Seeking clarity about Hamas
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Anonymous
| Netanyahu supported the creation of Hamas to get power away from PLO |
Anonymous
I thought Fatah is actually "running things" in Gaza? I mean in the sense of government? And have read a lot about Bib strengthening Hamas to divide Gaza and West Bank, playing them off of each other. I asked a friend--because I thought maybe that was going way, way too far, and she rads the entire LA times every morning and retains information well--if it was at all possible Netanyahu allowed the softening of the border to allow this to happen. I actually think that is too far but she felt he's exactly the sort of person to do that. |
Anonymous
My immediate first thought. |
Anonymous
Second pp--80% or so hate Abbas, which is a different thing. A slight majority in past polls prefer armed conflict over peaceful resistance, or negotiations, and very strong rejection of single state or two state solution. But to what extent has that sentiment been shaped by their experiences in recent decades? Especially since the population skews young, all they have known is living in a barricaded enclave or being overrun by "settlers" --these btw are polls of Palestinians generally, not Gazans specifically, far as I could tell. https://thehill.com/opinion/4273883-mellman-do-palestinians-support-hamas-polls-paint-a-murky-picture/ |
Anonymous
Trump did not grab power. We have the electoral college and he won. |
Anonymous
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I was in the region when Hamas won a plurality of votes in 2006 (Israel evacuated Gaza in 2005--removing even the Jewish cemeteries. It left greenhouses, some of which were trashed after Israel left.) Many people voted for Hamas simply because it was less corrupt than Fatah, and supplied schools and hospitals, in the way religious organizations do. I thought/hoped/ridiculously believed that Gaza could become a little Singapore, a miniature Hong Kong, once Palestinians could run their own affairs. But terrorism and fanaticism won out.
When Hamas is defeated, and if the Palestinian Authority governs there again, perhaps there could be more controls over the money--the millions and millions of dollars that Qatar and the EU and the US contribute to Gaza. Hamas took the money and apparently built tunnels. |
Anonymous
Hamas existed to create chaos and was added by Bibi destabilize Palestine’s secular government. |
Anonymous
And what makes the poll reliable? |
Anonymous
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This explains what Hamas is beautifully
https://youtu.be/CqIz-ZvKIUw?si=nfz3--icUMLztJqA |
Anonymous
I'm not sure what fantasy world exists where Palestine would ever have a peaceful secular government (takes a long hard look at all the other Arab countries in the region). Frankly, the most realistic alternative history for Palestine absent the creation of Israel would be another Syria, or in best possible case and with enormous luck, another Lebanon, but Syria is a more likely comparison. Which means not pretty and not peaceful. That aside, the furore and intensity of the pro Palestinian protests combined with the stubborn refusal to acknowledge the severity of the barbarism of the Hamas attacks, which went far beyond just shooting people, and protests that began even before Israel responded to the attacks on October 7, does make me strongly suspicious of the idea that Palestinians and even the Muslim world in general would be supportive of a two state solution or anything that doesn't involve the disestablishment of Israel outright. After all, Israel had fully withdrawn from Gaza while still supplying it with electricity and resources and the Hamas attacks was surely in reaction to the Abrahamic accords and a warning to the leadership of the more moderate Arab countries. I'm reminded of what happened following the creation of Israel in 1948, of how the rest of the Middle East responded violently by attacking and then driving out their own Jewish populations, who had nothing to do with Israel and had lived in those countries for centuries. Like the Iraqi Jewish population that numbered around 150,000 in the late 40s, or the large Jewish communities across Egypt and North Africa. Close to half of Israel's population is descended from Jews forcibly pushed out of all the other Middle Eastern countries. They were not and never were European "colonizers" in any meaningful sense of the word, but Middle Easterners! But it shows you Jews everywhere in the world are punished for Israel, regardless of their support or opposition to either Israel or Zionism or the settlements, and it does make you look long and hard at the sincerity of support for any kind of peaceful compromise between Israel and Palestine. What I really wished could have happened was for the Americans and Canadians to have offered part of the western USA and Canada as a new nation for the world's Jews. There's plenty of room there. Absent that I'd accept a global compromise that welcomed the entire Jewish population of the world to the United States in exchange for a guarantee that no further Muslim immigration to the US would be allowed, solely to ensure the security and safety of American Jews. But that's also the realm of fantasy and we have to deal with this world as it is. |