’t agree with Hamas’s idea of a long ceasefire with Israel,’ group’s former leader says

Considered more radical and extremist than even Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) has been fighting Israel almost from the moment it was spawned from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party in 1981.
Its charter calls for the total annihilation of Israel, and it rejects any political or peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, an idea sometimes floated in an effort to halt the violence, if even for a while, is anathema to the PIJ.

Former PIJ Leader Ramadan Shalah said in 2009 that while the PIJ and Hamas shared “the same Islamic identity,” they differed tactically.
“I don’t agree with Hamas’s idea of a long ceasefire with Israel, because Israel will only use the time to make things worse,” he declared.
This obduracy has put the PIJ at odds with Hamas, notably in 2019 after PIJ leader Baha Abu Al Ata was eliminated and the PIJ launched attacks on Israel even though Hamas didn’t want escalation.
Unlike Hamas, but like Hezbollah in Lebanon, PIJ is very much an Iranian proxy. Tehran supplies it with funding and weapons, notably Iranian-made missiles and advanced armed drones that Gaza militants cannot manufacture locally. The PIJ leadership is also in direct and regular contact with Iranian leaders.
Although primarily Gaza-based, the PIJ is also making inroads in the West Bank, its members regularly confronting the Israeli army during the latter’s almost-nightly search-and-arrest raids.
It was the arrest last week of PIJ West Bank head Bassam al-Saadi and his son-in-law which sparked the current tensions, as the PIJ vowed revenge, and Israel raised its alert level in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip, and closed Gaza-area roads to civilian vehicles.
According to the army, at the start of Operation “Breaking Dawn,” the PIJ arsenal included around 5,500 rockets and missiles. While most are short or medium range, with a limit of up to 28 miles, the group also has several long-range systems, with ranges of up to 50 miles, which could hit Tel Aviv and its northern suburbs, or even Jerusalem.
To this can be added the formidable rocket arsenal of Hamas, (around 6,000 missiles, some with ranges of up to 125 miles) should it decide to join the fighting

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Will Hamas Distance Itself from Confrontation with Israel?

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Sunday, 7 August, 2022 – 10:30 – www.aswasat.com

A fire near Sderot settlement caused by rockets fired from Gaza on Saturday, August 6, 2022. (Reuters)

Ramallah – Asharq Al-Awsat

Hamas movement, which has been ruling Gaza since 2007, has left the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) alone in confronting Israel’s attacks on the enclave.
This is not the first time that Hamas distances itself from such a confrontation, a tactic that Israel succeeded in imposing on the Strip twice, the first in 2019 and the second in the current ongoing war.
A flare-up with the PIJ came in 2019, following Israel’s killing of the commander in al-Quds Brigades, Baha Abu al-Ata. Hamas did not join the fray in that conflict.
Al-Quds Brigades is the armed wing of the group.
The Israeli army announced then that it was not targeting Hamas, urging the group not to take sides.
Ahead of Israel’s war on the PIJ, Hamas and Egypt pressured the group to avoid any military escalation.
Both sides called on the PIJ not to be triggered by Israel’s misleading narrative, in which it accused the Islamic Jihad of seeking revenge following the humiliating arrest of its senior leader, Bassam al-Saadi, in the West Bank last week.
Tel Aviv later launched a sudden attack killing several PIJ officials.
While Israel seems to have embarrassed the mediators, including Hamas, it was keen not to provoke it to ensure it remains on the sidelines for reasons related to power.
There is a significant difference between the PIJ and Hamas, which enjoys greater influence and acquires more military equipment, number of fighters, and developed arms.
However, will Hamas remain on the sidelines? It is still early to decide. Political Analyst Talal Awkal said the movement can not distance itself any longer.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Palestine seems to be following a specific tactic in its aggression, which has been recently launched.
“The factions decided they will not respond all together by using force.” Awkal explained, adding that they believe it will be a long war of attrition and that even the PIJ still hasn’t used its basic power.
“I think we are facing a gradual use of force and a response that expands to include the participation of the rest of the factions.”
He warned of the moral and political consequences of Hamas’ decision to remain distant and leave the PIJ alone in the confrontation with Israel.
“Last year, the resistance’s rhetoric was different, unified and loud and called for uniting efforts,” Awkal stressed, noting that there is no guarantee that the battle will remain against the Islamic Jihad only and within the enclave’s borders.
Al-Quds Brigades issued a statement on Saturday saying that as part of the Unity of Battlefields operation, it launched an attack, along with the National Resistance Brigades, the Mujahideen Brigades and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, targeting five Israeli settlements by salvo of rockets.
This statement could be aimed at pressuring Hamas to participate with the rest of the factions in the fight against Israel or showing that the factions are gradually taking part in the battle.
Israel is aware that Hamas’ participation will be the decisive factor that will determine the nature and duration of the battle.

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Hezbollah chief says organization stands with Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Gaza factions

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Liad Osmo|
Published: 08.06.22, 23:37 – YNetnews.com

 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that his organization stand with the Palestinians factions in Gaza.
Speaking in a televised address, Nasrallah said the “resistance,” will have the upper hand.
“I am telling the enemy not to hold a mistaken view of Lebanon,” the leader of the Iran-backed group said. “Events in Gaza do not affect us and we are stronger than ever,” he said.

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