'Die Hamas profitiert'

Über die gestrigen blutigen Ereignisse am Grenzzaun zu Gaza, bei denen tausende Palästinenser verletzt und über 55 getötet wurden, schreibt Avi Issacharoff, der den Tag als einen  Monday of "the most bewilderingly dissonant days" in der Geschichte Israels und Palästinas bezeichnet:

The timing of the events was not coincidental, of course, and is tied to the opposing Israeli and Palestinian narratives: The US embassy’s relocation was set for May 14, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment. On May 15 every year Palestinians mark what they see as the Nakba, or “catastrophe” of the establishment of the Jewish state.

Thus a day of festivities for Israelis became doubly tragic for the dozens of Gazan families of those killed, as well as those of the gravely wounded, whose lives will change forever.

At the end of such a day of jubilation on one side and grief on the other, it seems the rift between the two peoples has only been torn wider, and hatred has only grown.

Auch wenn allen Beobachtern klar, ist, dass die Hamas hinter der Eskalation steckt, scheint sie, so Issacharoff weiter, doch kein Interesse zu haben, die Lage außer Kontrolle geraten zu lassen, so sehr sie von den Bildern und vor allem auch Toten augenblicklich politisch profitiert:

In the late afternoon Monday, in at least one protest tent near the border, Hamas operatives in civilian clothing walked around and instructed protesters: “Go home.”

It was an unexpected plot twist, coming shortly after the Israeli military struck several Hamas targets in the Strip, and at a time when it was already clear that dozens of Palestinians had been killed and more than 2,000 wounded.

And in the evening one of Hamas’s Gaza leaders, Khalil al-Hayya, held a press conference in which he spoke in seemingly pacific tones, once again describing the riots as “a nonviolent march.”

It was a somewhat surprising statement from an organization that has always espoused “military resistance” — meaning terror and rocket attacks against Israel — particularly after more than 50 people had been killed by IDF fire. In fact, many in Gaza had believed ahead of Monday’s events that if the death toll were high, Hamas would renew its rocket fire against Israel.

Shortly after al-Hayya spoke, the committee organizing the Gaza protests called for a continuation of the weekly demonstrations, with a particular focus on June 5 — Naksa Day, when Arabs mark the defeat in the 1967 Six Day War.

This response in Gaza to the worst single day of bloodshed since the 2014 war in the territory shows that despite the massive toll, Hamas is in no hurry to escalate the situation.

Hamas of 2018 has learned to use a vocabulary not dissimilar to that of the Palestinian Authority: “nonviolent resistance,” “popular struggle,” etc. And it is largely supportive of continuing the supposedly “nonviolent” marches as long as they are under control, apparently uninterested in being dragged into all-out war. (...)

At a time when events were clearly headed toward escalation — with Israel intensifying its airstrikes and more and more Palestinians showing willingness to rush toward the fence and sacrifice their lives — it appeared that someone in Hamas’s leadership did some course correction, giving the order to stop the demonstrations, at least for the day, and to lower the intensity a bit.