United Voices, StopSB1360.org - Manal Fakhoury

I'm shocked, I'm speechless, I'm upset and I've just had enough.

I've had enough of the madness coming out of Tallahassee. I've had enough of their dirty politics. But all that could not have prepared us for what just happened in the Florida Senate. As Senators get ready to debate and vote on SB1360, the Senate is swamped with anti-Islam hate-filled booklets, flyers and posters.

We've been sounding the alarms, mobilizing, rallying and lobbying people in Florida against SB1360. It's sponsor Senator Alan Hays, has said over and over that the intended purpose of his bill is to protect American and Florida laws from "Foreign" laws.  We've repeatedly pointed out that his legislation is a version of David Yerushalmi's model legislation that's designed to target Muslims and Islamic practices.

Now that his legislation, SB1360, has been sent to the Senate floor and will be voted on in the next two days, WHAT DOES SENATOR HAYS DO? 

According to the Miami Herald, Senator Hays' office has flooded the Senate with a booklet titled “Shari'ah Law: Radical Islam's threat to the U.S. Constitution.”He said his intent is to educate people on Islam and Sharia Law, a Koran-based code followed in some Islamic countries.

HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET? There is more:

But that's not all Florida Senators found in their mailboxes and in hallways today.  Accompanying Senator Hays' booklet, are VERY DISTURBING AND HATEFUL posters. One poster urges the reader to "SAVE US FROM THE PERSECUTION OF ISLAM" and claims that "ISLAM.. IS THE ENEMY OF THE UNITED STATES" that's "DETERMINED TO OVERTHROW OUR STATE AND COUNTRY."

Another poster, scares the reader with "Under Shariah law, non-Muslims are subject to banishment, amputation and death." Click here to see the posters for yourself.

NOW HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

Our supporters (you) have generated over 10,000 emails to the Florida Senate over the last 2 days. Now we need to generate hundreds of phone calls. Can I count on you to make at least 5 phone calls today?

Below are the names and phone numbers of the The Florida Senate Leadership. Traditionally, lawmakers will follow their party leadership when it comes to voting on issues. If the leadership opposes SB1360, the other Senators will also oppose it.  The Democratic leadership has already indicated that they oppose the bill. Which means we need to put pressure on the Republican leadership starting with the Senate President Mike Haridopolos, Senator Bennett, Senator Gardiner and Senator Benacquisto.  We've included their phone numbers below.

ACT NOW, DON'T DELAY

1. CALL THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP IN THE SENATE, TELL THEM TO OPPOSE SB1360.

2. IF YOU LIVE IN FLORIDA, CALL YOUR STATE SENATOR. CLICK HERE TO FIND YOUR SENATOR.

3. TELL WHOEVER ANSWERS THE PHONE THAT YOU WANT THE SENATOR TO OPPOSE AND VOTE NO ON SB1360.
4. IF YOU GET VOICEMAIL, LEAVE A MESSAGE. URGING THEM TO VOTE NO ON SB1360.
5. IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SENT AN EMAIL TO THE FL SENATE, CLICK HERE TO DO SO NOW.

Mike Haridopolos President (850) 487-5229 POSITION UKNOWN

Mike Bennett President Pro Tempore (850) 487-5078 SUPPORTS SB1360

Andy Gardiner Majority (Republican) Leader (850) 487-5047 SUPPORTS SB1360

Lizbeth Benacquisto Deputy Majority (Republican) Leader (850) 487-5356 SUPPORTS SB1360

Evelyn J. Lynn Conference Chair (850) 487-5033 POSITION UNKOWN

Nan H. Rich Minority (Democratic) Leader (850) 487-5103 AGAINST SB1360

Arthenia L. Joyner Minority (Democratic) Leader Pro Tempore (850) 487-5059 AGAINST SB1360

MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Sincerely,

Manal Fakhoury
United Voices

StopSB1360.org

P.S. Regardless of where you live, we need your financial support to continue this political fight. CAN YOU MAKE A DONATION OF $50, $100 or $250 in order to mobilize more people, grow this campaign and defeat this law in Florida?

