Palestinian columnist: Hamas was wrong to drag the war into Ramadan, it should strive for a ceasefire

Palestinian columnist: The belief that Ramadan is the month of victories is wrong; Hamas must strive for a ceasefire. On March 18, 2024, a few days after the beginning of the month of Ramadan, Abdel-Rani Salama, a columnist in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayam, published an article in which he criticized the Hamas movement for not seeking a ceasefire with Israel before the beginning of the month of Ramadan, despite The heavy losses in Gaza and even threaten the continuation of the fighting.

Salama explained that Hamas’s insistence on continuing the war stems from the widespread Islamic belief that ‘Ramadan is the month of victories’ and ‘that the Muslims won every war that took place in Ramadan. According to him, this belief is a “distortion of the facts” since Islamic history has proven otherwise, since not all battles fought during Ramadan ended in the victory of the Muslims and most of the victories of Islam were not in the month of Ramadan at all.

“We are talking about those who bet that the occupation army would not dare to enter Gaza,” Salama wrote, “and that the resistance would force it to retreat, and then they bet on Khan Yunis, which they described as the stronghold of the resistance, and now they are betting on Rafah. In view of five previous rounds of aggression by Israel on Gaza, I don’t know what else needs to happen for us to learn the lesson. We don’t wage wars with slogans, speeches and rhetoric, but based on a situational assessment based on precise considerations, a strategic concept that takes into account all the political data, the objective circumstances, the local and global power balances.”

According to Salama, contrary to the wishes of those outside Gaza, referring to the foreign leadership of Hamas, all residents of Gaza long for an immediate end to the war and the declaration of a ceasefire. He claimed that the threats to continue the war are “an obscene, unacceptable and immoral thing” and that human life should be sanctified and political interests should not be placed over the interest of the people.

“By the end of this month we may lose several thousand more of our people, we may lose more innocents and more rivers of pure blood may be spilled. The losses may be double and multiplied” he added “Hamas wants the continuation of the war because they believe that ‘Ramadan is the month of victories’ And ‘that the Muslims won every war that took place in Ramadan.’ This despite the fact that reality has clearly demonstrated that the assumptions they made were wrong.”

“Is there such a thing in military and war science called ‘Ramadan wars’? In 2014, wasn’t Gaza subjected to severe aggression that lasted for 51 days during Ramadan, and still no achievement or victory was achieved, but more than 2,600 people were killed and heavy material damage was caused that has not yet been repaired? Hasn’t it already been 75 months of Ramadan since the Nakba of the Palestinian people? Haven’t hundreds of months of Ramadan passed over the Arab nation, and its situation continues to deteriorate? How many months of Ramadan has the suffering of the Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis, Afghans and other oppressed peoples continued?”

Salama is not the only Palestinian journalist who has criticized Hamas. Along with senior Palestinian officials from the Palestinian Authority and Fatah who justified the terrorist attack led by Hamas on October 7, several articles were published in the Palestinian Authority dailies in which it was claimed that Hamas was planning a disaster for the residents of Gaza and called on it to flex its positions in negotiations with Israel. Alongside the historical rivalry between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, this criticism may also stem from the Palestinian Authority’s fear of an increase in support for Hamas in the territories under its control in the West Bank and the outbreak of a wave of violence in the West Bank inspired by the bloody attack carried out by Hamas against Israel, which will lead to extensive military action by Israel.