Reports coming out of the Palestinian Authority today say that the Hamas political leadership has ordered its military wing to halt all attacks against Israel, a move apparently aimed at forming the upcoming Palestinian unity government.
Israel insisted that they were “unaware” of any such moves, but reports have been emerging over the past few weeks that the group is looking to transform itself into a non-violent movement, inspired by the success of the Arab Spring revolutions.
Israel has been railing at the idea of Palestinian unity, and insisting that they will withdraw from all peace talks (not that there have been any) if Fatah has a rapprochement with Hamas. The move would be more difficult to justify, however, if Hamas manages to transition toward non-violence.
The prospect speaks to a strategy that the Israeli military has feared for quite some time, as military planners have warned that they don’t believe they could crush an Arab Spring style popular uprising.