Pakistan: Shia Genocide - Spreading From Karachi to Kohistan

On February 28, 2012, armed men, disguised in Pakistani army uniforms in the Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, blocked a convoy of two buses and a van that was on its way back to Gilgit Baltistan from a religious pilgrimage of the holy sites in Iran. Reportedly, the passengers on gun point were forced to show their ID’s.

The selected men and women were then dismounted off the vehicles, lined up and shot at point blank range. Eighteen of them (including two women) died on spot while several others were injured. Those killed had one thing common; their faith. They all belonged to the Shiite sect of the religion Islam.

Timeline

The faith based killings of the Shiites in Pakistan is not the first of its nature. Back in the 1990s, doctors and engineers of the mentioned faith were systematically targeted. Eighty seven Shiite doctors are reported to have been killed in these target killings until now.

With time the centre of these faiths based killings have moved from South Punjab to Parachinar (KPK) and Balochistan where the Shiite Hazara tribe is notably at the receiving end.

At least twelve Shi'ite Hazara community members were gunned down in Pakistan's southern city of Quetta. Image by RFE/RL. Copyright Demotix (4th October 2011)

Here is the horrific timeline of the past one year that portrays a very bloody picture:

April 6, 2011 - 5 killed in Hazar Gunji, Balochistan

May 6, 2011 - Several people were killed in Hazara graveyard in a firing incident (Western Bypass Quetta)

May 18, 2011 - 6 people killed in an attack on a vehicle again in Hazar Gunji

July 29, 2011 - Several pilgrims killed when gunmen attacked a bus in Sohrab Goth, Quetta

August 30, 2011- 11 killed in a powerful blast outside Quetta mosque after Eid ul Fitr prayers

September 20, 2011 – In Mastung, 30 pilgrims were killed in an attack (similar to the one in Kohistan) on a bus going to Iran

October 4, 2011 – Baluchistan, 13 people were killed in a bus attack near western bypass

December 31, 2011 - Karachi, popular Shia activist Askari Raza was murdered along with his nephew

January 17, 2012- Khanpur South Punjab, bomb attack on a religious procession (Chehlum) killing 18 mourners

January 25-30, 2012 - Karachi, Eight incidents of sectarian violence and militants attacks took place in Pakistan’s economic hub that claimed 11 lives in systematic target killings.

February 18, 2012 - Parachinar, 41 people killed in a suicide attack after Friday prayers

February 19, 2012 - Muzaffar Garh, Popular Shia Scholar and School Principal Hafiz Saqlain Naqvi was attacked in a firing incident, who later died from his wounds.

A massive funeral procession for slain Shi'ite leader, Askari Raza. Image by Syed Yasir Kazmi. Copyright Demotix (1st January 2012)

Blogger Suleman Akhtar in his post found these killings no different from historic tragedy of Holocaust:

Last time it happened they called it the Holocaust. The Nazis did not annihilate the Jews for what they had done or for what they had not done for that matter. They exterminated millions of Jewish men, women and children for what they were – the Jews.

Changing political course

For the past ten years Pakistan has been a centre of religious militancy and extremism. Banned sectarian outfits like Sipah e Sahaba and Lashkar e Jhangvi that were allowed proliferate turned against their masters and this has resulted in the spree of suicide attacks all over Pakistan.

Religious and right wing parties called these suicide attacks a reaction to drone attacks. But the post-Osama Bin Laden scenario has altered the course of this new wave of terrorism. The example of such a change can be observed in the new developing alliance of 41 religious parties under the new platform of Defenders of Pakistan Council (DPC), led by former ISI chief and Taliban supporterHameed Gul, General Zia’s prodigy and former minister Ijaz Ul Haq, Pakistani media’s favorite politician Sheikh Rasheed, and religious leader Sami ul Haq who is known for his close association with Afghan Taliban and banned sectarian outfits like Sipah e Sahaba, Laskhar e Jhangvi and Jamat u Dawa.

