Leaving Hamas in place has been the tacit position for anyone who thinks that negotiating with them is an answer. And it has brought only more war and more misery. It sounds like Netanyahu’s policies have been influenced by Qatar, (and maybe his team, too) and now Trump is dancing with them. Hamas has to go, one way or the other. Into exile or else, basically the choice he has given Maduro.
If Qatar is the head of the snake then the problem becomes just that much simpler and obvious. Bringing peace isn’t so much then about who is going to police Gaza as who is going to police Qatar.
Interesting and rational take regarding the role of Qatar. Thank you. I am assuming Trump is trying to rein their bad forces in via economic interdependence of sorts?
And there is this from https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-boston-globe/20240514/281625310402251
JERUSALEM — Hamas leader Yehia Sinwar has for years overseen a secret police force in the Gaza Strip that conducted surveillance on everyday palestinians and built files on young people, journalists, and those who questioned the government, according to intelligence officials and a trove of internal documents reviewed by the New York times.
The unit, known as the General Security Service, relied on a network of Gaza informants, some of whom reported their own neighbors to police. people landed in security files for attending protests or publicly criticizing hamas. in some cases, the records suggest that authorities followed people to determine if they were carrying on romantic relationships outside marriage.
Hamas has long run an oppressive system of governance in Gaza, and many palestinians there know that security officials watch them closely. but a 62-slide presentation on the activities of the service, delivered only weeks before the oct. 7 attack on israel, reveals the degree to which the largely unknown unit penetrated the lives of palestinians.
The documents show that hamas leaders, despite claiming to represent the people of Gaza, would not tolerate even a whiff of dissent. Security officials trailed journalists and people they suspected of immoral behavior. Agents got criticism removed from social media and discussed ways to defame political adversaries. political protests were viewed as threats to be undermined.
Everyday residents of Gaza were stuck — behind the wall of israel’s crippling blockade and under the thumb and constant watch of a security force. that dilemma continues today, with the added threat of israeli ground troops and airstrikes.
“We’re facing bombardment by the occupation and thuggery by the local authorities,” Ehab fasfous, a journalist in Gaza who appeared in the files of the security service, said in a phone interview from Gaza...
How did the Boston Globe get this story?
The documents were provided to the times by officials in israel’s military intelligence directorate, who said they had been seized in raids in Gaza.
Before or after October 7?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-attack-intelligence.html
The document circulated widely among Israeli military and intelligence leaders, but experts determined that an attack of that scale and ambition was beyond Hamas’s capabilities, according to documents and officials. It is unclear whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other top political leaders saw the document, as well...
So UNlike the IDF to blow off intel like that; didn't they develop a reputation for shooting first and verifying later?