Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Adnan Abu Amer
-
There are common interests in a Gaza truce
Israelis, especially in military circles, are preparing to launch a new war on Gaza after several Palestinian groups decided to launch rockets into Israel. The Israeli army cannot otherwise break the rules of the game with Hamas and launch another war against Gaza without such an excuse. From an Israeli...
-
How Hamas is dealing with the Amnesty report
Since the end of the Israel’s offensive against the people of Gaza last summer, Hamas has spent a great deal of its energy on proving to human rights organisations and international law bodies that Israel has committed war crimes against the Palestinians. One of the most important reports supporting...
-
Hamas and the complementary roles of politicians and the military
With ever more visits by Arab and foreign envoys to Gaza to discuss the truce between Hamas and Israel in efforts to lift the siege, discussions within Hamas and what is said about the differences between politicians and the military have increased. Rumours about such differences of opinion abound...
-
Seeing regional alliances through Israel's eyes
One could possibly argue that the Arab world has experienced more dysfunctional situations, ambiguous alliances and contradictions in the past few years than in any other period in the region’s history, which makes it difficult for any decision-maker to draw out a well thought out plan that would take...
-
The shock of the Gaza war is still affecting Israel
Since the beginning of this month, Israeli media outlets have been publishing a day by day account of the Gaza war last summer, which mentions the Israeli army’s failures. The most serious admissions were those made on video by Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee member Ofer Shelah, and...
-
Hamas: Opportunities and risks in a volatile region
Since the beginning of March of this year, Hamas has conducted a series of political phone calls in various diplomatic directions. Head of the Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Meshaal met up with the Iranian Parliamentary Chairman Ali Larijani where the two men discussed the Palestinian issue and the siege...
-
Israeli sanctions against the PA will continue until after the elections
PA employees have not received their full salaries for the second month in a row after Israel froze $127 million in Palestinian tax revenues in response to the PA’s submission of a request to join the ICC. The Palestinians reacted angrily to Israel’s decision, and Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian senior...
-
Iran’s pressure on Meshaal unifies Hamas in support of him
The rapprochement between Hamas and Iran recently peaked as the two sides began their preparations for the visit of Khaled Meshaal to Tehran in late December 2014. Without warning, however, the planned visit experienced a setback when media outlets close to Hezbollah and Iran published press reports that contributed...
-
How Hamas views the new Saudi Monarchy
It was rather unprecedented when the Saudi national press agency published Hamas’s condolences to the Saudi monarchy over the loss of their monarch, the late King Abdullah. Meanwhile, in Doha, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal praised the Saudi monarchy for its continued support for the Palestinian cause; while Hamas representative...
-
The Buffer Zone in Rafah increases estrangement between Hamas and Egypt
While Hamas has had faith in the possibility of improving relations with Cairo, the border area between Rafah and Sinai has recently witnessed a number of successive developments on the ground at the hands of the Egyptian army. The buffer zone area on the border between Gaza and Egypt...
-
Attack on Gaza... An inventory
On the first day of its attack on Gaza, Israel announced a number of goals, the most important of which was to deal a harsh blow to Hamas, stop the rocket fire, hit the network of tunnels and restore calm to the population in southern Israel. However, almost a month...
-
Gaza prepares for expected Israeli aggression
In June, the uncertainty of the fate and whereabouts of the bodies of the kidnapped Israeli settlers led Israel to accuse two Hamas officials of being responsible for the kidnapping, namely: Marwan Al-Qawasmi and Amer Abu Aisha. Israel eventually found the bodies of the kidnapped settlers and this led...
-
Israel has to plan the war to end all war
The Middle East is in a state of constant tension, spreading from country to country. The cause is often Israel and its policies, including the main focus of the next confrontation; it will either initiate a conflict or push another party to act as the trigger. Israel is studying the...
-
Hamas and recognition: goals and cautions
The clampdown on Hamas continues: despite some clear sky here and there, the demands are the same; recognition of Israel as a Jewish state in exchange for recognition of the movement’s legitimacy. It must choose between staying in power by recognising Israel or abandoning its democratic mandate as a...
-
Herzliya Conference outlines Israeli concerns
This year’s Herzliya Conference in Israel was held amid the state’s fears of the rapid political changes in the region. This prompted the organisers to invite many Israeli officials and international figures to attend, including European prime ministers and senior officials in international economic institutions and organisations. Herzliya is considered...
-
Hamas needs to build a broader political future in Egypt
It is no secret that Hamas was happy for Dr. Mohammad Morsi to win the Egyptian presidential elections. The source of most of its regional strength lies in Cairo, allowing the Islamic Resistance Movement to live through a “honeymoon” period after the fall of the Mubarak regime, which was...
-
Why is Israel pursuing released prisoners in the West Bank?
If Israel could go back in time to October 2011, it wouldn’t have gone through with the exchange agreement with Hamas and released 1,000 of their detained senior members, returned 111 detainees to their homes in the West Bank (45 of which are in Jerusalem), and exiled 163 others...
-
The outcome of the Israeli threats against Gaza
150 days after Israel’s last war on the Gaza Strip, security tension has resurfaced without warning. It comes amid preoccupation with pressing regional issues beginning with the enflamed Syria and Lebanon as it heads toward an eruption. Matters will not end with Iran, which will have to deal with...
-
Gaza on the regional decision-makers' negotiating table
In light of political developments in Egypt and the international and regional support the coup has received, it has become clear that the United States’ current policy is to support the status quo. This imposes an economic and political isolation on the Gaza Strip which strips it of...
-
Is Israel's strategic position improving in the Arab world?
Nearly a year ago, I wrote a column discussing how many people considered Israel to be the biggest loser in the events of the Arab Spring. Have things now changed? Does Israel now have the biggest advantage? This type of introduction fills those who are opposed to the Arab...
-
The implications of Israeli exaggeration of resistance in Gaza
We have monitored Israeli media for a number of weeks and listened to the opinions of military leaders who considered the tranquillity on the borders of the Gaza Strip to be “deceiving.” They suggested that the discovery of a third tunnel in Ein reveals what Hamas is most preoccupied...
-
Gaza war commemoration reveals Israeli intelligence efforts
When Israel attacked and invaded the Gaza Strip exactly five years ago, its political and military forces realised that its success or failure relied mainly on the accuracy of the intelligence gathered by the Shabak security agency. They also knew that the use of such information is necessary during...
