What on God’s earth, you might be wondering, could provoke such a dramatic reaction? At the risk of revealing my inner nerd, let me confess that it was a newspaper article. Specifically, an editorial. More specifically, a piece in the very newspaper you are now reading, namely The Manila Times. An admirable institution, I hasten to add, with which I am honored to be associated.
But one, nonetheless, that occasionally publishes cringeworthy lines, some of which, I’m sure, stem from my own pen. But not this one: “Hamas ended up with the short end of the stick.” Good heavens, I’d have inquired once the donut was fully disgorged, does the author understand nothing of history and its consequences?
The editorial in question was headlined “Gaza peace plan losing momentum,” a sentiment with which few would disagree. Essentially, it outlined US President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, endorsed by the UN, to bring peace to that troubled region. And argued that the peace process has stalled because, among other things, unfair demands are being placed on that endearing group of terrorists called Hamas.
To which I have but one response: Hogwash!
For those unschooled in Gaza’s recent history, let me offer a quick review: Hamas, a radical jihadist terrorist organization, has been the chief obstacle to peace there since 2007. That’s just two years after Israel unilaterally withdrew from the territory, assuming the Gazans would finally fulfill their long-stated dream of creating an independent nation. Instead, Hamas—officially committed to Israel’s destruction—won a majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council and immediately seized control in a bloody coup. Then, instead of developing Gaza for the good of its people, used millions of dollars in international aid to construct a secret network of underground tunnels from which to attack Israel.
The culmination came on Oct. 7, 2023, when an army of vicious terrorists stormed the Jewish state, slaughtered 1,200 civilians including women and children, and seized 250 hostages. It was an unprovoked attack, to which Israel responded as any nation would: with an aggressive counterattack aimed at deposing Hamas. The result was a devastating two-year war.
Enter Donald Trump’s peace plan.
Phase one included an immediate ceasefire, Israel’s withdrawal to a pre-determined “yellow line,” and an exchange of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel—mostly convicted terrorists—for all the remaining hostages. Ah, but now comes phase two: the terrorist group’s disarmament and voluntary submission to a temporary stabilization force alongside a transitional civilian administration under international supervision.
And therein lies the rub: Hamas doesn’t want to give up its weapons or its stranglehold. In fact, it never has. Which became obvious the day after Israel’s withdrawal when the group began publicly executing any rivals who might have had other ideas.
“The battle is not over yet,” Khaled Mashal, head of Hamas abroad, told an Istanbul conference in a video address earlier this month. “The Palestinians will govern themselves and will make their own decisions. There will be no guardian, no mandate…The resistance and its weapons are the honor and glory of the Islamic nation…Today we can—or rather, we must—treat [Israel] as a pariah…This is our opportunity to…expel [Israel] from our homeland and from the international stage.”
All of which is completely consistent with Hamas’ past words and deeds. Which have demonstrated time and again that the group’s much-ballyhooed lip service to a “two-state solution” is farce: what it really wants is a single Palestinian state rising over Israel’s ashes.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial told it like it is. “So long as Hamas rules territory,” the paper declared, “peace is mere talk. There’s only the countdown to the next war, which again will likely fail to destroy Israel but bring ruin to Palestinians. Any Palestinian who tries to change that usually ends up dead.”
With all due respect to the Times’ editorial board, please listen and learn.
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David Haldane is an award-winning American journalist and author with homes in Southern California and Northern Mindanao. His latest book is Dark Skies: Tales of Turbulence in Paradise. This column appears weekly in The Manila Times.
