The demonizing of Israeli actions is sustained by a wide range of individuals and organizations, all purporting to be concerned about the welfare of Palestinians. However, they ignore the anti-Hamas actions by Gazans.
When ceasefire talks broke down at the end of March, there were two days of widespread demonstrations against Hamas. The New York Times reported that prominent Palestinian clans and families in southern Gaza who oppose Hamas issued a joint statement calling on Palestinians in the territory to “launch a popular uprising against injustice,” and protest against Hamas.
A month later, protests broke out again, as demonstrators chanted: “Stop the war and displacement: Hamas out!” In an early May survey, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey found that 48% of the Gazan public supported these periodic protests against Hamas rule. Shouldn’t those who claim to have the interests of the Palestinians join these brave Gazans and also demand that Hamas surrender?
Anti-Israel activists emphasize the rhetoric of Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, two members of the extreme rightwing components of the Netanyahu-led coalition. Their racist rhetoric, however, does not carry the day on many policies. For example, their attempts to withhold already approved funds for Arab-Israeli communities have been largely overridden, and their attempt to withhold funding of East Jerusalem Palestinians who are attending Israeli universities was reversed. Thus, their desires for Jewish resettlement of Gaza are fanciful and should not be taken seriously by anyone looking objectively at the situation.
By contrast, Hamas’s lack of concern for the lives of Gazans is well documented. At the beginning of the war, many commentators expected Hamas would shield civilians in their extensive tunnel network. However, a Hamas spokesperson stated in no uncertain terms, “Gaza tunnels were built to protect Hamas, not civilians … protecting civilians is the responsibility of the United Nations.”
The following year, as the civilian death toll in Gaza mounted, then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was recorded saying that these deaths were a “necessary sacrifice” since more civilian deaths would lead to increased support for the Palestinian cause. In the last month, a Qatar-based Hamas senior official again trivialized Gazan deaths. He considered the high death toll as “material calculations.” He pointed out that the “number of births in Gaza … exceeds the number of war casualties,” so that the losses do not reflect the broader picture of the war.
Hamas is not alone in its total disregard for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Lebanon and Jordan have refused to extend citizen rights to all their Palestinian refugees. In Lebanon, all Palestinians are stateless and face severe restrictions, even those born there. A UNRWA report stated:
“Palestine refugees in Lebanon are socially marginalized, have very limited civil, social, political, and economic rights, including restricted access to the government of Lebanon’s public health, educational and social services and face significant restrictions on their right to work and right to own property.”
Even in Jordan, Palestinians who have citizenship are not integrated socially, politically, or professionally. A 2016 report concluded, “[Palestinians] suffer economic discrimination in areas such as appointments to positions in the Government and the military, in admittance to public universities, and in the granting of university scholarships.”
Moreover, Palestinians who came to Jordan from Gaza, estimated to number 640,000, are not able to gain Jordanian citizenship. “Despite having lived in the country for decades — and even being born there — Jordan hasn’t granted them citizenship,” reported Shirin Jaafari. As a result, “Palestinians from Gaza are three times more likely to be living under the poverty line compared to other Palestinians in Jordan.” Add refugees from Kuwait after they were expelled, and close to one million Palestinians living in Jordan are stateless.
Palestinian refugees suffer deprivations because of political priorities. Rula Alhroob, a former member of the Jordanian Parliament and chairwoman of the human rights committee, said her advocacy for extending benefits to Palestinian refugees was met with fierce opposition within the government:
When we talk about civil rights, political rights and so on, they would say “Well, we don’t want to help Israelis achieve their goals by giving those people access to all types of activities and normal living so that they could forget about their right of return.”
As Jalal Al-Husseini explained, “The camps had to remain temporary places, statutorily isolated from neighbouring municipalities. The prohibition imposed on refugees to build any floor in the housing units illustrates this desire to preserve the temporary nature of the camps.”
ISRAEL’S ALLIES SCRAMBLE TO ADDRESS CONTINUED WAR AND LACK OF AID IN GAZA
This is the underlying motive for the vigorous condemnation of any plans to relocate Gazans, even temporarily, labeling them ethnic cleansing. Interestingly, polling indicates that 49% of Gazans declared that “they would be willing to apply to Israel to help them emigrate via Israeli ports and airports.”
This evidence makes clear that most leaders of the Palestinian movement and their supporters have little interest in stemming the horrible living conditions. In Gaza, they do nothing to stem civilian casualties and reject migration. In Lebanon and Jordan, they withhold citizenship rights. These leaders act this way because improving Palestinian lives undermines their political objectives to weaken Israel. Thus, whatever one believes about Israel’s actions, these so-called Palestinian supporters should be condemned for their actions that have stood in the way of Palestinians improving their lives.
Robert Cherry is an American Enterprise Institute affiliate and author of the forthcoming book Arab Citizens of Israel: How Far Have They Come?