Obama administration gets it wrong on Hamas
The recent call by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque might inflame an already volatile situation around the unity government, which the United States should refuse to recognize.
The chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is playing with fire. Not two days had passed since the reconciliation government with Hamas was formed, when on June 4, Abbas called on Muslims around the world to take practical steps to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The two haphazard and hasty steps taken by the Palestinian Authority (PA) can be compared to crossing a deep chasm on a slender, electrified wire. When you are riding on a tiger’s back, you know how to get on the tiger, but it’s not at all certain you'll know how to get off.
Hamas, the PA chair's partner in the new government, is a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel. On June 14, 2007, this very organization seized power in the Gaza Strip in a violent coup that left many Fatah members running for their lives in terror. They fled to the Erez border crossing and pleaded to be allowed to enter Israel so they wouldn’t be thrown off the roofs of Gaza’s tallest buildings. It should be noted, by the way, that Israel was not indifferent to their pleas and saved many lives.
