Palestinians: A State Within a State?

by Khaled Abu Toameh • October 4, 2017 at 5:00 am

The "reconciliation" accord they reached in Cairo paves the way for creating a state within a state in the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian-sponsored deal does not require Hamas to dismantle its security forces and armed wing, Ezaddin Al-Qassam. Nor does the agreement require Hamas to lay down its weapons or stop amassing weapons and preparing for war.
This is a very comfortable situation for Hamas, which has effectively been absolved of any responsibility toward the civilian population. Hamas could not have hoped for a better deal. Like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Gaza Strip will be permitted to maintain its own security force, while Abbas's government oversees civilian affairs and pays salaries to civil servants.
Offloading this responsibility frees up Hamas to fortify its military capabilities. Hamas is not being asked to recognize Israel's right to exist or accept any peace process.

Hezbollah and Hamas must be laughing their heads off as, under weak and impotent governments, they see their power grow. Left: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images). Right: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (Muhammad Alostaz/PPM via Getty Images).

The latest "reconciliation" deal between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas brings the Palestinians closer to creating a state-within-a-state in the Gaza Strip. The PA and Hamas will now have two separate mini-states of their own in the Gaza Strip.

This arrangement is similar to the situation in Lebanon, where Hezbollah maintains a separate mini-state of its own there.

In state-like fashion, Hezbollah in Lebanon has its own army and territory. This situation, which has gone on for decades, has enraged many Lebanese politicians.

Earlier this year, when dozens of masked Hezbollah militiamen launched a nighttime raid to arrest drug dealers in Beirut, Lebanese politicians accused their government of giving up its authority in favor of Hezbollah's "tiny state." The militiamen belonged to Hezbollah's "social security department," a police force that operates independently of the Lebanese security authorities.

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More Jihadists in the West - Why?

by Majid Rafizadeh • October 4, 2017 at 4:00 am

Western countries are much more lenient toward the jihadists and Islamists. In the Middle East, there are severe consequences if they preach against their own political system. They are permitted to grow only if they teach antagonism towards the West, Christianity, Judaism, and Western values.
In Iran, when the Islamist party of Ayatollah Khomeini came to power, it did not embrace all other Islamist and jihadist groups. It supported and promoted only those jihadist groups that agreed to focus on promoting two major issues: anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. Other Islamist groups, which turned against the regime itself, were immediately removed from society even though they were practicing Khomeini's version of radical Islam.
The issue becomes: Where do you draw the line? When a radical imam in the US or Europe is publicly inciting anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-Western hate, should they be allowed to continue? When many radical Muslim centers in the West preach jihad and terrorism, should you still let them enjoy freedom of speech and assembly? Their preaching is the major factor behind the increasing terrorism we have currently spreading throughout the West. If we allow them to continue, the vicious trend will only ratchet up exponentially.
One of the strategies of these groups is to tap into communities where young people are facing problems -- financial difficulties, family hardship, maybe psychological issues. The imams superficially embrace them as fathers, as if embracing his children. Then, they create explanations for why these young people are faced with such problems. They teach them that the problem lies in their society, their government, their own people, even their own families.

Sayyid Qutb, a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950's and 60's who became an inspiration for Al Qaeda and ISIS, wrote his inflammatory book, The America that I Have Seen, after he came to the US. He studied at Colorado State College for Education in Greeley, among other American schools. (Greeley image source: Bbean32/Wikimedia Commons)

Growing up under Sharia law and in Islamist schools, we were taught that the highest level a person can reach is to be a mujahid. A mujahid is a person that God truly loves. Once, I dared to ask what exactly the term mujahid meant. The imam said that a true mujahid is a person who does not just die defensively for protecting Allah's values. A true mujahid, one who is most loved by God, is a person who acts offensively, including through violence, when he or she sees our religious values are being violated in any part of the world. That person is a true holy warrior, he explained.

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