Dubai and all that Stuff

The enigma that is middle - eastern politics and the middle - eastern mind-set make is so radically different to ours. Too often we apply western values and a western approach when trying to make sense of the middle - east and then find it difficult to understand what is happening. It’s too easy to say it’s a Jewish- Muslim thing. The Arab world and the Muslim world are anything but united.

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the senior Hamas operative killed in Dubai was not a popular man. There were many that wanted him dead.  Israel, who claims that al-Mabhouh was involved in attaining high grade rockets to be smuggled into Gaza through Egypt, wanted him dead.  Interestingly Jordan and Egypt would want him dead for an extension of that same reason.

Anything that promotes Hamas bolsters the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and Egypt, both secular, pseudo democratic, dictatorship. Egypt especially keeps the Muslim Brotherhood under the thumb, as they are seen as the biggest threat to the regime.

Fatah, the faction of Mahmoud Abbas, which was evicted from the Gaza strip by Hamas and even within Hamas, where there is a rivalry between the Gazans and those based in Damascus. Of course the other major player in anything untoward is Iran.

Iran who has its satellites, Syria and the Hezbullah controlled Lebanon sitting on Israel’s northern borders, continues to support Hamas, but begrudgingly. Hamas is a Sunni organisation and Iran is Shi’ite and that is usually enough reason to go to war. They are both Muslims, just like the Protestants and the Catholics in Ireland are both Christians.  They may need no other reason to do this, than implicate Israel and deflect pressure from the UN on their Nuclear Program. According to Dubai police 2 of the ‘hit team’ escaped to Iran; not a place Israelis like to go, as you can imagine.

With all the noise being created about this, it doesn’t seem like this man is going to be mourned by very many.  Did Israel do it? Quite probably. Did others do it do implicate Israel? Quite possibly. While the former is most likely, we can still entertain the latter.  Even the few mistakes by the Mossad have made have never been made on this scale. Is this reasonable doubt? In a court of law, I am sure it would be.

However the main story has been the use of passports. It seems that it would be rather foolish of Israel to use passports of real people and especially those of its own citizens that have dual citizenship. Israel is not a ‘stupid’ country. So many people, so many passports and so easily traced, strange. The only people to have been arrested so far are 2 Palestinians, even stranger.

For arguments sake, let’s say Israel did do it? Why is everyone so surprised that 3^rd country passports were used. In every spy movie I have ever seen, the spy opens his bag to reveal a swath of passports from many countries. I assume every spy agency does the same.

So why the shock and horror?  The use of passports of real people seems to be the deviation from espionage norms.  That is what most espionage agencies don’t do, that is probably the best argument for it not being Israel. Of course that then raises the question, how did the perpetrators get into the files of Israel’s interior ministry?

This has got to be worth a movie at least.