Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Israeli, Palestinian Captives Freed
Yesterday was about as good a day in the Middle East as one gets. The Israelis held hostage in Gaza were released as were hundreds of Palestinians held by the Israelis. Going from captivity to freedom is an unadulterated good thing. The celebrations were appropriately joyous and carefree. Today, the work of re-integrating those freed human beings into society begins. Also, the work of implementing the rest of the peace framework starts. It is off to a rocky start, and it is bad enough that this journal stands by its assertion that yesterday was the high point for everyone. This Potemkin Peace deal is going to fall apart.
The first thing to realize is that Hamas has not handed over its weapons and is, instead, using them to maintain its control over Gaza. The good people over at Fox News (the MAGA network) have reported, "Videos circulating on social media appear to show the executions, which an Israeli military official told Fox News Digital are, 'Hamas's deliberate attempt to show the killing publicly and reestablish its rule by terrorizing civilians'."
Also, Fox has stated Mukhaimar Abu Saada, a political analyst from Gaza, told Fox News Digital "disarming Hamas will not be easy, as clashes between the group and local militias have already erupted. 'This won't happen quickly,' he said. 'We're talking about an ideological organization. Even last night, people were killed in clashes between Hamas and local militias. It's not a rosy road'."
It is hard to see Hamas suddenly handing its weapons over under these circumstances. Even it it were possible to disarm the organization, the question of who will fill the power vacuum remains open. Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of the so-called Popular Forces, an Israel-backed militia based in the south of Gaza and Hossam al-Astal, the leader of a new militia aligned with Israel, may be the new leaders, but they have to beat Hamas first. What this journal worries about is the temptation for the Israeli Defense Force to intervene if one of their militias takes a beating.
To be fair to all involved, Gaza needed some kind of security force or the area faced the kind of disaster George W. Bush created in Iraq when he abolished the Iraqi army. If not Hamas, then who? That fact that almost anyone would be an improvement is not sufficient argument to remove the guns from the hands of Hamas. That said, Hamas is going to be able to force its way into any future Palestinian government if things stay as they are.
Meanwhile, the Israelis are already claiming Hamas has failed to meet its obligations under the first phase of the deal. While all the living hostages are home, most of the dead hostages are still not back in Israel. The Times of Israel said, "Israel on Monday received caskets holding what Hamas said were the bodies of four slain hostages from Gaza, as it accused Hamas of failing to stand by the commitments it agreed to under the ceasefire by not releasing all the bodies it was holding."
The paper added, "The terror group had told mediators days ago that it did not know where some of the bodies of the 28 slain hostages were located. Israel was aware of this when it signed the agreement, which demanded Hamas release all the captives, living and dead, within 72 hours of the IDF's initial withdrawal from Gaza."
It will not take much for the Israeli government to decide the deal has not been implemented and so it is not bound by it. After all, they got their living hostages back, so a return to violence carries little negative impact.
One would like to be wrong, dramatically and completely wrong. The people deserve better. Yet, experience suggests that this is a pause, not a peace.
© Copyright 2025 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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