Killing the peace: Israel assassinates chief
negotiator across the table
Israel’s killing of Hamas politburo chief Ismail
Haniyeh was designed not just to eliminate the top Palestinian negotiator in
ceasefire talks but also the man most capable of unifying the disparate
Palestinian factions in Gaza, the West Bank, and abroad.
A Cradle Contributor
AUG 2, 2024
https://thecradle.co/articles/killing-the-peace-israel-assassinates-chief-negotiator-across-the-table
The assassination of Hamas Political Bureau leader
Ismail Haniyeh has killed any chance for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza – on terms
favorable to Palestinians – and leaves a huge political vacuum within the
resistance movement.
The assassination, which took place during an official
visit to Tehran for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian,
coincided with 300 days of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh
was the chief Palestinian negotiator in indirect months-long ceasefire talks
with the Israeli delegation, among them Mossad Chief David Barnea, whose
organization reportedly executed the shocking kill operation.
This targeting of the head of the political movement
reflects Israel’s systematic policy of assassinating leaders who can unify
ranks and deepen relations with regional and international powers. This also
explains the reasoning behind Israel’s 2 January assassination of Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, the key Hamas
figure managing relations between Tehran, Ankara, Lebanon, and Doha.
Haniyeh, too, was distinguished not only by his
ability to bridge the vision gap between Hamas’ military and political wings
but also by successfully liaising with various regional and international
powers and playing a major role advancing the interests of the resistance group
in its three target regions – Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and
abroad.
Haniyeh’s assassination has created an urgent need to
reorganize Hamas’ internal house – particularly urgent given Israel’s ongoing
genocidal war on Gaza – and reconcile the disparate views of its leaders, such
as Yahya Sinwar in Gaza and Khaled Meshaal abroad.
Today, nothing would suit Israel more than seeing
Meshaal, in particular, regain the reins at Hamas. The former Hamas politburo
chief, after all, controversially split up Tel
Aviv’s biggest regional adversaries – the Resistance Axis – at the start of the
Syrian war by turning his back on the only Arab state member of the Axis,
Syria.
It has taken Hamas years to fully reintegrate into the
Axis after that betrayal, which is often blamed on Meshaal and his cohorts who
decamped from Damascus to Doha. It was only through tireless efforts by leaders
like Haniyeh and Arouri that Hamas’ relations with the regional resistance were
publicly mended.
Meshaal has since suffered the indignity of being
spurned by Syrian, Iranian, and Hezbollah leaders, so his return to the top
would be manna to Israeli ears – even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu had, almost successfully, undertaken to kill Meshaal in 1997.
Those were different times, though, and alliances and
interests in the region have shifted many times since. Today, it is the
unifying, pro-resistance qualities of leaders like Haniyeh and Arouri that pose
a far bigger threat to Israel.
Rising role
Haniyeh was, by consensus, a popular Hamas leader able
to straddle the breadth of the Palestinian political community, and led an
exceptional career that began with the establishment of the Hamas movement in
the 1970s.
He was born in 1964 in the Shati refugee camp, where
he lived, breathed, and experienced the suffering of Palestinian refugees in
all its painful details. Haniyeh joined Hamas early under the guidance of the
charismatic founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. His memorization of the Quran before
the age of 14 made him an eloquent preacher – he had a beautiful recitation
voice that drew the respect and admiration of many.
Haniyeh toiled alongside Sheikh Yassin in the earliest
stages of building important Islamic institutions in Gaza, including the
establishment of the Islamic Society and the Islamic University. Despite his
young age, Sheikh Yassin relied on him heavily and would call him one of the
leaders of the future who would play a great role. Haniyeh joined the Islamic
University, became the head of its student council, and then assumed a
professorship there after graduation.
Having played a prominent role in the first intifada
in 1987, Haniyeh was arrested alongside other Hamas leaders for three years.
Although released from Israeli detention in 1991, he was deported a year later
with the movement’s leaders to Marj al-Zuhur in Lebanon, where they cemented
their resistance mindset before returning to Gaza in 1994.
Under the Oslo Accords, which Hamas strongly rejected,
Haniyeh emerged as one of the movement’s most critical voices to politically
challenge the agreement, especially in the media. He swiftly rose to become
director of Yassin’s office and helped reorganize the Hamas’ security,
military, and religious apparatuses in the Gaza Strip, paving the way for the
Second Intifada in 2000.
After Israel’s assassination of a stream Hamas
leaders, Haniyeh was elected as the movement’s Gaza leader in 2004, which
marked a new chapter in the organization’s history – a phase of comprehensive
resistance, which culminated in Israel’s troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
in 2005. With a resounding victory for the “Change and Reform” platform Haniyeh
led in the 2006 Palestinian elections, he became the head of the first elected
Palestinian government in history.
