This post is a sequence of articles from 2019 through 2023.
BBC - March 18, 2019 Gaza economic protests expose cracks in Hamas's rule
In Gaza, it is no surprise to hear complaints about the terrible living conditions - after all, the World Bank describes a local economy in "free fall" with 70% unemployment among young people.
[But what is extraordinary are crowds of hundreds of Palestinians in nine Gaza Strip cities and refugee camps] turning out on the streets to voice their frustration and even criticise Hamas - the militant Islamist group which rules the strip with an iron fist.
Messages by the 14th March Movement - which has the slogan "We want to live" - began to appear on social media last week.
"It's a peaceful, popular youth movement," says Moumen al-Natour, one of the organisers, in his Facebook message. "We're not political and we don't want to change political systems. We just want to get our rights …We want jobs, we want to live. We want equality, dignity and freedom.."
___________________________________________________
PA, Hamas Abuse Still Systemic a Year After Prominent Critic Nizar Banat Beaten to Death in PA custody in June 2021
HumanRightsWatch 30June2022
(Jerusalem) – Palestinian authorities are systematically mistreating and torturing Palestinians in detention, including critics and opponents, Human Rights Watch said today in a parallel report submitted jointly to the United Nations Committee Against Torture with the Palestinian rights group Lawyers for Justice. Torture, both by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas authorities in Gaza, may amount to crimes against humanity, given its systematic nature over many years.
[in June 2021, prominent activist and critic Nizar Banat, — previously detained, and planning to run on an independent slate in the subsequently cancelled Palestinian Legislative elections, was beaten to death by PA security forces, which] violently dispersed people demanding justice for his death, including rounding up scores for peaceful protesting ... no one has been held to account.
AlJazeera 25June2021 ...In a brief statement, the Hebron governorate said Banat’s “health deteriorated” when Palestinian forces went to arrest him early on Thursday and that he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
According to his family, Banat was in bed when some two dozen PA officers broke into his home and started beating him. He was dragged away screaming, local media quoted them as saying, and he was beaten on the head with sticks and pieces of metal….
...“The autopsy showed injuries represented by bruises and abrasians in many areas of the body, including the head, neck, shoulders, chest, back, and upper and lower extremities, with binding marks on the wrists and rib fractures,” the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) said….
|
“... the Palestinian Authority continues to arrest and torture critics and opponents,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “Systematic abuse by the PA and Hamas forms a critical part of the repression of the Palestinian people.”
In light of this pattern of abuse, other countries should cut assistance to abusive Palestinian security forces, including the PA police ... The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor should investigate and prosecute people credibly implicated in these grave abuses.
[Banat suffocated] when his lungs filled with blood and secretions, an autopsy concluded. A March 2022 joint report by the Palestinian statutory watchdog, the Independent Commission Human Rights (ICHR), and the Palestinian human rights group al-Haq, found that [PA security use of excessive use of force] caused Banat’s death.
In light of this pattern of abuse, other countries should cut assistance to abusive Palestinian security forces, including the PA police who played a central part in recent repression. The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor should investigate and prosecute people credibly implicated in these grave abuses….
__________________________________________________
humanrightswatch.org June 2022 Palestine: Impunity for Arbitrary Arrests, Torture
(Jerusalem) – Palestinian authorities are systematically mistreating and torturing Palestinians in detention, including critics and opponents, Human Rights Watch said today in a parallel report submitted jointly to the United Nations Committee Against Torture with the Palestinian rights group Lawyers for Justice. Torture, both by the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank and Hamas authorities in Gaza, may amount to crimes against humanity, given its systematic nature over many years.
More than a year after the PA beat to death prominent activist and critic Nizar Banat while he was in custody and violently dispersed people demanding justice for his death, including rounding up scores for peaceful protesting, no one has been held to account. Prosecutors brought charges against 14 accused security officers, but critics say the authorities are moving too slowly and are biased, including in a June 21 decision by military prosecutors to release the accused for 12 days.
_____________________________________________________
aL-Monitor - June 2022 — Hamas security forces attacked the Bedouin village of Umm al-Nasr in the Gaza Strip,
Videos and photos [on social media from the villagers] showed Hamas security forces using excessive force against young men, who were protesting and threw stones ,,, in response to an attempt to demolish one of the houses. The security forces fired on the men and injured some of them.
