MIDDLE EAST: Israel's ongoing military offensive against Hamas in Gaza and mass arrests of its activists in the West Bank is aimed at hampering the Islamic group's chances of participating in forthcoming Palestinian elections, according to analysts and Israeli media reports.
Israel is determined that the militant group, whose armed wing has perpetrated the bulk of militant attacks against Israel in recent years, should not be allowed to convert its grass roots support into electoral gains in January's poll.
A mass circulation Hebrew newspaper, Ma'ariv, citing Israeli sources, yesterday reported the aim of the current army offensive is "to crush Hamas and paralyse it politically as well".
The army's Operation First Rain, which includes threats to assassinate Hamas leaders, comes just two weeks after Israel completed its evacuation of all troops and settlers from the coastal enclave, raising hopes for progress in peace talks.
In the fifth consecutive day of air strikes on Gaza, troops early yesterday bombarded buildings with missiles and artillery fire, despite a pledge hours earlier by Hamas and 12 other Palestinian factions to halt rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli targets.
Hamas had already announced on Tuesday that it would recommit to an agreed "calm" in Gaza after a weekend of intense rocket fire from the Strip in which six Israeli civilians were wounded. Despite the assurances, two Palestinian rockets were fired on Israel yesterday.
Air strikes yesterday temporarily knocked out power throughout most of Gaza City and destroyed three buildings Israel said were used for "terror activity" by Palestinian militants.
In the West Bank, troops raided offices belonging to Hamas in the towns of Qalqiliya and Tulkarem, a total of 379 suspected activists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been arrested since the weekend in what are the largest Israeli raids for three years.
Israel "is using every possible means to block Hamas and push it aside," said Mushir al-Masria, a spokesman for the group.
Hamas fared well in recent municipal elections in the Palestinian territories and has been tipped to emerge as the second largest political bloc after the ruling Fatah faction in the parliamentary polls scheduled for January 25th. But despite its grass roots popularity and charity work, Hamas remains blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU.
Some analysts claim its participation in parliamentary elections could strengthen the political wing of Hamas and lead it to renounce its official campaign for the destruction of the Jewish state, in much the same way as the IRA gradually replaced its armed struggle for a purely political mandate.
"Hamas is a very pragmatic political movement," said Prof Ali Jarbawi, a political scientist at Birzeit University in Ramallah. "What they are doing in a very pragmatic way is to re-legitimate themselves as a political group through entering the Palestinian elections. Of course, you don't expect them to throw out their rhetoric but on the ground, practically, they are moving to fully participate in the political structure and I am sure they would deal in a different fashion if they were in parliament."
However, this analysis is not one which Israel shares. A government spokesman asked about the analogy with the IRA, which only this week finally disarmed, replied: "Did the IRA ever call for the destruction of the British state? Did the IRA ever say Britain had no right to exist? Hamas has much more in common with groups like al-Qaeda or Hezbollah than radical European groups."
Israel's efforts to bar Hamas from contesting the elections have not been internationally endorsed.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week noted that "ultimately there is a fundamental contradiction between armed activities and the political process". However, she added: "I think we have to give the Palestinians some room for the evolution of their political process."