It is quite astonishing how the mentioned parties and people in DPC have changed their view point on the Pakistani army or country’s sovereignty overnight. They are holding rallies all over Pakistan apparently in support of the army. The money they are spending on their campaign is in the millions. What perks, privileges and liberty are they receiving in return, remains a frightening thought.

Protest rally of Shi'ite Muslims in Karachi, against Shia target killing in Pakistan. Image by Majid Hussein, copyright Demotix (20/06/2010).

Failure of the law enforcers and judiciary

The continuous occurrence of faith based killings speaks volumes of the performance of the country's law enforcing agencies and the government. Those terrorists who ever get caught are easily acquitted thanks to loopholes in the judicial system. Murtaza Haider explains this fact in his post:

During 1990 and 2009, the anti-terrorism courts (ATC) in Punjab alone failed to convict the accused in 74 per cent of the 311 cases in which a final verdict was delivered. Most of the accused were acquitted not because they were able to demonstrate and/or substantiate their innocence, but because the judicial system in Pakistan is not capable of handling terrorism cases where prosecution’s case rests on circumstantial and forensic evidence, and not on the eyewitness account…. In 36 per cent of the cases, the courts acquitted the accused because they were not personally named in the FIR. This is an absurd requirement in terrorism cases.

No constructive measures by the parliament has been taken to control the growing faith based terrorism. Whether they are scared of the fallout from the religious parties or they are busy elsewhere is quite obvious to their voters.

Similarly, the Chief Justice of Pakistan who is very proactive to take Suo Moto notices (on petty issues like Slap Gate and the actress caught at an airport with a liquor bottle incident) has completely ignored the killings of Shiites and other minorities. No measure whatsoever is taken by the so called vibrant judiciary to reform the processes in the terrorist courts. One reason could be that minority killings in media are not as popular as Memo gate.

Suffocating silence of mainstream media and civil society

Dr. Muhammad Taqi writes about the attitude of media towards the killing of Shiites and other minorities:

Within minutes of many obscure happenings the traditional and contemporary media are alight with the particulars of those events — some more trivial than a pinprick on the skin of history. But when it comes to the slaughter of the minorities in Pakistan there is a certain lag time in publishing even sketchy details… Hardly an analysis or a talk show ever focuses on such mass atrocities. It is not clear why every such massacre becomes a Leontius moment for the media. Do they find the freshly executed corpses disgusting to look at or is it something else?

In the last few years Pakistani social media has come up as an alternate medium to change public opinions and pressurize corporations to take measures in public interest. The latest example is theMaya Khan campaign. But how many campaigns were run to highlight an issue as serious as this? None.

Suleman Akhtar explains:

As the state has miserably failed to protect its citizens, the intelligentsia and journalists – with few exceptions – share the proportionate blame for misrepresenting the spate of violence against Shias, that has come to be a systematic phenomenon. Deafening silence and misrepresentation of these inhumane killings have added to the miseries of the Shia community. …The identity of victims is usually missed out on purpose making it more difficult for common viewers / readers to comprehend the situation which is getting wretched with each passing day.

Pakistani Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest against the Shiite Muslims target killing. Image by Syed Yasir Kazmi. Copyright Demotix (23 September 2011)

The seed of resentment

A similar bitterness on the mysterious disappearance and killings has been raised on various forums by the people of Baluchistan. Lack of empathy and constructive measures has turned that wound into a cancer. Are we happily fostering these tumors and ignoring the inevitable repercussions? Time will tell. Till then I leave you with these conclusive words:

It is up to the Pakistani minorities — the Shia, Ahmediyya, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs — whether they want to continue to ask the enablers of genocide to intercede on their behalf or raise the issue on every international forum possible. The Baloch have a taken a lead in this for they know that those committing genocide and their handlers are repeat offenders and would not stop on their own. (Dr Muhammad Taqi)

