A semi-retired physician
Hamas and the Future of Gaza
On October 10 of this year, President Trump accomplished what seemed to most leaders and pundits, an impossible mission: to bring Hamas and Israel to a ceasefire after a long two-year war which ran the risk of continuing indefinitely as is happening with the war between Russia and Ukraine. Notably, three major regional players—Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar—were signatories to the ceasefire, with both Turkey and Qatar being strong supporters of the initiative, and Egypt sharing a border with Gaza. Additionally, the agreement received endorsement from the UN Security Council on November 17, which further strengthens its significance. However, progress is slow and stymied which is unfortunate, since the slow progress is delaying the start of Gaza’s reconstruction.
The ceasefire implementation so far, however imperfect and incomplete, has dramatically improved the situation for both Gaza and Israel. With regards to benefits for Gaza, the major fighting has stopped, Israel has withdrawn the bulk of its forces, aid is flowing smoother, and over 2,000 imprisoned Gazans have been released. From Israel’s vantage point, it no longer needs to maintain a large fighting force in Gaza, all the remaining live hostages have been released and all but one of the dead hostages are back on Israeli soil.
What is the catch? What barriers hinder progress? Two major conditions are that Hamas disarm and pass on governance to a transitional body. While numerous provisions remain unmet, the primary obstacle is Hamas insisting on continuing to be the exclusive armed authority in Gaza. Despite issuing occasional conditional statements, Hamas has not altered this stance. In fact, they have entrenched themselves further since the ceasefire. A grim example of this, is their public execution of Gazans seen as opponents. These extrajudicial killings appear designed to instil fear among the population, signalling that any opposition to Hamas will lead to a humiliating death. Hamas continues to be determined to eliminate any viable alternatives to their leadership, control, and militarization within Gaza.
Why is Hamas so hostile to Israel and the Jewish people? The ideology of Hamas is based on Islamic fundamentalism. Hamas has had 20 years to inculcate their radical Islamic fundamentalism of hatred into the Gaza population and have succeeded as such. Regrettably they are not alone. There are other Islamic regimes in the Middle East and Africa who practice this creed. Some examples of Islamic fundamentalist regimes in the Middle East include Iran, Hezbollah (Lebanon) the Houthis (Yemen) and Qatar who are also supporters unsurprisingly of Hamas. By observing what has happened to Gaza since the Hamas takeover in 2005 and in particular since the Hamas initiated war of October 2023, whatever pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinians purports, this ideology has not benefited the Palestinian population. One cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that this ideology is negativistic; the damage to Israel and the killing of Jews is more important to them than the positive wellbeing of the Gazan and Palestinian people. Likewise, Islamic fundamentalism has not been particularly beneficial to the other regimes mentioned above. Regarding Qatar, the picture is more complex, in part because of their vast oil reserves and because they have been playing both sides: On one hand they have been a prime funder of Hamas regarding funding of their military tunnels, influencing world public opinion to be pro-Hamas and anti-Israel, and housing Hamas leaders luxuriously. On the other hand, in a constructive light, they played an instrumental role in procuring the early release of some of the Israeli hostages and are signatories to the Trump ceasefire.
The ruthlessness of negative ideological regimes should not surprise anyone familiar with 20th century history. Three salient examples include Nazi Germany leading to WW2, with an estimated 30 million casualties, Soviet Russia under Stalin, with estimates of 6-20 million deaths, and China under Mao Zedong, with an estimated 44-72 million people killed. Why then should another radical ideology come as a surprise?
Refusal to lay down its arms and relinquish control of Gaza has significant ramifications, foremostly prolonging the suffering of the Gaza population. No international organization or Arab force or even including regimes sympathetic to Hamas that are interested in improving the plight of Gazans, are likely to support the rebuilding of Gaza as long as Hamas remains armed and in power. Firstly, during its decades in governance, Hamas did little to promote the welfare of Gazans. Furthermore, if Hamas again diverts international funding geared for the benefit of its civilian population to rearm and attack Israel again, as its covenant demands, Israel will have no choice but to retaliate and take necessary actions to defend itself, including targeting Gaza’s infrastructure. No potential aid force will neither want to have to battle an armed Hamas in Gaza nor fund an operation which culminates in an Israeli military response.
Not all Arab countries support Islamic fundamentalism. Their opponents realize that this ideology not only involves hostility to Israel and Jews but is primarily repressive towards its own citizens, particularly their minorities. Several Arab states have banned or curbed Islamic fundamentalism including Egypt, the U.A.E, Bahrain and Tunisia.
While Israel has gained the upper hand militarily, Hamas has undoubtedly won the public relations battle in the West and among Arab nations. Even though the October 7 conflict was initiated by Hamas, which proudly published camera footage of its atrocities against mostly unarmed Israeli civilians, Israeli Arabs and Jews alike, the pro-Palestinian movement has nevertheless managed to convince not just the Arab world but also much of the West that Gazans and Palestinians are the victims, not the perpetrators of this horrific war. If the primary objective of the pro-Palestinian movement is to humiliate and isolate Israel, they have made significant progress. However, if their main goal is to improve the conditions for Palestinians, they have failed miserably.
Hamas’s ideology appears to have intertwined with widespread latent antisemitism, as evidenced by the recent murder of 15 Australian Jews at Bondi Beach in Australia on December 14, only one of multiple antisemitic incidents around the world, flourishing since Oct 7. The disproportionate and aggressive criticism of Israel, coupled with rampant worldwide antisemitism, has made the predicament for Jews around the globe increasingly precarious. While criticizing Israeli policies should not be conflated with antisemitism, denying Israel’s right to exist or applying double standards is indeed biased.
The international support for Hamas, including violent protests marked by slogans like “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”—which imply the dismemberment of Israel—do have historical parallels with other forms of destructive radicalism. For example, some segments of the American public supported Nazi Germany, while many Russian intellectuals endorsed Stalin.
Without support from the Arab world, even the powerful United States is unlikely to achieve regime change in Gaza necessary to disarm and replace Hamas. Change is only feasible if both Gazans and the pro-Palestinian movement view Hamas and its ideology as liabilities. It’s important to note that when given the opportunity, Palestinians have demonstrated their industriousness and capability. This is evident in secure areas that have liberated Palestinians from Islamic fundamentalism, or from Palestinian Authority corruption allowing them the freedom to pursue constructive lifestyles. A prime example is in Israel, where its 2 million Arab residents have thrived and enjoy more freedoms than Arabs anywhere else in the Arab world.
In summary, I’d like to share two quotes from former Israeli leaders stated more than 50 years ago that remain relevant today. Golda Meir, as Prime Minister stated, “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us,” a sentiment that still rings true. Let us also hope that the late Abba Eban’s observation, “The Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” proves to be incorrect this time around and that Hamas is made to comply with the Trump initiative.