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To What Extent Does Hamas Represent the Palestinians?

(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser - Jerusalem Center expert Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser told the Jerusalem Center War Room zoom briefing on October 31, 2023: We hear repeatedly from Western leaders including President Biden that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. I beg to differ. There's a big part of the Palestinian people that consider Hamas their representative, not only in Gaza but even in Judea and Samaria. Hamas represents a very important part of the Palestinian people. Many Gazan civilians followed Hamas operatives into Israel to loot and murder. Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, has avoided elections for the last 18 years, since Hamas is likely to be victorious. Since the October 7 massacre, Hamas' support has grown in the West Bank from 44% to 58%. As evident on Arabic social media, the massacre was seen as an historic victory for Islam. Hatred for Israel and the Jews has kept Hamas popular. Both Hamas and Fatah share the same narrative: the denial of a Jewish identity and an opposition to Zionism - Jewish sovereignty. Yet the West and the international community share a willful blindness in recognizing that Hamas represents a large part of the Palestinian population, and that Fatah's ideology is similar to that of Hamas. Admitting this would mean the West must accept Israel's claims about the difficulty of making peace with the Palestinians. Without demanding that the Palestinians change the Israel-negative narrative, not much will come out of Israel's expected victory in Gaza politically. Yet changing a narrative takes many years, at least a generation. Without first priority given to this fundamental change, Israel will have to unwillingly govern Gaza for a long period. The speaker is former head of the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence. Watch the full video.
2023-11-06 00:00:00
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