Umm al-Nasr ... in the far north of the Gaza Strip, near the border with Israel ... is considered one of the largest Bedouin population hubs in the district, with more than 5,000 people living on 800 dunams (about 200 acres). For many years, the villagers lived in unsafe houses made of tin and timber, and the government in Gaza prevented them from building concrete houses on the grounds that they did not own the land.
Human rights and civil society organizations condemned Hamas’ attack on the villagers. The Independent Commission for Human Rights in Gaza denounced the excessive use of force by Hamas members [and] the destruction of the villagers’ homes. The organizations called for the immediate release of all detainees, and the repair of the damage caused by the security forces.
The NGO Network in Gaza said that the incidents targeting Bedouin villagers in Umm al-Nasr are unacceptable, and all the aggressors must be held accountable...
Hamas recently opened the file of old lands [in it’s aim to contruct] housing projects [for its] employees in lieu of their [backpay]. But the residents of these areas often insist on staying due to lack of other alternatives.
Rifaat Abu Sa’ada, an inhabitant of Umm al-Nasr, said, “We were surprised to see heavily armed Hamas security forces raiding the village with bulldozers for demolition. Hamas encircled the village entrances without prior warning, unlike the normal way of doing things around the world.”
He told Al-Monitor that the security forces violently assaulted women, young people and the elderly, in addition to shooting directly at them, after they stood in front of bulldozers that were trying to demolish houses at the entrance to the village. The villagers attacked the security forces after many were injured with live bullets, and ambulances were prevented from transporting the injured, who were instead taken in civilian cars.
He pointed out that Hamas security forces are still surrounding the village from all entrances. Village residents have obstructed attempts to demolish a number of houses inside the village, and senior village leaders have refused to hand over any of the citizens.
Meanwhile, human rights defender Yousef Abdel Aziz denounced the attempts of Hamas security services to displace Bedouins in remote areas of Gaza with the aim of seizing their lands, distributing them to employees, and establishing government projects.
He told Al-Monitor, “The Bedouin villagers of Umm al-Nasr live in very difficult conditions, as their homes do not protect them from the cold of winter or the heat of summer, and insects and diseases are very widespread inside the village, due to the presence of a number of sewage basins.”
He indicated that Hamas security forces are acting like Israel, which has displaced Bedouins in Khan al-Ahmar and Palestinian villages in the West Bank. This only encourages Israel to persist in its policy of displacement and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians.
He called on the Hamas government to immediately reverse its policies of displacing the Bedouin population and using force against them. He said it threatens the social fabric and perpetuates the suffering of the residents of these marginalized areas, who lack the minimum necessities of life due to the absence of government support….
__________________________________________________
Living conditions in Gaza are dire. There is a severe lack of water, poor sewage treatment and long daily power cuts. Some 67% of the youth workforce are unemployed - with the highest figures among graduates.
The economy has been badly hit by the pandemic and an 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in May 2021. However, it is unusual to hear residents voice any complaints about those in charge out of fear.
"Hamas has billions of dollars in investments in many countries, while people [in Gaza] starve to death and migrate in search of work," said ...Amer Balosha [a 29-year-old law graduate of Al-Azhar University, now living in Istanbul], during the social media event.
[Highlighting] the plight of more than 100 Gazans, now imprisoned in Turkey after trying to travel illegally to Greece in search of new lives in Europe [he said] "Hamas, which is responsible for their efforts to emigrate due to its policies, did not intervene to release them...,"
_____________________________________________________
Jpost - DECEMBER 11, 2022 By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Iran halts funds to Palestinian terror groups both in the Gaza Strip and abroad, sparking crisis...
...some ... were unable to pay their electricity bills and other expenses.
Iran [stopped channeling funds to a number of Palestinian factions [three months ago], the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds revealed on Sunday [quoting unnamed sources in Lebanon. The paper [reported the unnamed] factions are currently suffering from a financial crisis [as a result, unable to] pay salaries to their leaders and members and cover the costs of their “various activities.”
... it’s believed that Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) are among the factions that depend on funding from Iran.
...The sources said [the reasons for the cuts are unknown but] may be related to the ongoing protests and violence in Iran….
...Media outlets belonging to the factions may also be affected ...
