By Prof. Rasheen Bappu Courtesy Ceylon Today

US Congressman Dr. Ron Paul of R-Texas, 14th District Vitoria, Freeport in his speech said Israel helped create Hamas to destabilise Arafat who was very powerful at the time. Ron Paul explained the hypocritical approach of the US and Israel regarding the support of Hamas, much like they did for ISIS.

But there is something bitterly ironic in Israel’s support for Fatah against Hamas and it should be a lesson to  everywhere that meddles in other States’ affairs. In the past, Israel supported Hamas against Fatah. Indeed, in the 1970s and 80s, Israel played a not insignificant role in encouraging Hamas emergence in the belief that such an Islamist group might help rupture support for the mass nationalist movement of Fatah. Twenty years later, Israel has switched sides, hoping that it can encourage Fatah to see off Hamas. It wants moderate” Palestinians to take on the extremist” Palestinians it helped create. Like America and Britain before it, both of whom have supported and armed Islamist movements in the Middle East in attempts to undermine secular nationalist parties—Israel is learning the hard way that it is one thing to let radical Islamists off the leash but quite another thing to rein them back in again. If you make monsters, you shouldn’t be surprised if they come back to bite you.”

Hamas is a Creation of Mossad”

Hassane Zerouky, reported in   on 23 March 2004; Thanks to Mossad, Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks”, Hamas was allowed to reinforce its presence in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, Arafat’s Fatah Movement for National Liberation as well as the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal form of repression and intimidation.

Let us not forget that it was Israel, which in fact created Hamas. According to Zeev Sternell, historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel thought that it was a smart ploy to push the Islamists against the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO)”.

Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Islamist movement in Palestine, returning from Cairo in the seventies, established an Islamic Charity Association. Prime Minister Golda Meir, saw this as an opportunity to counterbalance the rise of Arafat’s Fatah movement.

The Islamic Associations and the University: Supported and encouraged by the Israeli Military Authority”

According to the Israeli weekly Koteret Rashit (October 1987), The Islamic associations as well as the university had been supported and encouraged by the Israeli military authority” in charge of the (civilian) administration of the West Bank and Gaza. They [the Islamic associations and the university] were authorised to receive money payments from abroad.”

The Islamists set up orphanages and health clinics, as well as a network of schools, and workshops which created employment for women as well as a system of financial aid to the poor. And in 1978, they created an Islamic University” in Gaza. The military authority was convinced that these activities would weaken both the PLO and the leftist organisations in Gaza.” At the end of 1992, there were six hundred mosques in Gaza. Thanks to Israel’s Intelligence Agency Mossad (Israel’s Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks), the Islamists were allowed to reinforce their presence in the occupied territories. Meanwhile, the members of Fatah (Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine) and the Palestinian Left were subjected to the most brutal form of repression.

In 1984, Ahmed Yassin was arrested and condemned to twelve years in prison, after the discovery of a hidden arms cache. But one year later, he was set free and resumed his activities. And when the Intifada (‘Uprising’) began, in October 1987, which took the Islamists by surprise, Sheik Yassin responded by creating Hamas (The Islamic Resistance Movement): God is our beginning, the Prophet our model, the Koran our Constitution”, proclaims article 7 of the Charter of the Organisation.

Ahmed Yassin was in prison when the Oslo Accords (Declaration of Principles on Interim Self) were signed in September 1993. The Hamas had rejected Oslo outright. But at that time, 70% of Palestinians had condemned the attacks on Israeli civilians. Yassin did everything in his power to undermine the Oslo Accords. Even prior to Prime Minister Rabin’s death, he had the support of the Israeli. The latter was very reluctant to implement the ‘Peace Agreement’.

The Hamas then launched a carefully timed campaign of attacks against civilians, one day before the meeting between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, regarding the formal recognition of Israel by the National Palestinian Council. These events were largely instrumental in the formation of a Right-wing Israel following the May 1996 Elections.

