Alexandra von Maltzan, who writes for All Things Beautiful, and who I consider my blogmother (she helped me understand blogging, gave me my first links, etc.), is back from a long holiday; she did not blog since May 2008. The recent outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas has inspired her like never before, however; she’s back with avengeance. 

She summarizes the situation quite perfectly as follows: “Has everyone conveniently forgotten that Hamas is genocidal? They are not interested in peace or diplomacy, they are simply interested in eradicating the Jews. Period. Hamas militants need the violent clashes. It’s what they do. It’s their day job, paid for through myriad and seedy channels by Iran, under the general auspice of ‘Holy War’. Hamas is an illegal terrorist organization, its purpose the destruction of Israel. Hamas men are Jihadists, all boys future supplies for the course; women, necessary to keep the cycle going.”

This is something no one should forget: Hamas is not a partner for peace. It is a partner for destruction. This does not mean that Israel should declare full scale war on all Palestinians, but it does mean that there is simply no use in talking to Hamas. Israel should reach out to the Palestinian people, but it and the rest of the world should never make the mistake to pretend that Hamas can be taken serious in negotiations. It cannot. 

Alexandra adds: “The late King of Jordan had no qualms about using his might to put down a Palestinian uprising during “Black September” in 1970. He ordered refugee camps to be bombed. Between 3,000 and 5,000 people died. The PLO then moved its headquarters to Lebanon. Arafat moved to Cairo and later to Tunis.

“Former Syrian President Hafis al-Assad, the father of Syria’s present ruler, pulled no punches in fighting insurgent members of the Muslim Brotherhood. He devastated the city of Hama in February 1982, killing between 10,000 and 30,000 civilians. No one accused him of “genocide” — and if someone had, al-Assad would have asked his critics not to meddle in the domestic affairs of his country.”

Although one could argue that Israel would not like to be compared to authoritarian, dictatorial regimes (such as that of al-Assad), Alexandra’s main point is an important one to make: the Palestinian people have been used by Arab leaders, but also ignored, attacked, and so on. If Hamas would do to Syria what it does to Israel, Hafis al-Assad’s son would immediately declare full scale war, wiping out not only Hamas but also every civilian standing in the way and quite some standing somewhere else entirely.

The average Arab truly is angry with Israel, but the Arab world’s leaders’ anger is fake and hypocritical. They care less about the Palestinians than Israel does; they see them as potential tools, but more than anything else a potential major headache to them and their rule.