On Friday, Yasser Abu Shabab, a young, slight Gazan militia leader who was at the forefront of the domestic Arab resistance against Hamas was killed. According to reports, Abu Shabab died trying to resolve a dispute between Gazan families in a town square in southern Rafah.

The Gangs of Gaza

While we recognize Abu Shabab’s decision to fight against Hamas and even admire his ostensible effort to peacefully settle a domestic dispute, nonetheless, Abu Shabab’s ending is not shocking – Aaron he was not.

The late Arab gang leader was not a peacemaker living amongst a nation of the God-fearing; he was a gangster more interested in feeding and protecting his clan than fighting Hamas’s war against the Jewish people.

The group which Abu Shabab led, the Popular Forces, has been able to control some territory in Gaza’s Southern City of Rafah, from which Israel tossed out Hamas relatively early in the war (above the Biden administration’s misguided objections). This group is effectively a loose confederation of gangs and has common cause with certain familial clans that have long hated Hamas.

Their offensive capability is restricted to hit-and-run tactics, such as raids and the like against Hamas positions. In simple terms: they employ a gangland strategy of strike and retreat

That’s the state of political affairs in Gaza: Gangs, guns, clans, and a lot of Hatfield and Maccoy hatred.  

Unusual Suspects

So, what has the world decided to do to address this situation? Men in suits. They’re sending men in suits.

The Board of Peace theoretically created with the recent cease-fire agreement, headed by President Trump and soon to be made up of various additional European and Arab leaders, has decided to bring together three well known figures to oversee Gaza’s reconstruction and de-terrorist-ation (like deforestation but for terrorists).

Gaza tripartite regime will be made up of Jared Kushner, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Steve Witkoff.

Kushner would make sense in such a role given his successes on the Abraham Accords, but his financial ties to Qatar do not give a great look.

Blair, who’s been wrong a lot in his career, but is not a bad guy, can at least provide a roadmap for every mistake he and his well-intentioned but misguided allies made when he was Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East (2007 – 2015). 

And Steve “is he still playing footsie with Hamas” Witkoff, needs no further introduction.

There Will Be Blood

Each of these men is exceptionally successful in their own right. One cannot deny the pivotal role they’ve each played on the world’s stage just in recent years.

Nonetheless, Gaza is unique on earth in that it is a society with access to all of the same information as the rest of the world (e.g. there is no closed internet), and yet it has been led by a death cult (from whom Pyongyang could learn a thing or two), chained itself to high-intensity conflict with its militarily superior neighbor, and is awash in weapons.

To put this in perspective, contrast the three wise men from the West being sent to rebuild Gaza, with the gangbangers, warlords and terrorists that have controlled every alley and clan in that most violent of locations for a generation.

The bottom line is that Blair, Kushner and Witkoff are taking on an enormous responsibility that requires getting a lot of steps right, in the right order, and where there is very little room for any putting a foot wrong.

Moreover, Hamas still has not disarmed. It increasingly looks as if such will require a firm approach, devoid of corrupt and terrorist-influenced (e.g. Turkey and Qatar) entities’ involvement.

We will soon find out if Messrs. Blair, Kushner, and Witkoff, are coming to the table with clear eyes or not. Maybe these years have taught them that peace in the Middle East is won, not purchased. Justice is nonnegotiable. Israel is the only trustworthy entity. And knowledge of the Word of God puts everyone else’s thoughts in perspective.

Godspeed gentlemen.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team