Alarmed Israel grapples with 'Hamastan'

JERUSALEM: A deeply alarmed Israel on Friday mulled its future strategy towards Hamas after the radical Islamist movement, which it blacklists as a terrorist organisation, seized control of the Gaza Strip.   

Israel woke up to find itself sandwiched between two de facto Palestinian entities, one controlled by Western-backed president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party in the occupied West Bank and the other under unfettered Hamas-control in Gaza.   

The Israeli press was awash with alarmist cries of chaos, hell and catastrophe that would put the Jewish state on the frontline of global jihad.   

"The catastrophic scenario has become reality: Hamas controls Gaza and Fatah the West Bank" and "Welcome to Hell" screeched the Maariv daily; "Hamastan is Here" cried the top-selling Yediot Aharonot.   

"At the moment, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Gaza are de facto separated," government spokesman Miri Eisin said, standing by Israel's long-term strategy of supporting moderates at the expense of Hamas radicals.   

"Our policy has always been to support moderate Palestinian elements and it is perfectly clear that Mahmud Abbas is the standard-bearer since he dismissed (Hamas prime minister Ismail) Haniya," Eisin said.   

Hamas has effectively ignored a decree from Abbas sacking its government and declaring a state of emergency -- Haniya calling the move hasty and the movement's spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri slamming it as "practically worthless".   

The Gaza crisis looks set to dominate next week's summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and US President George W. Bush, as they likely explore ways to bolster Abbas at the expense of a movement they both boycott.   

"The Palestinian issue will be at the centre of the talks, and the events over the past week have further underscored the problem," Eisin said.   

Israel, like the West, refuses any dealing with Hamas, blacklisting the movement as a terrorist organisation, regardless of its move towards mainstream politics and its parliamentary election victory in January 2006.   

The Islamist movement, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, has refused Western demands explicitly to recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and abide by past peace agreements.   

Olmert had already s warned about "regional consequences" should Hamas seize Gaza, and is to raise during his US visit the possibility of deploying a multinational force along Gaza's border with Egypt to clamp down on weapons smuggling.   

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said the UN is exploring such an idea, but it remains unclear which countries would be ready to take part, with Germany already reportedly describing any European participation unimaginable.   

While Israel on Friday declared its willingness to ship humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the prospect is complicated by the question of who could take delivery and the Jewish state's boycott of the Islamists.   

"If it is necessary, we are ready to supply humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The problem is that for the moment there is no one to deliver to on the Palestinian side," Eisin said.   

The Israeli military closed all crossings into the Palestinian territory indefinitely after Hamas seized full control of Gaza, although an army spokeswoman said security assessments were constantly being made.   

"It appears that ultimately, there will be no avoiding some sort of coordination (with Hamas), with the goal of preventing a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip," wrote the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.   

Efraim Inbar, political studies professor, said that for the moment Israel would adopt a strategy of containment, going on the offensive should Hamas resume a campaign of attacks against the Jewish state.   

"I think for the time being it will be a containment strategy. We will see if there will be a continuation of Qassam attacks and suicide bombings, then perhaps there will be more of an offensive strategy," he said.   

Yediot drew a comparison between the situation in Gaza and the presence in southern Lebanon of Shiite militia Hezbollah, with whom Israel fought an inconclusive and deadly war last summer.   

"Israel has to create a basket of measures, which will consolidate our deterrent power in the face of the Gaza Strip, and because there is an address, we are also able to apply levers, economic as well as military," it said.