TODAY GAZA, TOMORROW... Ralph Peters of The New York Post writes about Why Hamas Won

HAMAS won its shut-out victory in Gaza with alarming ease. And the reason Hamas won is even more alarming: Fanaticism trumps numbers.

You'll hear no end of explanations for the terrorist triumph: Hamas was backed by Iran; Gaza is Hamas' base of support; some Fatah units ran out of ammunition . . .

All true. And all secondary factors.

Fatah's security forces in Gaza outnumbered the Hamas gunmen. Fatah had stockpiles of weapons and military gear (now in Hamas' arsenal). Fatah even had the quiet backing of Israel and America.

And Fatah folded like a pup tent in a tornado.

Hamas won because its fighters are religious fanatics ready to die for their cause.

From there, Peters goes on to write about implications for the war in Iraq.
What about the implications for Israel?

Israel has always had going for it a Zionist vision that allowed her to sacrifice for the land, creating a rich and beautiful homeland out of desert: going so far as to lay down lives to defend Israel:--also despite being outnumbered.

Hamas has going for it an Islamist vision that allowed it to wage a brutal war and taking Gaza for its own. Where will Hamas go from here. This the Kassams make abundantly clear.

But today Zionists have been replaced by politicians, passion by calculation--not of Israeli, but of political success.

Peters writes:

The lesson from Gaza is that such wars are neither waged nor won by the majority of the population. A tiny fraction of the populace, armed and determined, can destroy a fragile government and seize power.

When will Israel's leaders regain the determination and passion required accept the situation as a war and act accordingly?

Technorati Tag: Israel and Hamas and Ralph Peters.