And,

The problem at hand is not that who are the killers wreaking havoc across the country, but at first the question that our collective consciousness as a nation still ought to ask and reflect upon is that who are the people getting killed. Once this question, which has been buried under the debris of lies and misconceptions, is addressed and well conceived, the truth immersed in the mist will start to emerge. Once we comprehend why a community persecuted and mass murdered during WWII is remembered as the Jews and not as Germans, Polish or Netherlanders despite being the residents of all these countries, we will start conceptualizing the reality. (Suleman Akhtar)

 http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/03/03/pakistan-shia-genocide-spreading-from-karachi-to-kohistan/

Proposed First Bill to the Senate by Lee Whitnum, U.S. Senate candidate in Connecticut

Prosecute Zionist Violence Bill.

I present this bill for legislation for the federal prosecution of American citizens in Israel known as Israeli "Settlers" who commit acts of violence during the forceful taking of the homes, farms, and land of the indigenous Christians and Muslims (a.k.a Palestinians). Israel has failed to prosecute Americans who kill and commit acts of violence. Any American caught killing or maiming in the Occupied Territories and Jerusalem will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of US federal law. The actions of the Settlers are morally wrong, and constitute a regional instigation which makes all Americans unsafe.
For more than 60 years the establishment of Israeli Settlements on occupied Christian and Muslim land has continued, and this land grab - and accompanying violence - violates customary international law and humanitarian law. Article 49(b) of the Fourth Geneva Convention specifically prohibits the transfer of the Occupying Power’s civilian population into the territory it occupies.

Israel has not kept its legal obligation to prosecute criminal acts committed by Settlers on the indigenous cultures. These violent acts by Settlers have resulted in more than 115 acts of murder and more than 1,200 incidents of maiming of members of the Christian and Muslim indigenous underclass. These criminal acts have, by and large, gone un-prosecuted by the Israeli justice system, despite clear videotaped evidence of the violence. Since most of the Settlers are Americans, this U.S. citizen can no longer sit by and allow such injustice to continue. While seven U.S. presidents have condemned the settlements and demanded that they stop, AIPAC’s powerful control of most elected officials squashes any attempt at peace or truth in the apparently endless Zionist hunger for more American money and illegally acquired land. The politics of delay - as well as disinfomation spread by Israel and AIPAC's powerful American PR firms - have made Israel richer and larger, and, unfortunately, have made the non-Jewish underclass poorer. The number of the wounded, traumatized, and dead is staggering and tragic.
Israel has a duty under customary international law, specifically Article 43 of the Hague Regulations, to ensure public order and safety in the territory it occupies. This is simply not the case, despite the existence of videotaped evidence of some settlers' alleged crimes. The excuse given is national security. Some state prosecutors use their discretion in employing national security claims to drop all charges against accused Americans. This has happened again and again in Israel. The prosecution’s decision to completely circumvent a criminal trial without exploring other procedural legal avenues demonstrates Israel’s obvious unwillingness to bring settlers to justice for violent actions against the non-Jewish indigenous culture.
There are numerous discriminatory elements of the Israeli justice system, particularly the courts’ inconsistent treatment in balancing Israel‘s right to keep information privileged with an individual‘s right to a fair trial. Under international human rights law, Israel is obliged (according to Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) to ensure that all persons are entitled, without discrimination on any ground, to equal protection before the law. But, Israel has failed miserably and measurably in this regard.

By contrast, human rights groups have consistently documented cases where Israeli courts have allowed prosecutions of Palestinian defendants to proceed on the basis of secret evidence, thereby denying their right to due process. Israel‘s practice of administrative detention in the OPT has meant that Palestinians are routinely arrested and held without charge or prosecuted on the basis of secret evidence that is not disclosed to them. This double standard of justice based on religion is deplorable to this American. The detainees have no legal recourse within the Israeli legal system to challenge the evidence against them.

