Hamas Urges *ALL* Its Foes To Get U.S. Training Like Afghans, Fatah

Hamas was among the first to congratulate the Taliban this week.

Gaza City, August 19 – Leaders of the Islamist militant movement that governs this coastal territory have noticed the catastrophic track record of American efforts to produce quality military forces in other countries despite trillions in investment in men and materiel, including the movement’s own rivals for stewardship of the Palestinian cause, and now speak in glowing terms of such efforts in an attempt to persuade their remaining opponents to accept the same investment.

Hamas sent messages of encouragement to Israel and the Fatah faction that controls the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, urging them to engage in receiving more training by American military and intelligence personnel, given the outcome of such training in Afghanistan, Gaza, Vietnam, and elsewhere through the decades.

“American training is exactly what you need,” read one statement. “The massive investment in training, equipment, ammunition, techniques, tactics, and other important elements of a coherent military or paramilitary organization will put you exactly where you should be.” The statement then invoked the success the phenomenon has enjoyed against the Viet Cong, the Soviet-backed North Vietnam military, the Taliban, Fatah in the Gaza Strip, Iraq, and various other locations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Hamas was among the first to congratulate the Taliban this week on the success of its long-term initiative to defeat the US-backed Afghan military and to occasion the departure of the thousands of US troops stationed there. The abrupt pullout has brought in its wake a spate of violence against resistors, women, intellectuals, and anyone who worked with the international coalition that had helped secure the country for nearly two decades. The Islamist movement hopes to repeat that accomplishment vis-à-vis Israel, project it has pursued for almost forty years – and which others have pursued since 1948, building on earlier efforts to deny the Jews a state of their own outside the dominance of Islam.

A brief conflict between Hamas and Fatah in 2007 resulted in the ouster of Fatah from the Gaza Strip, confining the latter’s influence to autonomous areas further inland. Fatah had enjoyed extensive training, funding, arming, and other support from the US as part of the Oslo Accords with Israel in 1993 that granted Palestinians self-government in population centers and attempted to foster proper governance and rule of law. The initiative resulted in a familiar outcome to observers of such American programs, including Fatah men thrown from rooftops and subjected to torture. Hamas and its allies hope to repeat that scenario with Israeli Jews and any Israeli Arabs that get in the way or show insufficient deference.

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