The Blogs: I was a visitor to Nasser Yousef

-Unclassified-

During the time the PO was in charge of Gaza. Until they lost the election to Hamas, I was a bi-weekly visitor to Nasser Yousef at his PLO headquarters. In Gaza at our first meeting, we discovered that we had a common past: he advised and fought for the North Vietnamese, and I fought in the USMC, for South Vietnam. We discussed some of the battles we had fought in on opposing sides and became friends (He even came to my daughter’s wedding in Israel).

About Nasser Yousef: Nasser Yousef was born in 1943 in Jiser Al-Majam’a, in the Jordan Valley. He had an early education in Shuneh Shamaliyyeh and completed high school in the Islamic resistance movement.

Institutional Reform and Ceasefire Maintenance

Nasser Yousef prioritized restructuring Palestinian security services to improve coordination, accountability, and the chain of command, rather than relying on heavy militarization. In April 2005, he demanded detailed personnel lists and streamlined communications across all branches of security forces, aiming to contain rocket fire from Gaza without direct factional clashes.

His emphasis on law enforcement over open confrontation underscored a preference for internal stability and prevention of lawlessness while preserving ceasefires with Israel.

Engagement with Israel and International Legitimacy

Yousef viewed robust security checks as a tool to build trust with international actors and Israel. He oversaw improvements at Gaza’s Erez crossing to demonstrate the Palestinian Authority’s control and its willingness to cooperate on security matters, bolstering Mahmoud Abbas’s diplomatic position in 2005.

This approach sought to align Palestinian governance with global norms and present the PA as a credible partner for peace.

Since October 2023, Gaza has witnessed catastrophic losses: over 25,000 killed, more than 65,000 wounded, and 1.9 million displaced out of 2.3 million residents. There is effectively no safe refuge, with relentless bombardment, severe shortages of food, water, and medicine, and sanitation collapse threatening epidemics.

Political Fragmentation and Blockade

The Hamas–Fatah split has entrenched political paralysis, while Israel’s blockade—justified by classifying Gaza as a “hostile entity”—restricts exports, imports, fuel, electricity, and freedom of movement. International aid is often politicized, and the enclave remains under de facto siege, deepening Gazans’ dependence on fragmented humanitarian corridors.

Points of Convergence and Divergence

Theme	Yousef’s Approach	Ramati’s Assessment	Intersection & Divergence
Security Governance	Emphasizes policing, institutional legitimacy, and ceasefire upkeep	Advocates strong military deterrence but warns of prohibitive ground‐war costs	Both seek stability; Yousef rejects large‐scale force, Ramati deems it costly.
Civilian Protection	Avoids escalation to limit civilian harm	Highlights the catastrophic civilian toll of urban invasion	Shared concern for noncombatants; differ on means to ensure it.
International Engagement	Builds PA credibility via cooperation and transparent security checks	Critiques of overreliance on airpower and external pressure	Both question unilateral tactics; they diverge on who should lead security efforts.
Long-Term Stability	Governance reforms and diplomacy	Calls for an integrated military‐political strategy	I agree on the need for a balanced approach; however, I disagree on the dominant lever to employ.

It is all the more important to remember that these two militias simply would not exist if the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had not been expelled from Lebanon by Israel in 1982, allowing Hezbollah to establish itself in the space thereby left vacant. And if the PLO had been able to bring the peace process with Israel that began in 1993 to a successful conclusion, as the collapse of this process paved the way for Hamas before offering it the keys to Gaza in 2007. The Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood created an armed Palestinian branch: Hamas, with its power base in Gaza. Hamas, dedicated to Israel’s destruction and restoration of Islamic rule in what it saw as occupied Palestine, became a rival to Yasser Arafat’s secular Fatah party that led the Palestine Liberation Organization.

1993 – The Oslo Accords and Palestinian semi-autonomy

Israel and the Palestinians signed a historic peace accord in 1993 that led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Under the interim deal, Palestinians were first given limited control in Gaza and Jericho in the West Bank. Arafat returned to Gaza after decades in exile.

In August 2005, Israel evacuated all its troops and settlers from Gaza, which was by then completely fenced off from the outside world by Israel.

Palestinians tore down the abandoned buildings and infrastructure for scrap. The settlements’ removal led to greater freedom of movement within Gaza, and a “tunnel economy” boomed as armed groups, smugglers, and entrepreneurs quickly dug scores of tunnels into Egypt.

In 2006, Hamas scored a surprise victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections. Then it seized full control of Gaza, overthrowing forces loyal to Arafat’s successor, President Mahmoud Abbas. That election didn’t just change who held power — it reshaped Palestinian politics for decades.

By 2007, Hamas had taken control of Gaza, while the Palestinian Authority, dominated by Fatah, retained control of the West Bank. Many Western countries, viewing Hamas as a terrorist organization, cut aid and refused to recognize the new government. That election didn’t just change who held power — it reshaped Palestinian politics for decades.

While Israel was led to believe it was containing a war-weary Hamas by providing economic incentives to Gazan workers, the group’s drilling in secret. Palestinians broke into the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border fence after gunmen infiltrated areas of southern Israel, on October 7. The win triggered a deep rift between Hamas and Fatah, leading to violent clashes and a split in governance. On Oct.7, Hamas gunmen launched a surprise attack on Israel, rampaging through towns, killing hundreds, and taking dozens of hostages back to Gaza. Israel took revenge, hammering Gaza with air strikes and razing entire districts in some of the worst blood-letting in the 75 years of conflict.