by AP and Israel Hayom Staff
Palestinians in Gaza Strip are in despair after 10 years of Hamas rule, with severe power and water cuts, high unemployment and diplomatic isolation
Polls show almost 50% of
Palestinians would leave Gaza Strip if they could [Illustrative]
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Photo credit: AP  |
The 10th anniversary of Hamas rule in the Gaza
Strip is marked by grim records: the longest-ever daily electricity and
water cuts, 60% youth unemployment, and a rising backlog of thousands
waiting for a rare chance to exit the blockaded territory.
Unable to offer remedies, the Islamic
terrorist group has been doubling down on oppression. It has jailed the
few who dare complain publicly, including the young organizers of a
street protest against power cuts and an author who wrote on Facebook
that "life is only pleasant for Hamas leaders."
Polls show that almost half the population
would leave Gaza altogether if they could. But support for Hamas,
despite three short, devastating wars with Israel, is steady at around a
third. With potential opponents crushed, there is no obvious path to
regime change.
Meanwhile, for most of Gaza's 2 million people, life is bound to get worse.
The international isolation of Hamas, which
refuses to recognize Israel, will likely continue, and with it the
border blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after the group violently
seized control of the enclave in June 2007.
A new political program that Hamas hoped would
mollify the West and Arab nations instead underscored its ideological
rigidity: While softer in tone, the manifesto reaffirms a call to armed struggle and the creation of an Islamic state in historic Palestine, including what is now Israel.
There are also signs that one of Hamas'
remaining foreign backers, Qatar, is in trouble, as an increasing number
of Arab nations have severed ties
with it over its support of Islamist extremism and terrorist groups
like Hamas. Qatar has reportedly asked several Hamas leaders-in-exile to
leave.
Hamas also faces financial pressure by
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces it drove
from Gaza a decade ago. Fed up with failed reconciliation efforts, the
West Bank-based Abbas has warned he will cut more Gaza subsidies, such
as electricity payments.
Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil dismissed
suggestions Hamas should step aside, but acknowledged that a deal to
improve Gaza's situation is unlikely as long as Abbas, now 82, remains
in power.
He said Hamas was never given a chance to govern.
"How do you hold someone accountable for a failure he did not create?" he said, referring to the blockade.
Palestinian rights groups say Hamas' practices
mirror those of its West Bank rival, Fatah. Both governments have
carried out arbitrary arrests and mistreated detainees, and both monitor
social media and civil society to silence dissent.
Hamas leaders often tolerate criticism by
well-known figures, but strike back when they detect a threat to their
rule, said Samir Zakout of the Gaza rights group al-Mezan.
Over the past decade, Hamas has executed 28
people, most of them alleged collaborators with Israel, after trials
widely condemned as shams. This includes three men who were executed
last month after a field tribunal tried them in less than a week.
The three had been accused of killing Mazen Faqha, a high-profile member of the Hamas military wing, in March.
Hamas' rise to power was fueled by frustration
with corruption during the rule of Abbas' Fatah movement. In 2006,
months after Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas defeated
Fatah in parliamentary elections. Subsequent failed attempts to
negotiate a power-sharing deal and violent Hamas-Fatah clashes were
followed by Hamas staging the coup that won it power in June 2007.
Gaza resident Ahmed al-Nashar, 63, said he had
voted for Hamas hoping "they would do something good in the name of
religion," but has concluded that "there is no future here with these
people."
Hamas claims it was sabotaged from the start.
Israel and Egypt, citing security concerns,
enforce a border blockade banning most movements and exports. Three
Israel-Hamas wars, fought in 2009, 2012 and 2014, triggered by a Hamas
arms buildup and its rockets attacks on Israel, further devastated the
territory and its economy.
Meanwhile, the international community, even
while calling for lifting the blockade, has stuck to its initial
conditions for dealing with Hamas, including insisting that it renounce
violence.
This leaves Gazans in a miserable limbo.
"Our life is just a long series of waiting,"
said Abed Meqdad, a teacher. "You wait for electricity to come, for the
crossing to reopen, for the situation to improve, and nothing gets
done."
AP and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=42937
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