Hamas's Shortsightedness

While the Palestinian Hamas was accusing the Egyptian authorities of "concocting" the issue of the Lebanese Hezbollah-related cell in the media, the State Security Court in Jordan sentenced three people to prison on charges of spying for the movement, after they "monitored positions, possessed weapons and gathered things and information that must be kept secret."

Thus we have two Hamas stances, one against Cairo and the other in Amman. They are both irresponsible and overlook state sovereignty. They also point to Hamas's reluctance to develop its relations with two Arab capitals interested in each and every single aspect of the Palestinian cause.

Don't Palestinian refugees constitute half the inhabitants of Amman? Don't they find there a safe haven? Isn't Egypt the "tune of Arabism"? Didn't it fight many wars against Israel? Didn't it lose hundreds of thousands of its men? Didn't it pay, from its economy and the blood of its people, huge taxes in support of Arabism?

Hamas's response, through the Palestinian MP Atef Adwan, came out hasty, confused, and irresponsible. It would have been better for Hamas to wait for the results of the investigation, if it prefers not to condemn Hezbollah's action.

Some Hamas officials are not good at the art of politics. Adwan accused the Egyptian regime of "conspiring and concocting the crisis" against Hezbollah in order to attack Hamas. He said, "Egypt's campaign is not aimed at Hezbollah, but rather at Hamas as a means to pressure it into accepting the terms of the Quartet, under the pretext that both movements are regional tools for Iran, which is trying to spread Shiite thought."

In parallel, the Egyptian Shiites were more rational, intent on maintaining their country's national unity. Hence, Muhammad Al-Dreini, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of the Ahl Al-Bayt, condemned - on behalf of Egypt's Shiites - Hezbollah's military actions inside Egypt, stressing that "any Hezbollah activity inside Egypt is condemned." Despite the disagreement with the government, Egypt's Shiites reject any violation of their country's sovereignty, as he said. What a difference between these statements and those of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood!

Poor Adwan! He made an enemy of himself! He leveled a series of accusations at Egypt and its security apparatus, in accord with Hezbollah's troublesome intentions based on regional "policies" targeting some Arab countries. He failed nonetheless to offer any justifications or produce any piece of evidence to corroborate his claim that this case is "media fabrications"!

Adwan's statements can be accepted if made by an ordinary person who solely relies on speculations. But they came from an official in a movement engaged in a battle against the occupation. Such statement was directed at Egypt, the closest neighbor that has been a supporter of the cause since Palestine was occupied 60 years ago.

The Arabs know that Egypt expended and continues to expend efforts to achieve reconciliation among the Palestinians. But the problem is Palestinian-Palestinian. I don't know what the stance of Hamas's delegation will be like when it returns to Cairo in the coming few days to complete the reconciliation talks, after Adwan's statements.

In his "confused" statements, Adwan claims that this "fabrication" "prepares the Egyptian public opinion to receive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his foreign minister Avigdor Liebermann, who insulted the Egyptian President and called for attacking the High Dam."

This "fabrication" is also aimed at "justifying the Egyptian stance towards Gaza and maintaining its siege by creating a virtual enemy in order to remain in the axis of the United States and Israel."

Here, we can see clearly the shallowness of Adwan's political thinking. He forgot - or chose to forget - that Cairo and Tel-Aviv were linked with a peace treaty, that Netanyahu visited Cairo before and that he is not the first Israeli official to visit Cairo. Many mutual "public" visits were made by Israeli and Egyptian officials since the signing of the peace treaty on March 26, 1979.

Egypt, this state with a history, cannot risk its credibility by "fabricating accusations" not corroborated by evidence and documents. It managed to regain its political vitality recently when "ideological" parties and movements at the service of regional interests criticized it under the pretext of the Palestinian cause.

I understand why the Muslim Brotherhood go against the Egyptian government. But I don't understand why Hamas wants to antagonize Egypt and belittle its historic roles even though its previous favors to the Palestinian cause are well attested for.

Hamas is committing against Egypt the same mistake committed by Yasser Arafat against the Gulf states after Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait - despite some differences between the two.

Those who want to support a cause against the occupier, have to respect the sovereignty of countries and the security of their peoples. Hamas must learn the meaning of state sovereignty, and the meaning of messing with the security of a safe country to destabilize it. Hezbollah too must respect Egypt's sovereignty. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah knows this well, but he was caught "red-handed" this time.