The 'Three No's" And Hamas March To Destroy Israel

The Hamas March to Destroy Israel

by Khaled Abu Toameh

• By choosing to hold the protests under the banner of the "Three No's," the organizers of the "Great March of Return" have again proven that the weekly demonstrations are not about improving the living conditions of Palestinians or easing restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip. Instead, the message the organizers are sending to the Palestinians and the rest of the world is: "We don't recognize Israel's right to exist and therefore we will never make negotiate or make peace with it."
  
  
• Hamas's two other "No's" – no to recognizing Israel and no to making peace with Israel – do not come as a surprise. In fact, Hamas appears to be reminding Palestinians of its true objectives as outlined in its 1988 charter: "There is no solution for the Palestinian question expect through Jihad (holy war). Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors...[Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered."
  
  
• This is all that Hamas has to offer the Palestinians 12 years after its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip? Sadly, thousands of Palestinians continue to heed Hamas's call for trying to breach the border with Israel every Friday while ignoring that it is their leaders who are mainly responsible for dragging them from one disaster to another.
  
  

On July 12, the weekly protests along the border with Israel were held under the banner of "No to negotiations [with Israel], no to reconciliation [with Israel] and no to recognizing the [Israeli] entity."

The Three No's appear based on the Khartoum Resolution issued at the conclusion of the Arab League summit convened three months after the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab countries: 

No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with it.

By choosing to hold the protests under the banner of the "Three No's," the organizers of the "Great March of Return" have again proven that the weekly demonstrations are not about improving the living conditions of Palestinians or easing restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip. Instead, the message the organizers are sending to the Palestinians and the rest of the world is: "We don't recognize Israel's right to exist and therefore we will never make negotiate or make peace with it."

Even some Palestinians have expressed astonishment over the Gaza protests' "Three No's," calling them "unrealistic" and "absurd."

Next week's Friday protests will be held under the banner "Burning the Zionist flag." The organizers announced that the "peaceful" and "popular" protests will continue "until the Palestinians achieve their rights." The protests along the border with Israel, they said, are also aimed at foiling US President Donald Trump's plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the "Deal of the Century," and abrogating the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 between Israel and the Palestinians.

On the one hand, Hamas is sending Palestinians to clash with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza-Israel border under the banner of "No to negotiations [with Israel]." On the other hand, Hamas is begging the Egyptians and the UN to help arrange a ceasefire with Israel. The pounding seems a way of trying to coerce the Israelis into bigger concessions, faster.

Hamas's two other "No's" -- no to recognizing Israel and no to making peace with Israel -- do not come as a surprise. In fact, Hamas appears to be reminding Palestinians of its true objectives as outlined in its 1988 charter:

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question expect through Jihad (holy war). Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors...[Hamas] believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered."