The findings by a Palestinian pollster signal more difficulties ahead for the Biden administration’s postwar vision for Gaza and raise questions about Israel’s stated goal of ending Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.
Washington has called for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, currently led by Abbas, to eventually assume control of Gaza and run both territories as a precursor to statehood. U.S. officials have said the PA must be revitalized, without letting on whether this would mean leadership changes.
The PA administers pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and has governed Gaza until a takeover by Hamas militants in 2007. The Palestinians have not held elections since 2006 when Hamas won a parliamentary majority.
Governments can be worse than terrorists … as evidenced by South African apartheid; Stalin’s starvation of Ukrainians (when the Ukraine was still part of Russia); Hitler’s pogrom against Jews, Poles, gypsies, etc; Mao Zedong’s starvation of 45 million Chinese peasants; and Pol Pot’s genocide against Cambodian citizens of Chinese, Vietnamese, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and intellectual ethnicities and beliefs.
Nevermind the worldwide genocide of Indigenous peoples through starvation, outright murder, removal of children from families for “re-education”, sterilization of women, etc.