Hamas understands very well what the stationing of Lebanese troops under UN auspices on the Lebanese/Israeli border means: a victory for Hizballah (and even more so for its jihadist allies) and a defeat for Israel — by the design of its best friend and ally. “Hamas Columnist: Hizbullah’s Victory in Lebanon Opens the Door for a Third Intifada,” from MEMRI:
In his August 7, 2006 column in the Hamas semiweekly Al-Risala, under the title “Victory in Lebanon — Towards a Third Intifada,” Ibrahim Abu Heija’ encourages Hamas to use what he sees as Hizbullah’s victory as a springboard for a third Palestinian intifada.
The following are excerpts from the article:(1)
“The Greatest Beneficiary [of the Victory in Lebanon] Will Ultimately Be the Palestinian Resistance”
“What has become evident from the ongoing battles in the proud and resistant south of Lebanon is the confirmation of Israel’s failure in achieving its goals and the confirmation of the decline in its deterrence capability in comparison with what it was before it got embroiled in the Lebanese quagmire — despite the bloody slaughters that Israel committed against unarmed civilians…
“What is noteworthy here is not only the collapse of the Israeli defense doctrine in the face of a well-organized community possessed of faith and will, such as Hizbullah, but what is more important in the Israeli loss is to examine the consequences of the victory and its implications on additional levels.
“Hizbullah, which achieved the victory, will be the least of those who benefit from this victory, due to certain considerations relevant to the Lebanese arena, which is based on sectarian division. This does not mean that it will not gain greater strength and legitimacy than it had before, particularly since the Israeli aggression, as is evident, proceeds without direction and without any reckoning of consequences, and therefore gets itself entangled in guerilla warfare, in which Hizbullah is unsurpassed in its skill, and has a Syrian and Iranian backing that denies it nothing in terms of arms, money, support, and protection.
“It detracts nothing from Hizbullah’s standing that it should benefit from the honor of victory and that it should be a shield protecting Syria and Lebanon from breaking apart, and should be a shield for Iran against an attack on its nuclear reactor.
“However, the greatest beneficiary will ultimately be the Palestinian resistance, because all of the Arab, regional, and international equations, whether they are at variance or in agreement, revolve around the Palestinian cause, either in order to liquidate it or to defend it.”
Read it all.