Recently, a well-informed PIJ source in the Gaza Strip told the Al-Monitor news website that his group’s leaders were following with great concern the disturbing and escalating protests inside Iran. “We are concerned the protests will also affect the future of Iran's financial and military support..."
_____________________________________________
...Masses gathered in Gaza City, Nuseirat, Khan Yunis, the Jabaliya refugee camp, Rafah, Bani Suheila and Shujaiya [chanting] “Hamas leave us be,” “We want to live,” and “The people want the fall of the regime.” The protests are politically, economically and socially driven, as living conditions and power outages in Gaza have become unbearable [amid a scorching heat wave and electricity outages].
[Some chants also called for ending the GS/WB Palestinian division.] “The people want the end of division” and “Abbas and Haniyeh, the people are the victims,” referring to [18-year] Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas [corruption link] and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh[corruption link]….
Hamas’ security forces [violently dispersed] the peaceful protesters [injuring dozens, with many] hospitalized. One was wounded by a live bullet on the Abu al-Jedian square in north Gaza….
[A demonstrator assaulted] in Bani Suheila told Al-Monitor, “[Hamas’ security forces] barbarically attacked us even though the protests were completely peaceful. ... [Hamas doesn’t] care. They don’t even pretend to care … [They] ruined Gaza beyond hope and turned it into a place of misery, and yet they live luxurious lifestyles.."
[Another young demonstrator there said] “Years of our lives are being wasted. We’re suffering. We can’t find work, we can't make any money, we can’t get married, we can’t put food on the table. We can’t do anything in Gaza.”,,,
,,,Among the protesters’ demands is also for Hamas to allow municipal elections in the Gaza Strip. [Since rising to power in 2007, Hamas] has banned all forms of elections, including general, municipal, chambers of commerce, even university students’ council elections.
Hamas fills [all] positions from its own ranks and allies without any electoral process.
.
Hamas [security forces also assault] journalists and prevent them from covering the protests [notably], Palestine TV [newsman] Walid Abdel Rahman,] attacked while filming the demonstrations in the Jabaliya camp in the northern Gaza Strip [who reported to] the local Wafa news agency … Protesters surrounded the reporter, stopped the … beating him and [stopped them] from arresting him.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate condemned the attack. “Assaulting and preventing journalists from carrying out their work and covering the peaceful marches in several places in the Gaza Strip is a flagrant violation of the freedom of journalistic work,” the syndicate said in a press statement, which also called on human rights organizations to intervene.
...these are not the first such protests. In March of 2019, similar demonstrations under the same slogan, “We Want to Live,” lasted for four days.
[According to Muhammad Shehada, a Palestinian political analyst who writes for several papers, the growing popular anger against Hamas is significant but will lead to no tangible results, Hamas always retaliaties harshly], Shehada told Al-Monitor...
One of the groups advocating for the “We Want to Live” movement released a statement following the protests on Sunday, that read , “The time of silence over injustice and the exploitation of religion for oppression is over.”...
More reports of the Gaza Anti-Hamas summer 2023 protests here.
____________________________________________
JPost- Aug 7, 2023 Hamas sentences seven Palestinians to death for collaborating with Israel
Hamas said the convicts were found guilty of providing Israeli security forces with information about members of armed groups and the location of tunnels and rockets in the Gaza Strip.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
___________________________________________
BusinessInsider - Oct 15, 2023 Israel wants Palestinians to rise up against Hamas. One who did says that's now impossible.
Rami Aman is a journalist and leader of the Gaza Youth Committee who has lived in Cario, Egypt, since 2022.
Rami Aman: Palestinians cannot fight Hamas while under Israeli attack
Rami Aman knows what it's like [for a Gazan] to stand up to Hamas [and] seek peace with Israeli civilians:[it got] him [jailed, tortured and eventually pushed into exile in Cairo].
In 2020, Aman, a leader of the Gaza Youth Committee [was jailed] for organizing a cross-border video call "Skype With Your Enemy,"… an effort to bypass hostile political leaders on both sides and build relationships between [ordinary Israels and Palestinians]...
