9Analysis: With the Arab street at boiling point in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Gaza’s Hamas rulers want concrete achievements to dispel the image of a failing organization, but are walking a delicate balancing act with the ongoing rocket fire.

BY RON BEN-YISHAI, YNET

As things stand, the situation now in Israel is as follows: The drizzle of rocket fire continues on the western part of the Negev, following difficulties in the ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, which are being conducted via Egyptians mediators assisted by Jordan and Turkey.

Hamas has presented a series of demands to Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, the main ones being what Hamas refers to as the “lifting the siege” on Gaza, and a commitment from Israel to end target killings in the Strip.

By lifting the blockade, Hamas is trying to get Israel and Egypt to allow the entry of goods into Gaza, as well as open the Rafah crossing to let people from the Strip enter Egypt.

Cairo only allows the opening of the crossing for just a few hours every few days, and is continuing with the destruction of Gaza smuggling tunnels, which hinders the transfer of goods and fuel and endangers the tax money Hamas collects on these products.

Tensions in the south
On the brink of war: Hamas may still back down / Ron Ben-Yishai
Analysis: Escalation in tensions serve Hamas’ interests to improve standing among Palestinians, but war with Israel does not.
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Hamas is also trying to put pressure on the Palestinian Authority to fund the transfer of fuel from Israel to the Strip. The fuel shortage leads to power cuts in Gaza and the pollution of Gaza beaches, where drainage pumps are idling due to the lack of electricity. Gazans who are on vacation for Ramadan cannot go to the beach, which is their only possible entertainment in the Strip.

The Palestinian Authority refuses to fund Hamas fuel; Israel is limiting the transfer of building material, causing thousands of Palestinians to lose their jobs; and Hamas is unable to pay the wages of 44,000 civil servants and the Palestinian Authority refuses to transfer money to help finance the salaries.

Hamas is trying to change all of this in such a way as to ease the population’s distress and allow it to present an achievement to its supporters, thereby erasing its image as a failing organization.

An additional issue that concerns the Hamas leadership, not to mention that of Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and their rocket launching squads, is the IAF targeted attacks. Hamas is particularly upset about IAF hits on its special teams deployed to prevent rocket fire that Israel mistakenly identified as militants launching rockets.

Hamas, and the leaderships of the other organizations in the Strip, have gone underground for fear that Israel is now planning to resume its targeted attacks. Israel refuses to comply with Hamas demands to avoid targeted attacks and ease the blockade, nor is Egypt willing to meet the demands of Hamas and the …read more
Source: Israpundit

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