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The Depth of Palestinians' Trauma from the Hamas-Triggered War Will Define a Generation

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Ghaith al-Omari - Since Hamas's attack against Israel on Oct. 7, the common wisdom has been that Hamas cannot be eradicated since ideologies cannot be defeated militarily. While military action may not fully eliminate an ideology, it can definitely deny it the tools to be effective and render it irrelevant. Moreover, ideologies and organizations (including Hamas) can be sufficiently defeated so as to turn them from major threats to marginal irritants, albeit dangerous ones. It is also true that, no matter what Palestinians and Arabs may feel about Israel, none would want a repeat of the tragedy of this war. Hamas triggered war and still insists that it would do it all again given the chance, so it will be hard-pressed to garner a following from Palestinians in Gaza who suffered so horribly for its decision. The depth of their trauma will define a generation. Any illusions that Palestinian and Israeli societies can now trust one another or even develop a level of coexistence anytime soon should be laid to rest. If it can ever be reached, such an outcome is at best a generational endeavor. There will always be those who support Hamas or something ideologically akin. Islamists are a feature of Arab politics. Just ask all those Arab countries that spent the last century trying to root out the Muslim Brotherhood. This necessitates constant security, intelligence and (in extreme cases) military action. An achievable objective is to turn Hamas into a marginal phenomenon capable only of inflicting occasional violence. The writer is a Senior Fellow in The Washington Institute.
2024-05-26 00:00:00
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