And, things are getting worse. In March 2009, three Israeli human rights organizations withdrew their petition to challenge the constitutionality of an Israeli criminal procedure order from the Supreme Court. The petition was withdrawn in protest over the Supreme Court‘s decision to allow the General Security Service to present information pertaining to the constitutionality of the law exclusively to the Court in the absence of the petitioners, thereby denying the petitioners the right to examine and question the evidence presented. This marked a troubling trend within the Israeli justice system, namely the system‘s failure to provide Palestinians with an effective means of legal recourse to challenge the system to which they are subject, thereby denying equal protection under the law.
Such failure to hold settlers to account creates an atmosphere of impunity, which encourages increased settler violence and widespread anti-American sentiment since many of the settlers are Americans. Senators, colleagues: we can no longer tolerate this situation. To vote against this is to condone murder based on religion - not the killing during a war but the slaughter of members of the underclass because they were born into a religion that is not deemed acceptable by the American Zionists and the Israeli government. To further compound the injustice is the fact that the violence is usually committed during the forcible acquisition of another’s property. It is a violation of human rights and basic rules of dignity and respect.
While a state may forcibly take the land of an owner by using the concept of Eminent Domain, the law requires the state to compensate that person at a fair market value. Given the vast amount of money given to the Israeli government every year from the United States, the land could have been purchased over and over again. Instead, Israel chooses and condones violence against its non-Jewish underclass and we, the United States, rewards them for it with more money and arms - and an electorate that constantly tries to outdo one another in their pro-Israel fervor.
Every American, every human being, should be outraged. I’m addressing this body today to pass this bill which would establish and guarantee prosecution to any American committing violence. Therefore, my esteemed colleagues, we must establish a means for ensuring that our citizens acting as "settlers" are not committing violence while taking the land or home of another human without paying for it. An American who causes the death or maiming of a Palestinian Christian or Muslim will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
No doubt AIPAC lobbyists will be out in full force fighting against this bill. Our esteemed Richard Clark, former counterterrorism czar, once said of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "...achieve peace there and hatred for America would evaporate overnight." Zionism is at the heart of the problem. A vote against this bill states that you put Netanyahu and your own political campaigns before the safety of the American public. And, it also states that you condone murder and racial prejudice.

The settlers are Zionists. Zionists believe they are entitled by God to the land, groves and homes of the non-Jewish underclass. They quote the bible as the reference that "God gave them the land". The size of the alleged God-given land has never been determined and Israel's borders still remain fuzzy. As politicians, we obviously cannot subpoena God in order to determine if the land was indeed given to one human over another based on ethnicity. Therefore, my esteemed colleagues, we are forced to rely on the laws of Man, and in every culture in the world, except in Israel, if you take something that doesn’t belong to you it is stealing. This bill does not broach the property issue - which is indeed an injustice. Instead, this bill concentrates specifically on prosecuting those involved in violence - the physical assault - threat of life and limb to any human being of any religion by an American citizen. To main and kill in the act of stealing a family’s home or farm is a horrifying injustice. If this great governing body prefers to take a biblical interpretation of right and wrong I remind you that three of Moses' Ten Commandments are being violated: Thou shall not steal; Thou shall not kill; and Thou shall not covet thy neighbors goods. While the settlers feel they can pick and choose which biblical laws given from God to Moses they wish to respect, this mainstream American does not agree with this selective interpretation. Thank you, Senators. I shall await your vote.

CASE IN POINT: As I write this on Oct 29, 2011, it is the harvest in Palestine. Today, Palestinian farming families in the Israeli-occupied West Bank village of Howard will attempt to access their land for the annual olive harvest.

Since Monday, October 13, 2011 at least four Palestinian civilians have been injured by Israeli settlers while harvesting olives, including a 12-year-old boy. Israeli soldiers waiting on a hill near Howard opened fire after notifying residents via text message that anyone who goes to harvest almonds will be shot.
Palestinians across the West Bank have been attacked by the Israeli military, harassed by settlers, and prevented from accessing their land for the harvest, even after securing approval from Israeli authorities. According to human rights organizations, Israeli settlers have destroyed 7,500 Palestinian olive trees this season alone, causing an estimated $500,000 in damages.