As a government steeped in resistance doctrine that
refused to recognize Israel, his administration was placed in direct
confrontation with the occupation state. Haniyeh led Gaza and Hamas during
three wars launched by Israeli military forces, in which he became a key target
for assassination.
In 2017, Haniyeh was elected Hamas leader, succeeding
Khaled Meshaal. Although forced to leave Gaza in 2019 for security reasons, he
remained a powerful symbol for Palestinians in the strip and ‘abroad,’ able now
to communicate regularly with heads of state, international organizations, and
global media.
When Israel launched its brutal military assault on
Gaza last October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly
threatened to assassinate Hamas leaders – despite knowing that targeting
Haniyeh would have to be done in a third country. The assassination of Haniyeh
is a violation of international law on so many levels: political assassination,
breaching the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, an act of
aggression, and the targeting of a diplomatically immune person. Haniyeh was an
international and Islamic symbol, and his killing is the stuff that triggers
wars.
But will this blow to Hamas and the Palestinian people
end their resistance to the occupation and deter them from retaliating against
Israel? Decidedly not. Tel Aviv has murdered countless Palestinian leaders,
thinkers, politicians, and military commanders in decades past, yet the events
of 7 October 2023 took place, unhindered. The resistance and the broad segment
of its population that supports these sacrifices wholeheartedly are likely to
transform grief into further strength and resolve.
Furthermore, they are calling – alongside West Asia’s
entire Axis of Resistance – for a hard retaliation against Israel, a punishment
for a heinous crime that violated global laws and conventions.
Current challenges
Hamas has a strong organizational structure that
includes its Shura Council and Political Bureau – institutions that play an
important role in managing the movement’s affairs and making decisions. This is
in addition to the judicial bodies that ensure internal justice and control of
disputes.
The killings of Haniyeh and Arouri have left a gaping
vacuum in Hamas, both at the leadership level and in its coordination with
regional and international allies. But the movement has also historically
proven its ability to overcome crises, as demonstrated in the aftermath of an
Israeli assassination rampage against most of its leaders in Gaza and the West
Bank in 2003 and 2004. Hamas showed remarkable resilience by overcoming its
ordeal and went on to expand its clout, develop some astounding military and
strategic capabilities, and continue its resistance struggle.
Furthermore, today, Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam
Brigades, has stand-alone capabilities, resources, and funding, having expected
the deepening of Israel’s siege of Gaza and prepared for that eventuality. In
recent days, messages coming from Gaza have emphasized the continuation of
Al-Qassam’s military operations.
If anything, Israel’s killing of Haniyeh is
interpreted by the resistance as a failure by Tel Aviv to achieve its military
goals and a manifestation of deep weakness.
Hamas’ next leader?
Several prominent Hamas officials are likely
replacements for Haniyeh. One is Hamas’ Gaza chief, Yahya Sinwar, who is
Haniyeh’s deputy. Sinwar played a major role in engineering Operation
Protective Edge with the Qassam Brigades and enjoys very close ties to the
movement’s security and military apparatuses. Despite his presence in Gaza,
which is experiencing an ongoing war, Sinwar remains a strong leadership
option.
Meshaal is expected to play a pivotal role in leading
the movement during this transitional period, given his prior experience as
head of the political bureau until 2017. Although not a Resistance Axis
favorite, Meshaal is familiar with regional political complexities and has
strong relations with some key regional states, which could bridge the
leadership vacuum for some time.
Although tensions with Iran remain, Meshaal was among
those who established relations with Tehran and strengthened cooperation after
the Syrian war. He could endeavor to overcome any current differences by
emphasizing the importance of Arab and Islamic unity at this crucial juncture,
displaying preparedness to continue Hamas’ confrontation with the Israeli
occupation, and cleaving closely to the late Haniyeh’s policies.
Other prominent candidates include Nizar Awadallah,
secretary of Hamas’ executive committee and political bureau, a leader close to
Haniyeh with broad acceptance within the movement. Despite his lack of media
exposure, Awadallah’s organizational competencies make him a possible choice.
There’s also Musa Abu Marzouk, a former leader and
head of the International Relations Office, who reportedly enjoys deep ties
with countries such as China and Russia and is widely accepted within the
movement.
Khalil al-Hayya, deputy to Yahya Sinwar and head of
the Arab Relations Office, is a politically decisive figure with solid
relations with Iran, Qatar, Turkiye, and Egypt. Hayya played an important role
in the current ceasefire negotiations, has strong ties with the Resistance
Axis, and is in constant contact with Hamas operatives inside and outside of
occupied Palestine.
Decades after its inception, Hamas has demonstrated
that it is both a political institution and a strong grassroots movement
capable of making critical decisions in the most difficult of
circumstances.
The Shura Council, which has decision-making
authority, will decide who leads the movement at this critical stage. Despite
the great challenges facing Hamas – and its cadres on the battlefields of Gaza
– it is likely to continue its resistance struggle and rearrange affairs to
achieve its goals.
