"As long as men exist, wars will exist. As long as Israel, Hamas, the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam [Brigades] and Islamic Jihad exist, Gaza's children will continue to die. [Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza] Isma'il Haniyeh said: 'We have nothing to lose.' Children's body parts and corpses [are strewn throughout Gaza], but 'we have nothing to lose.' Women wave white flags, but 'we have nothing to lose.' Homes are demolished on top of their residents, but 'we have nothing to lose.' The humanitarian situation is catastrophic, but 'we have nothing to lose.'
"In every interview, Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev says, 'Let me be clear.' But he does not clarify his stammering in light of the killing of children. Israel accuses Hamas of placing its rockets among civilians, and says that it humanely asks citizens to leave [their homes before bombing them] but where can they go?..."Hamas' Military Wing Sets Hamas Policy. "In the recent campaign, it has become clear that it is the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing led by Muhammad Deif, that decided when this war should begin and that it is they who are rejecting the [ceasefire] initiatives. It is they who are determining policy at every stage not [Hamas Political Bureau head] Khaled Mash'al and not Isma'il Haniyeh. It is only the military wings, that is, [Hamas'] Al-Qassam Brigades and [Islamic Jihad's] Al-Quds Brigades, that are the decision-makers.
"The one who took advantage of this situation was Benjamin Netanyahu, since in Israel, it is the political leadership that decides on military action. Thus, Netanyahu decided to comply with all attempts at a ceasefire, and as a result he has bought some time, and that is what Israel wants. [Ultimately,] what Israel needs in all its wars is time and foreign support.
"Netanyahu played his part seriously [as] the Hamas political leadership attempted to flee reality, rejecting the Egyptian initiative and pinning all its hopes on the Turkey-Qatar axis... At this stage, Netanyahu has played his part shrewdly not just because Hamas rejected the ceasefire, [but] mainly [because] Netanyahu agreed to it... and herein lies the risk that =
Hamas' military wing will be the one running the bloody game. "The spark that actually started the current war was the Al-Qassam Brigades' emotional reaction to Israel's July 5 discovery of an attack tunnel that it had dug as part of its strategic plans. The discovery and destruction of that tunnel, along with the strategic plan that it represented, and in addition to the deaths of two [Hamas] fighters in it, drove the Al-Qassam Brigades to respond with a heavy and widespread barrage of rockets, including long-range ones. Thus, Hamas' military wing chose when the war would start.
SOURCE: Lebanese journalist Huda Al-Husseini August 4, 2014
MERMRI: Special Dispatch No.5815