A Hamas Front in Jerusalem?

Hamas today has footholds in several neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem, specifically Jabel Mukaber, Silwan, and Sur Baher.

By Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein, KeepJerusalem.org

Hamas, recognized by many countries as a dangerous terrorist organization, is seeking a foothold in Israel’s front yard – namely, the Arab suburbs of Jerusalem. Israeli intelligence helped arrest six terrorists about to run a day camp steeped in Hamas ideology.

The Hamas terrorist organization, which currently governs Gaza and has strong ties with Iran, was thwarted this week in an attempt to open a summer day camp in the greater Jerusalem area.

The ramifications of the concrete plans made to open the camp, as well as the fact that they almost succeeded, are extreme.

It was only the result of top-notch intelligence work by the Jerusalem Police Department that led to the discovery of a bus filled with kids, counselors, and terrorists on its way to the camp.

The bus had departed from the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya, on the eastern slopes of Mt. Scopus practically adjacent to Hadassah Hospital. Note that Isawiya is located within the anti-terror security wall, that is, on the Israeli side of the barrier.

The not quite happy-go-lucky group of would-be campers was headed for the Jericho area. Police stopped and boarded the bus in mid-trip, arrested six of the organizers for planning a Hamas day camp, and the bus was confiscated.

A day camp, as is known, is the perfect place to imbue children with ideology – and Hamas ideology is downright dangerous for the entire Western world in general and Israel in particular. One clause of the Hamas Covenant, for instance, reads, “Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it eliminated its predecessors.”

Another clause states the same from another angle:  “[The Islamic Resistance Movement] joined its hands with those of all Jihad fighters for the purpose of liberating Palestine… This is the Charter of the Islamic Resistance (Hamas) which will reveal its face [and] call for support to its cause and reinforcement… For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.”

Note that the Covenant speaks openly of the Hamas “struggle against the Jews,” and not only against Israel.

Hamas has a long history of murdering Israelis. Its military branch, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was created in 1991, and since then has carried out many hundreds of attacks.

Between September 2000 and March 2004, Hamas murdered 377 Israelis, in attacks such as the Sbarros restaurant bombing in Jerusalem in August 2001 and countless others.
In 2007, Hamas violently took over the Gaza Strip and then began attacking Israel even more earnestly, with hundreds more suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings and ramming attacks.

Most recently, in May of this year, they launched well over 600 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities. Hamas has also invented balloon terrorism, setting ablaze close to 10,000 acres of Israeli fields.

Even more dangerous are Hamas’ ties with Iran. It was reported this week, based on Israeli intelligence, that Hamas and Iran have agreed that Hamas will open a war front against Israel from Gaza in the event of hostilities between Israel and Iran’s allies Hizbullah and/or Syria.

That is, when Israel will need to bring troops and forces to its north, Iran-backed Hamas will open a second or third front against Israel in the south.

Hamas today has footholds in several neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem, specifically Jabel Mukaber, Silwan, and Sur Baher. The fact that the day camp bus originated in Isawiya indicates that Hamas is not resting on its laurels and is seeking out other spheres of influence in Israel’s capital.

This, of course, is in addition to its attempts – thwarted by the Shabak (Israel Security Agency) – to establish terrorist cells throughout Judea and Samaria.

Fatah Summer Camps

At the same time, Hamas’ rival Fatah, which runs the Palestinian Authority, is trying to increase its influence in eastern Jerusalem, also via summer camps for children. The camps are often named for terrorist murderers such as Dalal Mughrabi, who led the worst terror attack in Israel’s history that involved the hijacking of a bus on a highway and the murder of 12 children and 25 adults.

As a recent report by Palestinian Media Watch stated, “It’s summer again – when Palestinian summer camps are named after murderers… [and] brainwash Palestinian youth into thinking that using violence and terror to reach political goals is honorable.”

PA Chairman Abbas sent his “blessings” to the Mughrabi camp for its organization of activities that that “strengthen the spirit of national belonging among our sons and daughters.” The Abbas representative specifically mentioned mass-murdereress Mughrabi and praised her “position in the struggle and the revolution.”

The latest camp, for about 100 children aged 7-12 in Isawiya, featured lessons in contact-battle, nationalist slogans, battle spirit, the Nakba [the “catastrophe” of the formation of the Jewish State], and Palestinian “heritage.”

Never mind that “Palestinian heritage” is a fake in that a Palestinian-Arab ethnic or nationalist classification is only several decades old. The first Palestine National Charter of the PLO was formulated only in 1964 – and it did not even mention Jerusalem! 

Nor was this “oversight” corrected in the amended charter of 1968. But go tell our largely left-leaning Western world that any “religious” connections between Palestinian Arabs and Jerusalem have nothing to do with reality!

That, actually, is what we at KeepJerusalem are seeking to do: to explain to the world that Jerusalem is and has been Jewish for 3,300 years, and that Islamic claims are merely politically convenient. It’s an uphill battle, but we are confident that the truth will ultimately, soon, be universally recognized.

For those who wish to help spread the message of the dangers of Islamic claims to Jerusalem, and that Jerusalem must remain entirely Israeli, KeepJerusalem.org invites you to participate in our eastern and northern Jerusalem bus tours. For information, e-mail <tours@keepjerusalem.org> or visit our website at www.keepjerusalem.org.