Who is the true representative of Gazans? Who is the plenipotentiary negotiator that will truly and steadily represent the people from Gaza?
Gazans are defined ins this article as those people who are citizens of the Gaza strip. Palestinians may be Gazans, but those living in the West Bank, controlled by Fatah are not Gazans, for even their government is different. The Gazan label is to restrict the plight to the Gaza strip. We know there are Palestinians in Lebanon, in Gaza and in the West Bank.
The October 7th 2023 terrorist attack on Israel was perpetrated mainly by Hamas terrorists who not only raped, murdered and mutilated living people, but also recorded their actions on mobile phones and uploaded it onto the internet for public distribution. Sometimes with their faces covered, but sometimes very proudly showing their identities for all to recognize their actions.
Israel responded with a military operation that have been difficult and long. The operation begun in October 2023 but is far from ending today, with the reports accounting for some 50% of the Hamas military power having been destroyed and the local leadership being scattered in the South of the Gaza strip.
The international community have sided with Israel at the first moment, for there is little reason to identify with soldiers that rape and mutilate living civilians and behead babies. As the war moved on, the initial repugnancy for Hamas atrocities have dissipated, for most of the broadcast media is forbidden to divulge the images of the Israeli victims and the platforms on the internet also banned the distribution of the images.
What is broadcast is the plight of the Gaza civilians and the destruction that the military operation have created. This moved the government of South Africa to denounce Israel actions as genocidal in the International Court of Justice.
The war must stop and a firm, binding, stable settlement must be produced. The problem, of course, is the representatives of the Gazans.
There are more terrorist organizations around Israel. Hezbollah is based in Lebanon and there are other smaller groups scattered in the Middle East. Gazan host a majority of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who are preeminent in control of Gazans. These two groups have in their charter the destruction of Israel.
Can there be any negotiations with these two groups? Should Israel have a truce with the groups that have in their objectives the destruction of the state of Israel?
Truce may come, but only if both sides are willing to cease hostilities. There was truce until October 7th 2023. Israel had withdrawn from Gaza and even removed the settlers from Gaza in 2005. The whole territory was free from Israelis. Israel had been target of hundred of thousands rockets fired upon them, but mostly have limited to fire back at the launching sites, not engaging in widespread retribution. Hamas also have the habit of firing rockets from schools, nurseries and even sacred places, profiting in the propaganda images when Israelis missiles hits back on the origin of the rockets.
Since after taking power in Gaza, Hamas decided to create tunnels and infrastructure to attack Israel, an activity that have continued for these 17 years. The humanitarian help was used on building a bunker below a couple of hospitals – a war crime – and even a datacenter was powered by energy from a UNWAR hospital.
The UNWAR representatives swear they did not know of the tunnels nor the datacenter. This is not believable because Gaza is always under power shortage and every watt of energy is saved when you are running on precarious power utilities. Alas, the power from the utility and potable water was donated by Israel and this is part of the current humanitarian crisis. One can not rape the women from Israel and expect that Israel continues to supply utilities.
Why Hamas have engaged in the October 7th atrocities, there was a de jure and de facto two state solution for Gazans?
Hamas wanted to remove Benjamin Netanyahu from premiership. Hamas and the “neutrals” in Israel wanted to change the leadership for a weaker, more pliable prime minister that would give more money to Gaza and allow more Palestinians to work in Israel.
But their soldiers lost self control and raped and murdered and beheaded babies.
Hamas wanted to heighten their own value. There are plenty of wars going on and in the distribution of terrorist money, they must keep active in order to pledge for funds from the financiers. There was a windfall of money lately and Houthis and Hezbollah were in better position to get most of it.
One may say that the whole population of Gaza have not participated in the rapes and that only a minority of “radical” Palestinians support the Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
If that was true, where is the Gazan movement to remove Hamas from political power, even in the face of the hard conditions that the war have brought upon the population? Can one actually expect that if conditions get better through humanitarian harbor built by the Americans or the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza will stop Hamas from firing missiles onto Israel?
If Hamas mission is to destroy Israel, Gazans will be used by Hamas as human shields. There may be truce, forced by a super strong intervention of the UN, but if Hamas do not abjure the mission to destroy Israel, the conflict will only be postponed, but not solved.
Who represent the People from Gaza?
Why Egypt is not opening the border with Gaza? The border between the Sinai desert and Gaza strip is larger and harder to penetrate than the Berlin Wall. Egypt have not allowed refugees from Gaza and is actually making very difficult transport relief supplies to Gaza, which is being done in the passage ways in Israel.
Egypt has their own problems with the Muslin Brotherhood and their hidden cells of terrorism. Two of the five presidents were murdered by terrorist attacks. Egypt is also in no conditions to render economic help. The economy is in meltdown with high inflation and no hard currency to import food.
Gazans – the Palestinians in Gaza – must create a representative of the people that will spend the resources enhancing the life quality of the people and not waste the humanitarian relief money in rockets, tunnels and explosives.