(Gatestone Institute) Khaled Abu Toameh - Several years ago, Israel came under pressure from many in the international community to ease restrictions on Hamas-controlled Gaza, despite Hamas's repeated terror attacks against Israel, including more than 31,000 rockets and mortars fired at civilian communities in Israel before 2023. Since then, an additional 19,000 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza. Which European country would tolerate 50,000 rockets, mortars and missiles fired at it - or even one rocket? Israel allowed Qatar to send billions of dollars to Gaza, primarily for humanitarian aid, civil servant salaries and infrastructure, often channeled through international organizations. Qatar funded fuel for Gaza's electric power plant, construction materials for infrastructure projects, and food rations for impoverished families. Israel approved much of this funding, delivered in cash, in a humanitarian gesture of goodwill to alleviate the impoverished condition of many Gazans. Israel went to unprecedented lengths to help the Palestinians in Gaza. It even issued work permits to increasing numbers of workers to enter Israel from Gaza, that reached 18,000 by Oct. 7. Egypt, Qatar, and the UN kept assuring Israel that the best way to achieve calm and stability was by improving Gaza's economy and issuing more work permits. Shortly after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas seized control and transformed it into a large base for Jihad against Israel. Hamas's leaders did not care about medical treatment or schools in Gaza. They also never cared about the unemployed laborers. Rather, they had only one thing in mind: the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews. Israel had been led to believe that jobs, money and humanitarian aid would bring stability and calm. However, Hamas and many Palestinians viewed these conciliatory measures as signs of weakness on the part of Israel. With or without the funding and humanitarian aid, Hamas anyway would have carried out its Oct. 7 attack on Israel. What the international community fails to understand is that since the establishment of Hamas 35 years ago, its stated goal has been the elimination of Israel. For Hamas, the conflict has never been about improving the living conditions of Palestinians. Hamas regards Israel as one big, illegitimate "settlement" that needs to be uprooted and replaced with an Islamist state. The writer, a veteran Israeli journalist, is a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
2025-09-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive