Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s counterattack in Gaza, there have been mass calls for a ceasefire from the left, pressuring President Biden to get Israel to abandon its military campaign to eliminate Hamas, while Israel and its supporters insist the mission must be completed and an end must be made to the terrorist regime.
Even for those who truly care about the Palestinians, the choice between living in a state of war or living under a brutal, dictatorial, terrorist regime is, to some extent, a tough choice. There is no clear, easy answer as to which is best for the Palestinians in Gaza.
As Gazans who want what is best for their people, it is clear that Israel’s post-military plan is equally important. Some suggest an alliance between Fatah and Hamas, while others suggest handing Gaza over to the Palestinian Authority entirely.
It is clear to me that what is needed is the disarmament of Hamas and a new governing body with a plan to ensure that the people of Gaza have basic freedoms and access to information that is not dominated by Hamas propaganda. This is the only way to free the people of Gaza not only from Israeli military bombardment but also from the brutal rule of Hamas.
The truth that those of us who really care about the Palestinians (and not those who only pretend to care) can acknowledge is that Hamas has been one of the main causes of Palestinian suffering since its inception, whether through its role in opposing the Oslo Accords, its role in the Second Intifada, which terrorized Israeli civilian society, or by criminalizing attempts at reconciliation to end the years of conflict and committing crimes against other Palestinian parties and dissident Palestinians like me, that have sabotaged any chance of a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.
After Hamas began its civil war with Fatah in the Gaza Strip in 2007, many countries tried to act as mediators between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, including Saudi Arabia, which invited Hamas and Palestinian Authority leaders to Mecca, the holiest site for Muslims, to sign a reconciliation agreement. But just a few weeks later, Hamas refused to implement the agreement, took over the Gaza Strip, and brutally killed and tortured its opponents.
Various Arab countries, including Egypt, Algeria and Qatar, subsequently attempted to mediate reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, but Hamas attacked a Palestinian Authority convoy led by Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah which entered Gaza in 2018 to try to reach an agreement, and Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad declared that “there will be no reconciliation with secularists,” dashing Palestinian hopes of changing the status quo.
Hamas has not changed its mind. News sources often say Ismael Haniyeh is negotiating, but Hamas is clearly divided and the final decision rests with the Hamas leadership in Gaza and its patrons in Tehran. Hamas’ Gaza branch has repeatedly stated that it has no intention of stepping down from governing Gaza even after the war. When the Palestinian Authority sent officials to coordinate the distribution of aid, Hamas attacked and killed some of them, as well as the IDF and other tribal members who tried to coordinate the entry and distribution of aid.
Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, has also called for unity between Hamas and Fatah as a path to freedom, despite the fact that both groups deny freedom to Palestinians. Do those calling for reconciliation not realize that Hamas’s influence in the West Bank would increase if it were to join the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, making it a greater threat to both Palestinian and Israeli society?
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But outright support for Hamas’s political rival, Fatah, is not the answer. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is unpopular with Arab leaders and is seen as an obstacle to Palestinian progress, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government.
The PA is rife with corruption and tyranny. The PA routinely jails political opponents, including those who merely criticize Abu Mazen on social media. Abu Mazen has used the fate of 2.4 million Gazans as a bargaining chip to secure concessions in the West Bank, but he is too timid to suggest how to dismantle the remnants of Hamas or avoid a Hezbollah scenario in Gaza, in which the PA would assume governance of the Gaza Strip while Hamas and other jihadist groups act as militias, ultimately leading to a new civil war among Palestinians or even a new war with Israel.
The only realistic option is to hand over provisional control of Gaza to a fully reconstituted Palestinian Authority, with international support and oversight. But before handing that role over to the PA, pressure must be put on the PA to submit proposals to dismantle what remains of Hamas. The PA must also commit to putting an end to the so-called “pay to kill” program, whereby the PA pays out money to martyrs, prisoners, and their families. Instead, it must commit to investing this money in welfare programs to put an end to the widespread aid dependency throughout Palestinian society.
This new governing body should be controlled by its sponsors and should ensure that Gazan society is de-radicalized, begin to oversee NGOs to ensure they can carry out their work without being blocked by Hamas members, and ensure that Gazans have access to information that is not controlled by Hamas propaganda.
This is how to truly liberate both Israelis and Palestinians from the threat of Hamas.
What Gazans fear most is the idea that the day after the war ends, Hamas’ totalitarian and tyrannical regime will still be in power and will, as it has promised, punish all opponents who criticize Hamas for risking and squandering the lives of Gazans.
Replacing Hamas with another dictatorship like Fatah is not the solution.
It is vital that we protect those who have publicly spoken out against and criticized Hamas during this war, and that we protect their families and friends. International protection of free speech in Gaza is the only way to achieve a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Freedom of speech, inquiry, assembly and protest are rights that precede all other progress. It is these rights that will enable us to promote, develop and protect peace through Gaza’s local communities, who will take the lead after the interim period of reconstruction and decide our own destiny in the near future.
It is likely that the major Palestinian parties will have influence in the Gaza Strip after the conflict, so we need to take precautions to prevent unscrupulous and aggressive powers from overpowering us and sabotaging our progress.
Hamza Haudi is a Palestinian from Gaza City. He is an accountant and peace activist.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom, seeking common ground and finding connections.
