Roger Simon has a Substack piece on the cease fire announcement in Gaza, to which he has added this sobering update:
This is a time when I don’t particularly like being prescient. Just a few days ago, I posted “Gaza–Genuine Peace or a Hudna?” A hudna, for those who missed it, is a tactical pause to allow Islamic forces to regroup.
Minutes ago, the following was posted by Amir Tsarfati on Instagram:’
Hamas publishes “God, let the ceasefire be like the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah—followed by conquest, like the conquest of Mecca.”
Tsarfati adds: (Context: The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was a temporary peace agreement signed by Mohammed with the Quraysh tribe, which he later broke before conquering Mecca. The statement implies that Hamas views the ceasefire as a tactical pause before a future “victory” or takeover.)
No one who pays attention will be surprised. The cease fire agreement contemplates that the remainder of President Trump’s peace plan, which calls for an end to Hamas rule and an international coalition to supervise Gaza on an interim basis, will be negotiated in good faith. But of course Hamas has never done anything in good faith, and it is hard to imagine that the remainder of the peace plan will actually be implemented.
The real question, I think, is whether Hamas still speaks for Gaza. By rights, given the disasters they have spawned, the leaders of Hamas should be strung up like Mussolini at the end of World War II. But if there is a movement among the people of Gaza to leave fanaticism behind and become a normal polity, I am not aware of it.
