By Jennifer Rubin
Columnist|
October 24, 2023 at 7:45 a.m. EDT
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Apologists for Hamas ignore the terrorist group’s role in terrorizing Palestinians, absconding with aid intended for civilians and using civilians as human shields, a war crime. In demanding Israel “free Palestine,” these apologists ignore that Israel withdrew entirely from Gaza and has periodically attempted to trade land for peace with the Palestinians.
The refusal to differentiate between bloodthirsty terrorists and the Palestinian people does nothing to help the latter. If Palestinian supporters truly want to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians, blaming Israelis for their own massacre is as counterproductive as it is morally warped.
This is not to say Israel’s government, which will surely suffer the consequences of its grave failures, is beyond reproach. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has engaged in a pattern of needless confrontation on the West Bank, included unapologetic racists and unqualified ideologues in the cabinet, and sowed discord in Israeli society. But the government’s greatest moral and political failing might have been implicitly tolerating Hamas as a means of blocking a two-state solution. (“The purpose of the doctrine was to perpetuate the rift between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank,” Netanyahu critic Dmitry Shumsky recently argued. “That would preserve the diplomatic paralysis and forever remove the ‘danger’ of negotiations with the Palestinians over the partition of Israel into two states — on the argument that the Palestinian Authority doesn’t represent all the Palestinians.”)
Though there is no excusing Hamas and no vindicating Netanyahu, another player is missing from the conversation: the corrupt, inert Palestinian Authority (PA), which has done very little to advance the interests of a two-state solution or even improved conditions for Palestinians. It has never enjoyed robust support from ordinary Palestinians (in large part because of its abusive conduct and endemic corruption).
“The allegations of corruption, leveled against the Palestinian Authority almost from day one, severely undermined the credibility of former [Palestine Liberation Organization] Chairman Yasser Arafat and his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, in the eyes of their people,” Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning Arab and Palestinian affairs journalist, wrote in July. “The charges, which have exponentially increased over the past three decades, are among several factors that have made it more difficult, if not impossible, for Arafat and Abbas to make substantial concessions that would lead to a peace agreement with Israel.”
The PA’s own role in empowering Hamas cannot be overlooked:
Columnist|
October 24, 2023 at 7:45 a.m. EDT
Save
Apologists for Hamas ignore the terrorist group’s role in terrorizing Palestinians, absconding with aid intended for civilians and using civilians as human shields, a war crime. In demanding Israel “free Palestine,” these apologists ignore that Israel withdrew entirely from Gaza and has periodically attempted to trade land for peace with the Palestinians.
The refusal to differentiate between bloodthirsty terrorists and the Palestinian people does nothing to help the latter. If Palestinian supporters truly want to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians, blaming Israelis for their own massacre is as counterproductive as it is morally warped.
This is not to say Israel’s government, which will surely suffer the consequences of its grave failures, is beyond reproach. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has engaged in a pattern of needless confrontation on the West Bank, included unapologetic racists and unqualified ideologues in the cabinet, and sowed discord in Israeli society. But the government’s greatest moral and political failing might have been implicitly tolerating Hamas as a means of blocking a two-state solution. (“The purpose of the doctrine was to perpetuate the rift between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank,” Netanyahu critic Dmitry Shumsky recently argued. “That would preserve the diplomatic paralysis and forever remove the ‘danger’ of negotiations with the Palestinians over the partition of Israel into two states — on the argument that the Palestinian Authority doesn’t represent all the Palestinians.”)
Though there is no excusing Hamas and no vindicating Netanyahu, another player is missing from the conversation: the corrupt, inert Palestinian Authority (PA), which has done very little to advance the interests of a two-state solution or even improved conditions for Palestinians. It has never enjoyed robust support from ordinary Palestinians (in large part because of its abusive conduct and endemic corruption).
“The allegations of corruption, leveled against the Palestinian Authority almost from day one, severely undermined the credibility of former [Palestine Liberation Organization] Chairman Yasser Arafat and his successor, Mahmoud Abbas, in the eyes of their people,” Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning Arab and Palestinian affairs journalist, wrote in July. “The charges, which have exponentially increased over the past three decades, are among several factors that have made it more difficult, if not impossible, for Arafat and Abbas to make substantial concessions that would lead to a peace agreement with Israel.”
The PA’s own role in empowering Hamas cannot be overlooked:
The conspicuous wealth and consumption of Mahmoud Abbas’ sons, Tarek and Yasser, have been very controversial in Palestinian society since 2009, when Reuters published articles linking Tarek and Yasser to several multimillion-dollar business deals, including a few that were U.S. Government contracts.
Western donors’ failure, or refusal, in the first two decades after the “peace process” to hold the Palestinian Authority accountable for their outlandish abuse of funds, was one of the main reasons most Palestinians lost faith in the Oslo Accords.
Moreover, it was also one of the primary reasons so many Palestinians were radicalized and ultimately voted for Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary election. When they saw no benefit from the Palestinian Authority’s “peace process” with Israel and became furious about its leaders’ corruption, they saw Hamas as their only recourse.