So when Israeli President Isaac Herzog this week chided residents of Gaza for not overthrowing Hamas — "They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime," he said — Aman took umbrage. Not only did he do just that, at great personal cost, but thousands of other Palestinians defied [Hamas too, it’s repressions, and its negligence of] basic governance. [Associated Press reported on how Hamas' security forces reacted.]
[Now, amid war], the most intensive in the history of Gaza, such protests are an impossibility.
No one will "make any kind of revolution against Hamas under the Israeli missile," Aman told Insider in an interview. It will have the opposite effect. "They are creating more Hamas, more Hamas, more Hamas … [an entire new "generation"] radicalized by Israeli bombardment and the propaganda of armed extremists claiming to defend them.
As [TOI noted this past week, until the massacre of 1,300 Israeli and foreign civilians Oct 7, Hamas and BN’s bloc’s Israeli government had had an almost symbiotic relationship helping BN’s bloc oppose] the creation of a Palestinian state. So long as Hamas [controlled] the Gaza Strip [it would weaken Israeli] voices calling for a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians.
"Most of the people in Gaza do not support Hamas," Aman said, characterizing the 2006 election as a protest vote against corruption and the failure of the peace process. Indeed, a recent poll by the Washington Institute found that a large majority wanted Gaza's day-to-day governance to be led by the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, and for Hamas to maintain its ceasefire with Israel — knowing they would pay the price for breaking it, not the leadership of Hamas in Qatar.
"I believe that what is happening now, it will not destroy Hamas," Aman said. "It will destroy the people and all the people in the Gaza Strip," he continued, arguing that the terrorist group and the Israel Defense Forces each only know violence and that their respective sponsors should instead be working to negotiate prisoner exchange (Hamas abducted over 150 Israeli civilians, including women, children, and an elderly Holocaust survivor, while over a thousand Palestinians are currently being held without charge within Israel, according to Israeli human rights group B'Tselem)….
___________________________________________________
IranInt'l- Oct 16, 2023 Tehran’s Support For Hamas Sharply Divides Opinion At Home
by Maryam Sinaee A British Iranian journalist and political analyst and a regular contributor to Iran International
The Islamic Republic’s unwavering support for Hamas has led many Iranians to [favor Israel’s] military actions, according to pundits.
These ... views, the result of economic hardships, widespread poverty, political impasses, and a negative approach by policy-making institutions toward Iranian culture and lifestyle, are contributing to a broader shift in attitudes among the opposition.
Former government spokesman Ali Rabiei, in a commentary published by the reformist Etemad newspaper on Saturday, highlighted that this perspective on [I/P] extends beyond "some among the masses" to include "some intellectuals and writers" [whether they remain silent or] express support for Israel.
Ahmad Bokharai, head of the political sociology department of Iran's Sociological Association also told Didban-e Iran (Iran Monitor] news website Saturday that “the proxy wars Iran has waged in the past few years” are not acceptable to the majority of the Iranians.
Highlighting that Iranians who lived through the eight-year war with Iraq (1980-88) and witnessed its devastating aftermath tend to favor peace, Bokharai argued that those dissatisfied with the government's stance lean towards supporting Israel over the Palestinians. He pointed out that the "majority in Iran" expressing support for Israel is a reaction to the minority who misuse government resources to suggest that Iranians are pleased with Hamas's attacks on Israel….
____________________________________________
atlanticcouncil.org/ Oct 18, 2023 Do the Israelis know about the Basus War?
...UAE officials I spoke to were hopeful that Israel might soon provide public assurances that, after Hamas has been completely routed, innocent Palestinians will be allowed back to areas they have fled, humanitarian funds from places such as the UAE will be welcome, and the restrictions Israel imposed on Gaza after Hamas violently took power in 2007 will be largely reversed.
The alternative is a scenario in which Israel, solely motivated by an understandable desire for vengeance against Hamas, ends up taking actions that eventually drive away its new Arab friends. One Emirati official asked me if Israelis were familiar with the story of the Basus War. When I expressed my own ignorance, he explained that over one hundred years before the founding of Islam, a war between two tribes in Arabia was initially sparked by the killing of a camel, but through an escalating cycle of vengeance, lasted for forty years and brought great devastation. In the end, those who focused only on vengeance found themselves alone, their friends having been forced to abandon them.
___________________________________________
William F. Wechsler is the senior director of Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council. His most recent US government position was deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and combatting terrorism.