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In talking about Hamas, it pays to know what is going on "behind the scene" and who the players are. And in this article, we see a part of what is going on behind the scenes that puts Hamas "on point" as seemingly the center of all the action. We also see two big blocks in the Muslim world - fighting against each other - in order to gain ascendency over the other. Hamas is the "tool" they are using to fight each other. One group is trying to save Hamas, while the other Muslim group is trying to destroy Hamas!

Egypt heads the group trying to destroy Hamas and Qatar heads the group trying to save Hamas. Israel is quietly aligned with the group headed by Egypt, while Israel strikes out against Qatar diplomatically.

That's why it's best for Israel if they accept a deal with Egypt, than if they accept a deal that comes out of Qatar.

Hamas has been looking for allies, so far in vain [Israel]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3184802/posts

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.607178

While Islamic Jihad remains an Iranian protégé, Hamas decided two and a half years ago to break with Iran and return to its natural Arab and Sunni home. This decision was sparked by the Iranian-backed Syrian government’s slaughter of its largely Sunni citizens, which generated pressure to sever ties from both fellow Palestinians and Arab states. But Hamas also thought this move wouldn’t exact too high an economic price, thanks to the support it received from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-led government.

That calculation collapsed when Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was ousted last year; Egypt’s new government is waging war on the Brotherhood and all its branches, first and foremost Hamas. But Hamas can no longer return to Iran, Syria and Hezbollah. Qatar and Turkey remain its only refuge, and both are loathed by Egypt and the Gulf states.

In Gaza war, Egypt taking hard line over border [Israel and Hamas]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3184786/posts

http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-gaza-war-egypt-taking-hard-line-over-border/

Vilification of Hamas in Cairo has only increased since Operation Protective Edge erupted.

CAIRO (AP) — In the Gaza war now in its third bloody week, Hamas’ battle isn’t only with Israel, even though that’s the country it is firing rockets at. The terrorist group that rules Gaza is demanding Egypt open its border with the tiny, blockaded strip of territory

Even as it presents itself as a mediator in the conflict, Egypt is taking a hard line, refusing any opening that would strengthen Hamas, a group it accuses of fueling militancy on its soil.

And so far, the Egyptian public has largely gone along.

But as civilian casualties rise in Gaza, Egypt’s government runs the risk that Egyptians will blame it for not making concessions that could stop the bloodshed.

Still, authorities in Cairo have insisted they won’t bend. Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri called Rafah a “red line,” warning against pressuring Egypt on the issue.

Both Israel and Egypt have enforced a crippling, years-long blockade of Gaza. Israel also faces demands to open its crossings, which are vital to reviving the strip’s economy, but it is likely to resist doing so.

For its part, Egypt has made it clear it won’t open the border unless the Gaza side is run by Hamas’ rival, President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority.

Israel singles out Qatar as key Hamas terror sponsor
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3184241/posts

http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-it-battles-hamas-israel-singles-out-its-sponsor-qatar/

Gulf emirate is branded the villain behind Hamas belligerence, with PM’s former security adviser saying it funds tunnel diggers and rocket launchers.

President Shimon Peres accused Qatar on Wednesday of becoming “the world’s largest funder of terror” due to its financial support for Hamas in Gaza.

“Qatar does not have the right to send money for rockets and tunnels which are fired at innocent civilians,” the outgoing statesman told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Jerusalem. “Their funding of terror must stop. If they want to build then they should, but they must not be allowed to destroy.”

Qatar’s recently attempted to transfer funds for the salaries of Hamas civil servants in Gaza, following the formation of a Palestinian unity government, but was blocked by the United States, which pressured the Arab Bank not to process them. But former national security adviser Maj. Gen. (res) Yaakov Amidror told The Times of Israel that the emirate’s funding for the organization’s terror apparatus, including tunnel diggers and rocket launchers, has continued unabated.

Ceasefire Talks to Renew in Cairo as Egypt Slams Hamas [Israel]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3183468/posts

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/22/ceasefire-talks-to-renew-in-cairo-as-egypt-slams-hamas/

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Monday that Israel will continue its offensive “as long as necessary” to stop rocket attacks by Hamas and terrorist infiltration from Gaza.

Meanwhile, a senior Egyptian official on Sunday accused Hamas of neglecting Palestinian citizens after officials claimed that one of the terrorist group’s leaders, Khaled Mashaal, had been invited for Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire talks in Cairo.

“This is yet another lie in a string of lies made by Hamas leaders, who continue to live comfortable lives abroad while abandoning the Palestinian citizens who are being killed by the day and paying with their lives for the political and military escapades of the organization,” the official said, according to Israel Hayom.

Egypt still holds the key in cease-fire talks [Israel and Hamas]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3183248/posts

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.606289

“I take my hat off to Israel, and I say to the army, the people, and the Israeli leadership – you’re good men,” enthused Tawfik Okasha, owner and anchor of the Egyptian television channel Al-Faraeen. Although it’s true that Okasha has a personal vendetta against the Muslim Brotherhood, which closed down his channel during their rule, statements such as these haven’t been heard in Egypt in generations. There’s no doubt that the official and public discourse in Egypt is more favorable to Israel than it is to Hamas, but it’s still too early to rejoice about any kind of miracle from above.

This discourse could turn at any given moment. Egypt is mired in a national loss much more troubling than the death of over 400 Palestinians in Gaza. Although the deaths of 22 Egyptian soldiers near the western border at the hands of unidentified terrorist gangs has drowned out discussions of Gaza, the Egyptians continue to hold the position that they, and no other state – Turkey, Qatar or any other – should mediate the diplomatic efforts at a cease-fire.

It’s not just Turkey and Qatar that are in Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi’s political crosshairs. Sissi made clear to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that he does not intend to visit the American-African summit meeting, where he was meant to meet President Obama. Instead, Sissi will send Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri.

Arab rifts may complicate search for Gaza truce [Israel and Hamas]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3183170/posts

http://news.yahoo.com/arab-rifts-may-complicate-search-gaza-truce-162358992.html;_ylt=AwrBJR_XRM1Tm1oAjoHQtDMD

DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) - The push for a Gaza ceasefire risks becoming mired in a regional tussle for influence between conservative Arab states and Islamist-friendly governments, with rival powers competing to take credit for a truce, analysts and some officials say.

The main protagonists are Arab heavyweight Egypt and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar, on opposite sides of a regional standoff over Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, and its ideological patron the Muslim Brotherhood.

Both camps suggest the other is motivated as much by a desire to polish diplomatic prestige and crush political adversaries as by the humanitarian goal of protecting Palestinian lives from the Israeli military.

“Gaza has turned very suddenly into the theater in which this new alignment within the Arab world is being expressed,” said UK-based analyst Ghanem Nusseibeh.

“Gaza is the first test for these new alliances, and this has affected the possibility of reaching a ceasefire there.”

He was referring to Qatar, Turkey, Sudan and non-Arab Iran, the main members of a loose grouping of states which believe Islamists represent the future of Middle East politics.

That camp stands in increasingly overt competition with a conservative, pro-Western group led by Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, most of whom are intent on crushing the Brotherhood and see it as a threat.

That cleavage is now apparent in the diplomacy over Gaza.