In recent years, Hamas made moves that led some observers to believe the threat to Israel was contained. They were wrong.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh visits the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel in 2018. Longtime observers of Hamas debate how much the Palestinian militant group truly evolved over the last decade, particularly during the period sometimes known as its “pragmatic era.” There is no argument, however, about when that era ended: Just after sunrise Saturday with the launch of a devastating attack on Israel.
Israel has launched air raids and announced the severing of electricity, fuel and food to the blockaded Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, roughly half of them children. The “complete siege” announced by Israel is prohibited by international law, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk
Another factor is the internal Israeli political crisis. Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government has continued apace with settlement construction while pushing controversial judicial reforms that would hobble the courts’ role as a check on executive power. With thousands of Israelis protesting in the streets, analysts said Hamas may have seen the Israeli state in a vulnerable position and Palestinian voices once again sidelined in a political fight that could shape their future.
Foreign policy analysts who warned against buying into the idea of a new-and-improved Hamas are finding themselves vindicated in the worst way.“Hamas was never the answer,” said Michael Singh, who served as a senior Middle East director for the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration and is now at the Washington Institute. “Pragmatic engagement and so forth was always an illusion, and now everyone is seeing that.
Israeli forces withdrew from the territory in 2005 but still controls, along with Egypt, the borders and much of the West Bank.Like other Islamist groups, Hamas initially gained popularity among Palestinians by creating local charities and programs to tackle health care and education. That translated into political power in 2006 when the Hamas bloc known as “Change and Reform” won legislative elections, posing an existential threat to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.
“We arrayed all of the groups in terms of organizational complexity and they were at the highest of our scale — very bureaucratized, but also they had, like, a skunk works,” Ligon said.
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