Hamas is banned as a terrorist organization in the UK and other countries. During the October 7 attacks, militants killed about 1,200 Israelis and took 240 hostages.
However, Hamas is the democratically elected government of Gaza, and as Palestinian women and children have been released from Israeli prisons in East Jerusalem and the West Bank in recent days, Hamas scarves and flags have been spotted in the crowd.
Hamas soldiers were also filmed marching through the West Bank during funerals for slain Palestinians, in a brief act of defiance against the state of Israel.
The Palestinian Authority, controlled by the Fatah faction, is the de facto government in the West Bank, but analysts say Hamas’s influence in the region is growing – although pollsters generally acknowledge that polls of authoritarian regimes such as Hamas are biased against being able to lead.
According to a poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Research in September 2023, 44 percent of Gazans said they would vote for Hamas if elections were held tomorrow, while only 32 percent would vote for Fatah.
A poll by the Palestinian research agency Arab World Research and Development (Awrad), which surveyed 668 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the fourth week of the recent war, found that 76 percent of Palestinians view Hamas favorably, up from 10 percent. Palestinians have a positive view of Hamas. A percentage of Palestinians have a positive view of the Palestinian Authority.
Jeroen Gunning, Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at King’s College London, explains: I that with “each previous Israeli war against Gaza, support for Hamas has increased.”
„Es ist wichtig anzumerken, dass die Wut über die Zahl der von israelischen Streitkräften getöteten Zivilisten und die Zerstörung des Gazastreifens dazu führt, dass die Menschen Israel die Schuld geben und sich hinter Hamas als größte Widerstandspartei stellen – auch wenn sie von deren Führung desillusioniert sind “he said. Shooting.
“It must also be seen in the context of the 56-year occupation of Gaza and the 16-year blockade, and the widespread belief that it was armed resistance that forced Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip in 2005.”
Awrad said his survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews in households and shelters in the Gaza Strip. The survey also asked questions that explored more nuanced points of view.
Only 13.6 percent of respondents said they favored a “Hamas-controlled government,” while more than 72 percent supported a unity government.
A national unity government would include both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and would involve the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority and Hamas in planning a new national council to hold new elections.
90 percent of Palestinians now support a ceasefire to end this latest episode of conflict.
A poll conducted in Gaza on October 6, the day before the Hamas raids, found that two-thirds of respondents had “no trust” (44 percent) or “not much trust” (23 percent) in the Hamas government. .
This was stated by Nour Odeh, a Palestinian political scientist and former spokesman for the Palestinian Authority. I that the initial surge in support for Hamas was the result of international sanctions when the US government agreed in April 2006 to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority by $400 million.
“Instead of dealing with a democratically elected government, the international community wanted to impose sanctions because Hamas was labeled a terrorist organization,” she said.
“This led to internal clashes between Fatah, which was not considered a terrorist, and Hamas, which divided the Palestinian political system and prevented us from achieving national unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
Since the split in 2006, no democratic elections have been held. Fatah and Hamas agreed to national unity, but Hamas expelled Fatah from the Gaza Strip after intelligence suspected it was plotting a coup with the US government to overthrow Hamas, the doctor said. Shooting.
The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are now governed by separate de facto governments: the internationally recognized but unelected Fatah-led government in the West Bank and the internationally boycotted but elected Hamas government in Gaza.
Mahmoud Abbas, who officially serves as president of both jurisdictions, was elected in 2005 and remains in office although his term has long since expired. The PLC, the Palestinian legislative body of the Palestinian Authority, has not met since 2007 and was officially dissolved in 2018.
In 2021, Abbas postponed national and presidential elections indefinitely.
Ms Odeh said Mr Abbas believed he and his party would lose, while the international community feared a Hamas victory would give it democratic legitimacy – and as a result Israel banned international observers from mediating the elections.
The analyst believes Fatah’s failure has also led to a possible increase in support for Hamas.
“The current Fatah leadership was seen as undemocratic and unwilling to change and be more inclusive,” she said.
“Thirty years of negotiations have yielded nothing while Israeli settlement expansion and airstrikes continue. People who maintained peace are considered fools. Fatah and PLO [Palestine Liberation Organisation] “We have failed to achieve peace, so people have no choice but Hamas,” she added.
As support for Fatah wanes due to its inflexibility, Hamas has changed its position, experts say.
Well before the October 7 attacks, in 2017, Hamas published a new manifesto recognizing the 1967 Palestinian state bordering Jerusalem as its capital and removing inflammatory language calling for “the destruction of the State of Israel and… the murder of Israel.” Jewish people.”
According to Dr. However, according to Gunning, “this has not led to a change in the position of the international community” and this refusal “to accept similar political initiatives by the pragmatists among Hamas’s political leaders over the past 16 years appears to have left hardliners in the lurch.” They say the political leadership has strengthened. Hamas’ Qassam Brigades in recent years.”
“The indefinite postponement of the 2021 Palestinian national elections appears to have been the last straw as brigades allegedly began planning attacks on October 7 this year,” he added.
Although Hamas’s position in Palestinian politics has strengthened and Fatah’s position further eroded, both sides are reportedly pushing for a ceasefire once the hostage crisis is over.
“If the international community is serious about working toward a two-state solution, it must find a way to engage people who have grassroots support, even if they support violence and have committed heinous acts of violence,” the doctor said. Forgive.
“By focusing on eradicating Hamas, the international community is focusing on the symptom – Hamas violence – rather than the cause – the ongoing occupation and settler colonialism and the absence of a Palestinian state,” he added.
Source: I News
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.