A Sane Palestinian

This Jan. 18 post on X by Ahmed was so refreshing and honest that I had to share it with you. Click the link to follow him on the platform. I highly recommend it.

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Smothered & Suppressed Gazan Voices & Perspectives.

I spent hours today listening in on multiple 'Twitter Spaces' in Arabic with diverse Palestinian voices, including those of Gazans in and outside of the coastal enclave. Many vehemently opposed Hamas, while others supported resistance as they opposed Hamas; there were some casual supporters of the group and believers in Hamas’s propaganda. Most offered details, perspectives, facts on the ground, and relevant information that is difficult to obtain from traditional media or online. Many spoke of the horrendous conditions that make daily life and meeting basic needs incredibly difficult while dodging Israeli bombs and bullets. However, they also offered painful details about corruption, Hamas’s violent rule, lawlessness & chaos, the ignorance of Hamas’s supporters, combat conditions and details, Hamas’s nefarious backers, the destructive role of Aljazeera Arabic, and the use of Gazans as human shields by the group.

Here are the top ten most interesting takeaways they shared from & about the War in Gaza:

1. The majority of Hamas’s battalions in northern Gaza have been decimated, and there are only a few disconnected pockets of resistance by leaderless cells that are operating on their own without any direct contact with commanders in the al-Qassam Brigades. Most of Hamas’s units there are no longer combat-effective even though caches and stores of munitions, as well as various tunnels, continue to enable small-scale operations against the IDF.

2. The 200k+ estimated civilians who remain in Gaza City are facing famine-like conditions due to the extremely limited food supplies that are making it in. Additionally, criminal mobs and networks are now operating openly and freely throughout the north and systematically stealing from homes, robbing people, hijacking bags of aid, and carrying out “revenge” killings in line with tribal traditions, given the lack of law and order. Weeks ago, some Gazans suggested the formation of local protection committees/councils but were opposed by Hamas which did not want the emergence of anyone who could compete with its rule. The idea here is that Hamas would rather have crime and chaos spread and proliferate than see Gazans get organized because they could potentially replace the group after the war or prevent it from returning to governance.

3. Hamas regularly and grossly steals aid and prevents large quantities of it from reaching desperate and needy civilians. This is done through elaborate and sophisticated mechanisms whereby the group uses small trucks, pickups, and even donkey carts to siphon tons of aid and food from warehouses and storage facilities. In addition to stealing aid, Hamas, through its Ministry of Economy and other bodies, sells aid items to Palestinians at enormously inflated prices to make money and secure revenue for the group’s post-war reemergence as a governing body. Hamas is even charging taxes and customs fees on the very aid that it is selling to private enterprises and even offers a “payment plan” that allows people to pay after the war ends.

4. Despite this being a controversial claim that is often raised by the pro-Israel side to justify horrendous bombardment and the killing of thousands of Gaza’s civilians, Hamas deliberately and specifically operates in a manner that not only puts people’s lives at risk, but seeks to derive some protection from having civilians around – aka, uses them as human shields. This has been true in numerous cases where Hamas authorities fail to give civilians information about evacuation orders or the presence of Israeli ground troops – with the goal of having people remain in their place to make it impossible for the IDF to operate and to indirectly maximize the number of casualties to put pressure on the Israelis. Some Gazans ironically now look at the “Monasiq” or COGAT’s Facebook page, or that of the Arabic-speaking IDF spokesperson to get updates on ground operations, while Hamas spokespeople regularly tell people nothing’s happening and everything’s fine, don’t go anywhere. This has resulted in numerous casualties that could have been avoided had Gazans been warned to leave or head to safety – but instead, Hamas sacrificed some of these people to ensure that there’s a civilian population throughout which it could operate.

5. Hamas’s regional backers, especially in Qatar, have enabled the group to hide the massive disaster that has befallen Gaza’s people and the enormous setback facing the Palestinian cause by acting as mouthpieces for Hamas's propaganda. This is especially true with the Arabic-speaking Aljazeera, not the English Channel, which runs a professional operation. Aljazeera starts all news broadcasts with Hamas’s propaganda videos showing attacks against the IDF and attempts to inflate the military capabilities of the group. Aljazeera does not talk about aid theft, crimes, Hamas’s corruption, or many details that could actually help paint a real picture of what’s happening in Gaza. Instead, the channel has brainwashed millions of Arab and Muslim audiences into believing that Hamas is racking up victories and achievements and is killing/maiming an unbelievable number of IDF soldiers. Additionally, the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance” is the most dangerous, deadly alliance that used Hamas and the Palestinians in their nefarious calculous and sells empty slogans that have fooled so many non-Palestinians. In essence, the Qatari-backed Sunni Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian-back Shia “resistance” have been the most destructive, destabilizing forces within the Middle East and have used Gaza as a piece in their evil chessboard with no actual regard for the long-term well-being and prosperity of the Palestinians.

6. There are numerous things that Gazans see and detest about Hamas but are terrified of speaking out. Despite the ferocious Israeli bombardment and massive killings of Gaza’s civilians, Hamas’s police, intelligence, and various authorities are still actively cracking down on opposition and preventing people and journalists from showing dissent and anti-Hamas voices. Importantly, people are terrified of how Hamas uses civilian infrastructure and puts its tunnels and assets underneath homes and even medical facilities without any regard for the consequences. People want to share their disapproval and anger about those things but are also worried about this being used in Israeli propaganda to justify further atrocities and targeting of civilians and infrastructure.

7. Hamas is in on the corrupt business of “coordination fees” that some Gazans have paid for years, but especially during the war, to leave the Strip through Egypt. These fees can reach up to $9,000 per person and the group collects a percentage for every Gazan leaving the Strip.

8. People feel empathy for the “foot soldiers” or Hamas’s rank and file who are being needlessly sacrificed by their leaders in a futile fight that will get thousands more of them killed, on top of the thousands of fighters who have already perished in the IDF’s ground operation. Imagine if these young men were given a different path and if they had a chance to build lives and establish families instead of dying to put some scratches on Israeli tanks while Hamas’s leaders are hiding in safety or living abroad.

9. Talk of full liberation from the river to the sea is not only illiterate, stupid, and ridiculous, but it overlooks the fact that the best Palestinians could have hoped for would have come out of the imperfect yet viable Oslo peace process, which Hamas helped destroy. Additionally, Yasser Arafat made a mistake when he partly militarized the Second Intifada that he helped launch because that gave a deadly opening for Hamas to enter the scene and grow out of control with its violent attacks. This led to the group’s 2006 electoral victory and ultimately gave it a chance to expand its political power.

10. The fingernails of Gaza’s children are 1000 times more worthy than all of Hamas’s leaders and empty talk of victorious armed resistance, which has set Gaza back and destroyed generations to come. Gaza’s going to take decades to rebuild and will likely need tens of billions. That can’t/won’t happen if we don’t learn from past mistakes and keep doing the same thing expecting a different outcome. For now, the priority should be on alleviating the unbelievably horrendous humanitarian conditions, but after the war, there needs to be a reckoning with Hamas, which must be held accountable by its people for dragging them along its grossly miscalculated adveture.