More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the month since Hamas’ terrorist attacks inside southern Israel, the group’s health ministry in Gaza says.
But Hamas officials say the mounting death toll, believed to include thousands of children, has not caused the group to regret its actions in southern Israel, which Israeli officials said killed 1,400 people.
In fact, Hamas leaders say that their goal was to trigger this very response and that they’re still hoping for a bigger war. It’s all part of a strategy, they say, to derail talks over Israel normalizing relations with regional powers — namely, Saudi Arabia — and draw the world’s attention to the Palestinian cause.
Hamas, these officials say, is more interested in the destruction of Israel than what it sees as the temporary hardships faced by Palestinians under Israeli bombardment.
“What could change the equation was a great act, and without a doubt, it was known that the reaction to this great act would be big,” Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the group’s governing politburo, told The New York Times in an interview.
I don’t think I’d word it that way. Hamas is hardly looking out for them, and we both know Israel isn’t at all. There are no good guys in this war. They’re all using the Palestinians in some way or another – or bombing them. The only good people are the civilians caught between all the warring parties.
I understand what you’re saying though. Hamas is no freedom fighter group and doesn’t deserve any defense you’d give one – but I can understand why a Palestinian would throw in their lot with them. Like you said, they don’t have much of a choice. The other alternative is just not picking any side at all, and trying to just survive.
I suspect however that Hamas doesn’t enjoy as much Palestinian support as they’d like. They’ve had to crack down on people protesting against them in the somewhat recent past. I think if Hamas were eliminated, we’d see a lot of them quite happy, and hopeful about the future.
We can hope, at least. The Palestinians need to be free to govern themselves, without being under Hamas’ rule nor being bombed constantly by Israel.
Yes, we do agree on all of that, but knowing that there are no good guys solves nothing. As you’ve said Hamas is at least not trying to kill and displace Palestinians, out of the two choices Palestinians would absolutely not prefer to be at the mercy of the occupation government.
Palestinians are powerless, and at this point are just cycling through everything around them and blaming it. First blaming the occupation, then the Fatah government for not taking action, and now Hamas for taking action. Everything around them is using them at best, or trying to get rid of them.
No matter what they change their situation will stay the same, because while they are (or were) able to change who governs them, the occupation is a constant thing. If it’s not wrecking their houses and murdering them, it’s blockading them and making any development impossible.
Now what you’re suggesting is for the occupation government to take Hamas’ place, which will make the situation better somehow. This only makes sense if you think that the situation in the West bank is better than the situation in Gaza.
That’s not likely, but yeah, we can at least hope.
Not at all. I want the UN to govern the area as a protectorate while the pillars of government are built, and a global coalition serving as the military. Discourage Israel from bombing unless they want to kill soldiers from all nations, and build up the functions necessary for a healthy democracy.
Even if this was to happen, do you think killing soldiers of every nation would discourage them? That’s just another disgusting act to add to the pile.
The UN would absolutely not be able to protect Palestine from sabotage and sanctions when the US is on the sabotaging side.
I think willfully killing Western soldiers would very quickly end Western support for them. They may not feel discouraged from killing them, but they are as hell would be discouraged by the consequences.
You’re right about the second point though. The UN wouldn’t be able to do a ton, as much as I’d like it to be otherwise.