Hamas’s security forces remain strong and in full control, while more extreme Islamist challengers are gaining influence because of an Israeli embargo that has done more to frustrate the population than to weaken Hamas’s grip, analysts say.
Before Israeli commandos killed nine activists in a confrontation aboard a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza last week, Israeli officials were largely content with their policy toward the territory. Hamas was in a box, they said, and had been deterred since early last year from firing rockets into Israeli towns after a brief, lopsided war in which about 1,400 Palestinians were killed. Israel saw no reason to relax the siege in substantive ways, preferring instead to wait and see whether Gaza’s residents would rise up and force Hamas out.
But even if Gazans wanted to revolt — and there is little evidence they do — they probably would be unable to do so, given Hamas’s clout. Thousands of security personnel police the sliver of territory along the Mediterranean Sea, performing an array of functions such as intelligence gathering, conducting traffic and policing morality…
“Part of the goal of the siege was to pressure the population so it would act against Hamas. This has not happened, and this will not happen,” said Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a political science professor at Gaza’s al-Azhar University. “Hamas has become militarily more powerful and has used violence against its opponents. Rising up against Hamas is not an option, and people are not thinking about it.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member