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Hamas - aintchs sick of 'em?
Spy fears shake Hamas to the core Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem From: The Australian March 06, 2010 12:00AM Increase Text SizeDecrease Text SizePrintEmail Share
Add to DiggAdd to del.icio.usAdd to FacebookAdd to KwoffAdd to MyspaceAdd to NewsvineWhat are these?HAMAS'S reputation as a tight-knit, ideologically firm and politically coherent group has been shaken since the assassination of a top operative in Dubai raised the spectre that Mossad has penetrated its inner-most workings.
To deny that possibility and preserve morale, a senior Hamas official summoned a hasty press conference to say that murder victim Mahmoud al-Mabhouh had violated basic security precautions by booking his flight online and calling his family in Gaza from Damascus to tell them which hotel he was staying in.
But Dubai's police chief, Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan, said Mabhouh's travel plans had apparently been leaked to his killers by a Hamas member.
It subsequently emerged that Mabhouh had been under lengthy surveillance by the organisation that killed him. Rather than just being a target of opportunity, he had been stalked by a team of 27 or more agents in a carefully planned operation.
If this were not enough to keep Hamas leaders from looking over their shoulders and wondering who around them might be a mole, an even more shocking event took place this month when the son of one of Hamas's founders revealed he had worked for Israel's Shin Bet security service for a decade.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, whose father, Sheik Hassan Yousef, is in an Israeli prison, told Ha'aretz he had played a key role in the destruction of many of Hamas's militant cells on the West Bank during the intifada, a claim supported by a former Israeli security official.
Yousef fingered top members of Hamas's military wing who were subsequently killed or arrested. He said he had intended to be a double agent on Hamas's behalf until, serving a brief prison sentence as a cover for his activities, he saw how Hamas members tortured fellow prisoners.
The possibility that the son of a revered leader like Sheik Yousef was a turncoat working on behalf of the Israelis was initially dismissed by many Palestinians as "Zionist propaganda".
However, the younger Yousef, who converted to Christianity and moved to the US several years ago, was soon confirming the story in interviews with CNN and other media outlets.
A political science professor at al-Azhar University in Gaza, Mkhaimar Abusada, said the revelation was "a catastrophe for Hamas". A former Israeli intelligence officer, Brigadier General Shalom Harari, said Yousef's revelation coming on the heels of the Dubai assassination made Hamas appear vulnerable.
Vulnerability had not been a Hamas hallmark since its emergence in Gaza in 1987 as an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Focusing initially on building a social base, it set up clinics, schools and mosques and won wide popularity. It soon formed its own underground militia.
During the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that broke out in 2000, Hamas was perhaps the most militant faction, employing numerous suicide bombers.
The uprising was suppressed by Israel but Hamas shifted deftly to the political arena. In January 2006, the Islamist movement participated in Palestinian parliamentary elections and -- to the surprise of everybody, including itself -- scored a huge victory, taking 76 of the 132 seats.
Its principal rival, the Fatah movement, headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, had been mired in corruption and inefficiency. Hamas was seen as not corrupt but efficient while its role in the intifada won wide respect. The election victory was Hamas's high-water mark.
Two more coups followed, but both would prove double-edged. In a daring operation in June 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was taken prisoner and Hamas demanded the release of more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for him. A year later, Hamas seized exclusive control of the Gaza Strip after defeating Fatah in a bloody coup.
However, retribution followed. In the wake of Shalit's capture, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, permitting entry only of humanitarian goods. (and not simply because hamas won the elections, Abu)
It launched limited military incursions to force Shalit's release. It did not succeed but hundreds of Palestinians were killed.
As for the Gaza takeover, it severed Hamas from the Palestinian Authority, increasing its isolation in the Arab world and beyond.
Its leaders expected the massive release of Palestinian prisoners, which appeared imminent a few months ago, would restore its image within the Palestinian camp but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted hard-core prisoners not be returned to the West Bank and Hamas baulked.
Its biggest mistake would prove to have been firing thousands of rockets at Israeli communities bordering Gaza. Israel's massive incursion last year left about 1400 Palestinian militants and civilians dead and much of Gaza in rubble.
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