These aren't isolated incidents. They are part of Israel's illegal military occupation and system of apartheid that is supported by U.S. policies, financed by American taxpayers, and used to systematically deprive Palestinians of their rights.

In this "religious" group, the Settlers, it's a badge of honor to bestow misery on other humans. Their message to the indigenous cultures of the Occupied Territories is: "We want your land, we don't want to pay for it, we will maim you, starve you and kill you and make life as miserable as possible so that you will voluntarily leave and so that we can take your property for free. We will do this with the full support of the Israeli government while soldiers stand around and support US American settlers."

By-and-large, the settlers' actions are unknown to most Americans, but their actions are viewed by the rest of the world, and the U.S. is less safe because the behavior of some of the 500,000 religious zealots squatting overseas on land that does not belong to them. Once again, this bill ensures that any American "Settler" caught maiming or killing will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of United States federal law. As Americans, we can no longer allow the misguided extremist religious interpretation and the racially motivated violence by these extremists that make all Americans unsafe.

Pay Attention and Act

Can you believe these Tallahassee lawmakers?  Last week we rallied hundreds of supporters to the State Capitol in Tallahassee to oppose the "anti-foreign law" bill or SB1360.  On the same day, a Senate Subcommittee was meeting to discuss and vote on the proposed law. To our shock, the committee, denied our delegates the right to speak.

They're so arrogant, they didn’t even bother to listen to what we had to say about this bill that, if passed, will take away our religious freedom.  They actually spent more time laughing at themselves trying to pronounce our names than focusing on hearing why we don’t want this bill to pass.  Without discussion, debate or input, the committee took less than a minute to vote and pass the bill. Just watch the video below to see for yourself.

The Florida House version of the bill has already passed, the Senate version or SB1360 will go to a floor vote this week, UNLESS YOU URGE YOUR SENATOR TO OPPOSE IT, click here to act.

Please join me and other supporters that are fighting to uphold the Constitution and defend our communities.   Now’s our time to show these lawmakers that we're hundreds of thousands strong state-wide and we WILL use our collective resources to see that this bill never sees the light of day.  Let's remind them that they took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not violate it. Let's advise them that SB1360 was never intended to protect American law from the threats of "foreign" (shariah) law, this bill is intended to marginalize and target the Muslim community.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!  If you are living in Florida, MAKE SURE YOU CLICK HERE TO SEND A LETTER TO YOUR SENATOR URGING THEM TO OPPOSE SB1360. It takes LESS THAN 30 SECONDS to sign the letter, which will also include a complaint to the Senate President about the despicable behavior and misconduct shown by Senate subcommittee members to the Muslims that opposed the bill at that meeting.  It is equally important to CALL YOUR FLORIDA STATE SENATOR ON MONDAY and make your voice heard.

NOW IS THE TIME! WE CANNOT AFFORD TO SIT BY AND BE HOPEFUL.  YOUR INACTION COULD COST OTHER MUSLIMS AND MINORITIES THEIR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM!

EVEN IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE FLORIDA, we urge you to send a quick note to the Florida Senate President and Chair of the Budget Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice, expressing your concern about the misconduct of the senators who refused our right against SB1360. CLICK HERE TO SEND THEM AN EMAIL, It takes less than 30 seconds.

Regardless of where you live, we need your financial support to continue this political fight. CAN YOU MAKE A DONATION OF $50, $100 or $250 in order to mobilize more people, grow this campaign and defeat this law in Florida?

Finally, to have a real fighting chance, we need more people to get involved, speak out, send emails and make phone calls. Please help us secure 25 signatures by forwarding this email to all your friends and relatives urging them to also send letters and take action via our new designated campaign page http://stopsb1360.org.

Sincerely,

Muna Al-Aseer
StopSB1360.org
United Voices for America

FYI

http://thevoiceofacitizen.blogspot.com/2012/02/introductions-preston-henry-andrew.html

Hamas of contradictions

The growing split that has been emerging within the leadership of Hamas has exploded into a bitter public feud. It was prompted an agreement reached last week in Qatar between the head of Hamas’ political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas. According to the deal, Abbas would take on the additional role of prime minister until elections are held later this year.
 
Since the beginning of the Arab uprisings, the divergence of interests between Hamas’ leadership in Gaza and its leadership abroad has been steadily intensifying. External leaders, Meshaal in particular, have come under increasing pressure to adapt to regional transformations, particularly the growing sectarian split in the Middle East.
 
It has become impossible for Hamas to remain friendly with Sunni Arab governments and Islamist movements while being simultaneously allied to Syria and Iran. The days in which the mythology of an “axis of resistance” could rationalize a Sunni Islamist movement being part of an Iranian-led—essentially Shia—alliance are long gone. Hamas leaders proved unable to side with Bashar al-Assad while their colleagues in the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood are a key component in the uprising against his regime. No Hamas official remains in the movement’s Damascus headquarters.
 
The external Hamas leadership has a branding and identity crisis, and needs desperately to find new patrons and headquarters, and a new international political and strategic profile. Hence Meshaal has been intensively courting Qatar, Jordan and Egypt, among others, seeking alternative sources of support and a new regional orientation.
 
The Gaza leadership does not share much of this crisis. Their rule is effectively unchallenged, and they continue to draw on various sources of income. From their perspective, there is no immediate need for a major reorientation. They argue that sooner rather than later their fellow Islamists will gain unchallenged power in Egypt and other key Arab states, and that it makes no sense to compromise with Abbas or anyone else at this stage. This is a gamble the external leadership cannot afford.

Many Gaza leaders clearly think the external leadership is making momentous decisions for its own purposes, but at their political expense. Resentment has boiled over. Already, last year a Hamas hardliner in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahhar, was disciplined for insisting that the primary leadership of Hamas was the one in Gaza. That proved to be a foretaste of the current crisis.

 
The “Change and Reform” bloc in Gaza, which includes Zahhar and the de facto prime minister, Ismail Haniyyeh, immediately reacted to the agreement with Abbas by issuing a blistering “legal memorandum.” The document laid out detailed and categorical objections to the accord, declaring it illegal. Zahhar, speaking on behalf of many and openly attacking Meshaal, said that “no one in the organization had been consulted,” and described the deal as “a mistake” which “could not be implemented” and “a real crisis.”
 
Meanwhile, Haniyyeh visited several Gulf states, and more importantly Iran, to shore up Iranian support, despite the dispute over the Assad regime. If the Gaza leadership is to mount an effective pushback against this new initiative, which enjoys Arab Gulf backing, it is going to require significant support from Iran. The Iranians might have incentives to continue to fund Hamas in Gaza to try to sabotage the Arab-led Palestinian reconciliation agreement, and to retain Hamas as a potential chit in the face of a possible Israeli or American attack on its nuclear facilities.
 
How the crisis in Hamas develops depends on several factors. A close ally of Meshaal, Ahmed Youssef, has implied that Qatar promised strong financial backing in return for the agreement. If that is delivered, especially if it is augmented by aid from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, it will require a great deal of Iranian and other leverage for the Gaza-based leaders to prevail.
 
The position of the Hamas paramilitary Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades will also be crucial. Its leaders, Ahmed Jabari and Marwan Issa, have traditionally deferred to the leadership of the political bureau, and reportedly urged Meshaal not to step down as its chief. But they have also expressed dismay at some of Meshaal’s recent comments regarding the tactical value of nonviolent resistance.
 
The power struggle in Hamas reflects regional rivalries and strikingly divergent interests that have developed in the context of the Arab uprisings. But a complete split in the movement is highly improbable, and one side is going to prevail.
 
Whether the agreement with Abbas is implemented or not, Hamas will only go as far as it absolutely must to adjust to new realities. But relying on states like Qatar, Egypt and Jordan will necessitate very different behavior than being a client of Syria and Iran. And Hamas leaders counting on the Arab Spring turning into an “Islamic Awakening” that fulfills their ideological fantasies are spending more time reading coffee grounds than the emerging regional order.


http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=364757