We receive daily reader questions about the Gaza war through our response platform NUjij. Our foreign reporter Matthijs le Loux answers one every day this week. Today’s kick-off: “To what extent do Gazans support Hamas? Are they against this club or do they support the violence?”
Le Loux: “A good question, but also one to which no clear answer can actually be given. To show how complicated it is, we zoom in on something that is often mentioned in this context: Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. International observers considered it relatively fair. The big loser was the Fatah movement (which runs the Palestinian Authority).”
“Polls at the time showed that a large majority of Gazan voters did not support Hamas because of its goal to wipe out the Israeli state (and even thought the group should abandon it). Voters simply saw Hamas as less corrupt and administratively incompetent than Fatah.”
“The question is whether those voters also agreed with what happened next: a short but fierce civil war, in which Hamas chased Fatah out of the Gaza Strip, and almost twenty years of dictatorial Hamas rule. Was that what they wanted in 2006 voted?”
Matthijs le Loux is a foreign reporter for NU.nl
Matthijs follows major international news events for NU.nl, such as the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. He regularly answers reader questions submitted via our response platform NUjij.
Hamas popularity not to be investigated
“We return to the present. Gaza is not an area where you can freely and extensively investigate what citizens think about the Hamas regime. The group does not tolerate political opposition, so it is risky for ordinary Gazans to speak out critically.”
“There were indications before the events of October 7 that Gazans were generally unhappy with the quality of their government: widespread corruption, for example, was still a frequently mentioned problem.”
“Why would Gazans still (or again) express support for Hamas after October 7? This may have many and varied reasons. For example, they may think that the options are Hamas or strict Israeli military rule. Both may be undesirable, but in a In a conflict situation, people are more likely to choose the known evil than the unknown.”
“They may believe out of blind hatred that all Jews should be exterminated, or that all means are justified if you are the weaker party in an unequal struggle. Others may hate Hamas, but express their support so as not to get into trouble themselves.” to come.”
“You may also wonder whether an average Gazan emotionally experiences much difference between the terrorist attacks that Hamas committed on Israeli civilians and the death of their own friends or family members by Israeli aircraft bombs. The trauma of loss is not a sober sum.”
“The above examples are a random selection and absolutely incomplete. In a democratic and peaceful country like the Netherlands, it is difficult to capture ‘the will of the people’ in a set of simple generalizations.”
“You often hear questions about Gaza such as: why don’t Palestinian citizens simply revolt against Hamas? But how ‘normal’ is that, when you know that you will probably end up with a bullet and also put your family in danger? “
“In short, it is complicated to figure out what exactly the ordinary Gazan thinks. That actually makes little difference at the moment: whatever he wants, he has little choice.”
You must log in to ask a question. Log in or create your free account within 1 minute.
Log in immediately
Create a free account
2023-12-20 04:00:06
#Hamas #receive #support #residents #Gaza #Strip #QAs
