Does The World Care About Gaza’s Future Under Hamas?By Lawrence J. Haas
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/01/does-the-world-care-about-gazas-future-under-hamas/
The Palestinians of Gaza were the overwhelming focus of international concern during Israel’s 15-month-old war with Hamas, and their plight was the driving force behind global pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire.
But lest anyone believe that Israel’s detractors in the region and across the world really care about innocent Gazans, events on the ground since the ceasefire took effect show that’s truly a farcical notion.
Remember all that talk in Washington and elsewhere – as then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the other day – of ensuring that the genocidal terrorists of Hamas who ignited the war by slaughtering 1,200 Israelis, and who have ruled Gaza with an iron fist for nearly two decades, never regain a governing role? Remember all the talk of turning Gaza over to a reformed Palestinian Authority that, with international aid, would rebuild the Strip to better serve the Palestinians?
Well, look around, as Hamas and its terrorist allies declare victory, retake control of Gaza’s streets, welcome home blood-stained prisoners from Israel, and promise to resume their terror against Israel – all of which ensures more war and hardship for innocent Palestinians caught in the crosshairs.
Where’s the global outrage over what’s sure to come? Where are the denunciations from UN and Western leaders? Where are the human rights activists who know how Palestinians suffer under Hamas rule? Where are the editorialists and campus protesters who pledge allegiance to the Palestinian cause?
The ceasefire deal, which is supposed to be implemented in three phases but still requires further negotiations for the second and third phases, provides “for the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian Prisoners and the return to a sustainable calm which would achieve a permanent ceasefire between the two sides.”
Sounds nice. But just days into the first phase, as the world chooses to look away, what’s happening in Gaza?
With a pause in fighting, Hamas has resumed control of Gaza by sending “thousands of its forces” onto the street. Even before the deal, the group was rebuilding under Mohammed Sinwar, brother of the slain leader – and one senior retired Israeli military official claims that, of late, its rebuilding has outpaced Israeli efforts to eradicate the group.
In recent weeks, the United States, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates have discussed whether they and other nations can form a provisional government to oversee Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority can run it. But the chances that, with Hamas back in charge, those nations would use force – which would likely be necessary – to dislodge that group from power seem remote at best.
As Hamas freed the first three of 33 hostages scheduled for release over six weeks, Israel freed the first 90 of 1,904 imprisoned Palestinians scheduled for release over that period. The 90 include a convicted member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who was involved in several terrorist incidents, and a 15-year-old boy who shot two people who were on their way to pray in eastern Jerusalem. The 1,904 include more than 150 people convicted of murder.
Lest anyone anticipate, as the deal promises, “a permanent ceasefire between the two sides,” Hamas officials have made clear that they view the deal as a victory over Israel and, in the words of one, pledge to “proceed on the path of the martyred leaders until we achieve victory or martyrdom.”
With Hamas back in charge, what does that mean for the 2.1 million innocent Palestinians across Gaza?
First, more war with Israel. An emboldened Hamas will launch whatever deadly attacks it can from Gaza and then, as usual, hide its fighters and weapons in schools and hospitals and among civilians to boost Palestinian casualties – and tar Israel’s global reputation – when Jerusalem responds militarily.
Second, more authoritarian rule, depriving civilians of basic freedoms and rights, as the State Department, Freedom House, Amnesty International, and other human rights groups have long attested.
Hamas tolerates no challenge to its rule, denying Palestinians the right to choose their leaders. Among its abuses, the State Department reports, Hamas engages in unlawful killings, abductions, and detentions; disappearances; “severe physical abuses and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment;” violence and threats of violence against journalists and their unjustified detention; and significant restrictions on internet freedom and the freedoms of assembly and association.
So, with the ceasefire deal just days old, the seeds of the future are already planted for Gaza’s Palestinians – not long-term peace and brighter days but, instead, more bloodshed and autocratic rule.
In response, the silence is deafening from the usual quarters that blame Israel almost singularly for Palestinian suffering.
It all begs two questions: do Israel’s detractors really care about the Palestinians? Or are they just a useful tool for bashing Israel?
Lawrence J. Haas, a former senior White House official and award-winning journalist, is Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy at the American Foreign Policy Council.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/01/does-the-world-care-about-gazas-future-under-hamas/
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