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It is not Hamas that is violating the laws of war by entrenching itself in schools, but Israel by attacking them. The moderator wanted to know from the ambassador what exactly is permitted under international law when terrorists are in such buildings.His answer: "Why are you taking on the Israelis' question? I'm asking you why Israel attacks schools. That is the question. Not the other way around. Why do you accept that Israel repeatedly attacks schools?"Heckmann hardly resisted. "It's not about my opinion and my assessment. I can't judge that from here. I can only quote the Israeli side's argument and ask you whether we agree that a school or a similar facility becomes a legitimate military target if terrorists are there?"Abdel-Shafi seemed to give in for a moment. "Of course, civilian objects cannot be used for military purposes," he said. "But Hamas does that, doesn't it?" Heckmann replied. The ambassador then said: "No. Who says that? Israel says that. Has Israel proven so far that Hamas used a hospital or a school? Has anyone proven that?"...Heckmann wanted to know whether Israel's occupation policy could be a justification for taking women, children and the elderly hostage and holding them in inhumane conditions.The killing of civilians is of course illegal under international law and those who do such things must be held accountable, regardless of which side they are from, Abdel-Shafi postulated. The moderator asked whether he clearly distanced himself from Hamas and its policies. "No," was the ambassador's surprising answer. He would only do so if Hamas had attacked civilians.Heckmann pressed the question a little further. He wanted to know whether, in Abdel-Shafi's view, Hamas had not murdered any civilians on October 7. An independent investigation would have to be carried out first, the ambassador replied. There had indeed been an attack. But whether civilians were deliberately killed, "as Israel claims," is not yet clear.He had already made a similar statement in an interview with ZDF. And even ten months after the massacres, Abdel-Shafi has apparently not been able to gain any new insights. Or has not wanted to.
This is actually consistent with what Mahmoud Abbas has said. If you look at his statements carefully, he never condemned Hamas nor admitted Hamas committed atrocities; he merely said he was rejects killing civilians on both sides.
Even the statements he said at the Arab Summit in May did not condemn Hamas for the slaughter: "The October 7th attack carried out by Hamas unilaterally gave Israel more pretexts to attack Gaza. Our position is clear and explicit that we are against targeting civilians in any way."
The two sentences can be considered separate statements, and do not contradict Abdel-Shafi's claim that there is no evidence that Hamas targeted civilians. They are both saying if Hamas targeted civilians it would be bad, but at no time did they accuse Hamas of doing so.
And the Palestinians, by and large, refuse to believe that Hamas targeted any civilians on October 7 - even most of the ones who watched the videos of the attacks. (Only 10% admitted to having seen the videos in the June poll, although 20% said they had seen them in the March poll, which is sort of impossible.)
Palestinians, including their leaders, refuse to accept facts that they find inconvenient. Which brings up the larger question of how anyone can negotiate with people for whom lies are part and parcel of their psychological makeup.
