A closer look at Hamas’ demands
The recent letter condemning Israel for its response to the Oct. 7 massacre committed by Hamas certainly simplified a very complex situation. If you go back 70 years, as the letter writer mentioned, you would see that the Palestinians rejected a United Nations proposed two-state plan (UN Resolution 181). The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point states:
“The brutal Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities near Gaza represented a tactical paradigm shift for the group, which was previously known for firing rockets at Israel, carrying out suicide bombings targeting city buses or cafes, and conducting roadside attacks and shootings on restaurants and bars. Oct. 7 was something different. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, after viewing evidence of the attackers’ brutality, said that it ‘brings to mind the worst of ISIS.’ The secretary was painfully blunt in describing the attack: ‘Babies slaughtered. Bodies desecrated. Young people burned alive. Women raped. Parents executed in front of their children, children in front of their parents.”
The group’s explicit targeted killing and kidnapping of civilians baldly contradicts Hamas’ articulated revised political strategy since it took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Ironically, Hamas’ sharp tactical shift only underscores that the group never abandoned its fundamental commitment to the creation of an Islamist state in all of what it considers historical Palestine and the destruction of Israel.
“Moreover, Hamas has always described itself as a resistance organization, pushing back firmly against the ‘terrorist’ designation Israel, the United States, the European Union, and many others apply to the group. But by any measure, the October 7 attack is one of the worst acts of international terrorism on record. Thousands of Hamas operatives, aided by small numbers of terrorists from other groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad, murdered some 1,200 people in Israel, wounded thousands, and took at least 240 hostages with nationals from more than 40 countries.
“As such, the Hamas massacre demands a re-examination of a critical point in Hamas history: its 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip by force of arms aimed at fellow Palestinians, and its initiation of its governance project in Gaza. Despite wide-held beliefs that the shift to governance led to a more moderate Hamas, it is now clear that Hamas did not moderate — nor was it co-opted by the responsibility of providing public services to its constituents — but rather it prioritized building and maintaining its militant and terrorist capabilities. The Oct. 7 attack obliterates all Hamas claims to legitimacy as a political actor.”
It certainly seems that there is much more to this situation than the good Dr. implied in her recent letter. Steve Lockhart
Lancaster