Hamas- It is War

I am feeling particularly snippy right now. Not unlike so many of my brethren the disengagement has me feeling out of sorts.

I have written about it here, The Anguish of Disengagement, here and here. I find that the pictures of this are haunting. My grandparent's generation in the US is known as the Greatest Generation but in Europe many are known as survivors.

That means that I know the stories of many who lost everything to the Nazi scum. I have heard them tell stories about how their lives were upended and turned upside down. My friend PsychoToddler's mother is a survivor, her story is located here. If I am not mistaken he is all of three years older than myself. This is not that far away to me.

I offer that not to say that the gov't is acting like the Nazis did. I think that the citizens who are trying to equate the disengagement with the Holocaust demean the memory of those who were lost. It is not right, but it is fair to see the parallels and the anger caused by watching Jews roust other Jews from their homes. One of the purposes of Israel was to have a place where this did not happen.

But sometimes it is necessary to engage in a painful amputation for the health of the body, or so I had thought. But here is the rub and here is what frankly enrages me. There have been numerous proclamations by Hamas that show that they interpret this as an incentive to continue to engage in murder.

Hamas says "battle not over" as Gaza settlers quit

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Wednesday Israel's evacuation of Jewish settlements in Gaza was a first step towards the liberation of all occupied land through armed struggle.

Hamas's top official Khaled Meshaal said the Islamist group would not give up its weapons while Israel continued to occupy land Palestinians want for a state.

"Gaza is the first liberation, then comes the West Bank, then every inch of Palestinian land," Meshaal told reporters in Beirut. "We are at the beginning of the road and we have not and will not give up our weapons. The battle is not over."

Israeli troops began a forced evacuation on Wednesday of thousands of settlers enraged by their expulsion from the Gaza Strip after Israel's 38-year occupation.

The move is the culmination of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for the first removal of settlements from land Palestinians want for a state.

Palestinian militants claim the withdrawal as victory and Israel opponents decry it as a surrender to violence. Washington hopes it will prove a catalyst for renewed peacemaking.

For Meshaal, speaking in front of a poster reading "Today Gaza, Tomorrow Jerusalem", the evacuation is proof the Palestinians can only win their land and rights by force, not through talks.

Meshaal hailed the move a precedent that marked a reversal of fortunes for Palestinians waging a nearly five-year uprising and the eventual end of Israel's occupation of land it captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

"This is the first real Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory and the beginning of the dismantling of the Zionist settlement project," said Meshaal, speaking amid tight security in the stronghold of Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrilla group.

"We are seeing a precedent for withdrawal not by negotiation but through resistance ... We are seeing an important step towards complete liberation and regaining our rights ... the beginning of the end for the Zionist occupation."

"THE BEGINNING OF THE END"

Israel says the evacuation will end its occupation of Gaza, but Palestinians say that can only happen once they gain full control of borders and airspace.

Meshaal said Hamas reserved the right to attack should Israel keep control of Gaza border crossings, as Hizbollah has continued to hit Israeli troops in a disputed border area since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.

But Meshaal steered clear of restating Hamas's historic goal of creating an Islamic state that would encompass not only the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but what is now Israel.

"The Zionist plan has begun to retreat. The Palestinian liberation plan of resistance has begun to progress," said the politburo chief, based outside Palestinian territories."

This is the language of war and not of peace. This is not a call for dialogue but for arms and it steels my resolve. If they choose to bring war, if they choose to try and slaughter innocents, to murder indiscriminately than I want the hammer to come down upon them and I want it to come down hard.

I want them to see a people who will sit at the table and negotiate and a people whose will cannot be broken and is willing to do what it takes to make that clear. My fervent hope and prayer is that this is nothing more than political posturing, tough talk designed to try and advance their candidates in the coming election.

But I really don't believe that. I think that the war of attrition will continue and that makes me sad. If it please G-d I would be happy to be proven wrong.