By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
Contributed by Lucia in Spain
".....This week Hamas checkmated Israel in three quick moves. No less worrying are the problematic developments regarding Egypt. Cairo would like to avoid a confrontation with Hamas and its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a lot more important for Egypt than the angst in Israel. This is a strategic change that will make any future operation by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip more difficult and could make relations between the two countries even more complicated.
These are moments of glory for Hamas, after a long period during which the organization was battered by Israel. It conducted its campaign brilliantly last week, and it seems, so far, with complete success. At no stage did Israel have a sufficient response to the initiatives of Hamas.....
All the while Hamas benefited from an impressive level of Arab support including the Muslim Brotherhood in the neighboring countries and favorable broadcasts on Al Jazeera.....
But Hamas did not only beat Israel in this round - Egypt and the Palestinian Authority also lost....
Israel tried to punish the entire Gazan population to cause it to overthrow Hamas rule.....In this Jerusalem also accepted recommendations from the Fatah leadership, who wanted to settle old scores with their Hamas rivals. But the security establishment, like the media, failed to appreciate correctly the enormity of the poverty in Gaza, and with it the hatred for Israel. It only pushed Hamas to bring down the wall, in a manner that will now make it difficult to restore the blockade on the Gaza Strip."
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