Yet Hamas’s anti-corruption platform gave the group the legitimacy its artisanal bombs never could. Like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas provided welfare and medical care to much of the West Bank and Gaza—services often only available to Arafat’s coterie. At the same time, Hamas dropped its call for Israel’s destruction and teased out the possibility of a peace treaty with its hated neighbour to the east. Having suffered at the hands of Fatah, Gazans quite naturally chose to vote the bums out. The rest is bloody history.
Contrary to the view of many commentators, most Palestinians want a peaceful solution to the current crisis.
A Washington Institute poll, conducted just as the current tensions were ramping up, suggests that 70 per cent of Gazans support the continued ceasefire with Israel. Nearly 60 per cent of Gazans said the Fatah-Hamas unity government should renounce violence against Israel—if only because the overwhelming majority wants jobs there.
The Washington Institute poll further suggests that 66 per cent of Gazans see “corruption by Palestinians government officials” as a major problem. This juiciest of ironies is reflected by the facts on the ground: According to
several news
reports, former (and formerly penniless) Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh recently purchased a $4-million seaside estate, among other properties, thanks largely to the black-market sale of subsidized fuel and a tax on goods flowing through the clandestine tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.
Bombarded and shell-shocked by yet another outsized military operation, it can hardly be comforting for Gazans to see how, for Hamas, Yasser Arafat seems less bogeyman than role model.
A crisis of leadership in Gaza