Quite unexpectedly, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered Sheik Ahmed Yassin to be released from prison (on humanitarian grounds”) where he was serving a life sentence. Meanwhile, Netanyahu, together with President Bill Clinton, was putting pressure on Arafat to control the Hamas. In fact, Netanyahu knew that he could rely, once more, on the Islamists to sabotage the Oslo Accords. Worse still: after having expelled Yassin to Jordan, Prime Minister Netanyahu allowed him to return to Gaza, where he was welcomed triumphantly as a hero in October 1997.

Arafat was helpless in the face of these events. Moreover, because he had supported Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War (while the Hamas had cautiously abstained from taking sides), the Gulf States decided to cut off their financing of the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, between February and April 1998, Sheik Ahmad Yassin was able to raise several hundred million dollars, from those same countries. The Budget of Hamas was said to be greater than that of the Palestinian Authority. These new sources of funding enabled the Islamists to effectively pursue their various charitable activities. It is estimated that one Palestinian out of three is the recipient of financial aid from the Hamas. And in this regard, Israel has done nothing to curb the inflow of money into the occupied territories.

The Hamas had built its strength through its various acts of sabotage of the peace process, in a way which was compatible with the interests of the Israeli. In turn, the latter sought in a number of ways, to prevent the application of the Oslo Accords. In other words, Hamas was fulfilling the functions for which it was originally created: to prevent the creation of a Palestinian State. And in this regard, Hamas and Ariel Sharon, see eye to eye; they are exactly on the same wavelength.

How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam”

According to Robert Dreyfuss, author of the enlightening and exhaustive book Devil’s Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam”, political Islamism grew exponentially as Israel took control of the Palestinian territories: Starting in 1967, the Israelis began to encourage or allow the Islamists in the Gaza and West Bank areas, among the Palestinian exiled population, to flourish.

The statistics are really quite staggering. In Gaza, for instance, between 1967 and 1987, when Hamas was founded, the number of mosques tripled from 200 to 600. And a lot of that comes with money flowing from outside Gaza, from wealthy conservative Islamists in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. But, of course, none of this could have happened without the Israelis casting an approving eye upon it.

It is from these Islamist roots that Hamas emerged in 1987. Dreyfuss continues; There’s plenty of evidence that the Israeli intelligence services, especially Shin Bet and the military occupation authorities, encouraged the growth of the Muslim Brotherhood and the founding of Hamas [in Palestinian territories].

Internal Security Service – knowingly created Hamas”

Indeed, according to former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Charles Freeman, Shin Bet—the Israeli counter-intelligence and Internal Security Service—knowingly created Hamas: Israel started Hamas. It was a project of Shin Bet, which had a feeling that they could use it to ‘hem’  the PLO.”

Dirty Little Secret”

Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine were under the approving eye” of Israel from the late 1960s to the 1980s, it eventually mutated into Hamas. Following Gamal Abdel Nasser’s rise to power in 1954, both the British and Americans viewed the Brotherhood as a useful weapon against secular nationalism and communism. In his Book Sleeping With the Devil, former CIA Officer Robert Baer describes the Dirty Little Secret” in Washington in the early 1950s, namely that the White House looked on the ‘Brothers’ as a silent ally, a secret weapon against—what else? —Communism.”

Conclusion

Facts are stubborn that Israel created Hamas or that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported Hamas are circulating in social media, were published in news reports and spoken widely over a period of time. It is the responsibility of Israel to address constructively the truth. Further why Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October if they were created by Israel and why are they hiding in underground tunnels now, instead of defending Palestinian innocent civilians? But, looking at various substantial evidence may otherwise prove, it was Israel who created Hamas. High time for the UN to intervene and play its role in penalising for aiding and abetting Terrorism, if Hamas is considered a Terrorist Organisation. After all, the UN was established to prevent atrocities. Has the UN done justice to innocent civilians?

About the Author:

By Prof. Rasheen Bappu, Anthropologist (Defence) and Intelligence Data Scientist

rasheen_bappu@aol.com

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Ceylon Today)

By Prof. Rasheen Bappu