In an op-ed published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who was tapped last year by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to head peace talks for Jerusalem, and who during the most recent negotiations with the Palestinians was a key figure in laying the groundwork for Secretary of State John Kerry’s initiative, slammed Hamas for its continued terror efforts:
Hamas is a designated terrorist organization, ideologically committed to an extremist anti-Semitic, anti-Western agenda that sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as an endless religious war, with no rights and no legitimacy for the “infidel.” Unlike other elements in Palestinian society, Hamas is not pursuing a Palestinian state alongside Israel and offers no hope for peace. It does not hide this ideology. Hamas instead champions it, showing a commitment to this vision by suicide bombings, raining missiles on Israeli civilian communities, and other gruesome acts of terror.
Livni’s op-ed comes amid a spike in rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip into southern Israel and was published a day after Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar announced that the terror group had reached an agreement with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to “unify the weapons of resistance” against the Jewish state:
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said Tuesday that his movement was now capable of firing rockets at any city inside Israel, any time it wanted.
“There will be no security for the Zionists over and under the land,” Zahar said in a speech in the Gaza Strip as the rockets were being fired at Israel.
“We are prepared to sacrifice our blood for the sake of Palestine, and we advise the Zionist enemy not to play with us.”
Zahar said Hamas and Islamic Jihad had reached an agreement to “unify the weapons of resistance” against Israel.
Livni accused Hamas of attempting, under the “cover of a political agreement, to reconstitute its terrorist capabilities in the West Bank [and] … to abuse the Palestinian elections in order to gain legitimacy for its extremist objectives.”
Livni’s assessment will be read alongside recent analysis to the effect that Hamas, which last month entered into a unity agreement with the rival Fatah faction, is attempting to follow the “Hezbollah model” that would see the terror group create a militant state-within-a-state in the midst of a weaker central government.
Livni argues that “the welfare of the Palestinian people and the prospects for peace would be dealt a mortal blow” if Hamas is allowed to “leverag[e] its independent terrorist militia” to advance its goals.