Hamas leaders in Syria urge West Bank operatives to kidnap Israeli settlers

[oberliner]

The Israel Defense Forces West Bank division commander, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, has warned Israeli settlers to be on alert for possible abduction attempts across the territory.

In a letter sent to Yesha Council leaders, Alon said that the warning is based on intelligence and interrogations of Palestinians arrested on involvement in plotting such kidnappings.

The IDF said intelligence has shown Hamas leaders in Damascus are pressuring followers in the West Bank to abduct Israeli settlers and citizens.

The IDF added tnat it believes such a kidnapping would be used by Hamas as a bargaining chip for short-term gains and not for major negotiations such as in the case of abducted soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been in captivity for four years and for whom Hamas wants hundreds of prisoners.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-leaders-in-syria-urge-west-bank-operatives-to-kidnap-israeli-settlers-1.306406

[Ken Burch]

1. Another reason to CLOSE all the freaking settlements.

And no settler that gets kidnapped has any right to expect anyone's sympathy, since they're almost all there as knowing participants in a plot to steal land from the Palestinian people.

I hope Hamas isn't actually reckless enough to do something like this, but still, it's the responsibility of the Israeli government if this happens.

[Riftaxe]

2. Hamas has it's own sense of justice

it would be foreign to anyone of a sensible mind, and you should be glad that linking images in this forum is forbidden.

I for one am glad that such things are prohibited here.

[Ken Burch]

3. Hamas is a horrible group;

This is further proof that the Israeli government was completely wrong to EVER build it up as an alternative to the PLO. If they hadn't invited the Muslim Brotherhood into the West Bank and Gaza, Hamas would not exist.

Negotiation with the PLO from the start, at the time when the PLO was still at the peak of influence in the Palestinian community, would have prevented anything like the scenario in the OP from even being a possibility.

[henank]

5. It is completely false to claim that Israel created Hamas

MYTH

“Israel created Hamas.”

FACT

Israel had nothing to do with the creation of Hamas. The organization grew out of the ideology and practice of the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood movement that arose in Egypt in the 1920s.

Hamas was legally registered in Israel in 1978 as an Islamic Association by Sheikh Ahmad Yassin. Initially, the organization engaged primarily in social welfare activities and soon developed a reputation for improving the lives of Palestinians, particularly the refugees in the Gaza Strip.

Though Hamas was committed from the outset to destroying Israel, it took the position that this was a goal for the future, and that the more immediate focus should be on winning the hearts and minds of the people through its charitable and educational activities. Its funding came primarily from Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The PLO was convinced that Israel was helping Hamas in the hope of triggering a civil war. Since Hamas did not engage in terror at first, Israel did not see it as a serious short-term threat, and some Israelis believed the rise of fundamentalism in Gaza would have the beneficial impact of weakening the PLO, and this is what ultimately happened.

Hamas certainly didn’t believe it was being supported by Israel. As early as February 1988, the group put out a primer on how its members should behave if confronted by the Shin Bet. Several more instructional documents were distributed by Hamas to teach followers how to confront the Israelis and maintain secrecy.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths2/PalestinianWar.html#p4

[Violet_Crumble]

7. Israel did play a part in creating and nurturing Hamas...

That site you posted that from isn't very interested in factuality if it means Israel can't be portrayed as innocent. I contacted them back when I was studying to point out there was an inaccuracy in what they'd written about the Peel Commission and they totally ignored it even though I'd supplied them with numerous references. My guess is because it would have ruined their trite little 'Britain Bad! Arabs Bad! Zionists Good!' routine...

[Shaktimaan]

9. Hindsight is always 20/20.

But it's simply not true that Israel built up Hamas, created it, brought it to the OPT, or did much of anything to support it aside from not attacking it. But it goes without saying that both Hamas and the PLO were very different organizations a few decades ago.

Negotiation with the PLO from the start, at the time when the PLO was still at the peak of influence in the Palestinian community, would have prevented anything like the scenario in the OP from even being a possibility.

Now that's an interesting statement. Negotiation should have been done with the PLO for WHAT, exactly? The PLO's goal was the destruction of Israel and establishment of a Palestinian state where it existed. There's not much wiggle room there... it's sort of like suggesting that we should be negotiating with Osama bin Laden now. There just isn't much to discuss.

Remember that Jordan was insisting that it owned the West Bank back then and had insisted that the PLO officially renounce any Palestinian claim to it. No one was down with the whole Palestinian state in the OPT back then.

[henank]

4. What a twisted point of view

You could just as easily turn the statement around and say that every Gazan deserves what he gets from the IDF because they knowingly elected a terrorist group to rule them. Kidnapping civilians is wrong. Full stop.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. I guess to a supporter of the settlements, it would be twisted...

And in case you've forgotten, yr one of those who's argued in the past that Palestinian civilians deserve what they get. Economic settlers are one thing, but the Hebron fanatics that I've seen you defend are not what I'd consider innocent civilians. They're just as much armed militants and terrorists as Hamas and others like that are...

[Ken Burch]

8. Kidnapping civilians is wrong

It's EQUALLY wrong for a government to entice or bribe those civilians to move into a place where they will inevitably be in danger, do to the inherent injustice of their being in that area. Full stop.

And it goes without saying that you can't defend the settlements and STILL claim to want peace.