* Ahmad Samih Khalidi is a Palestinian writer
There is yet no clear political endgame emerging from the Israeli government or its western allies, still seemingly ready to support Israel’s free hand to punish the people of Gaza under the ‘right to defend itself’. However, putting aside the more extreme voices seeking to permanently depopulate the Strip or nuke it to oblivion, two largely consensual goals can be adduced from the Israeli stance so far: the first is that Hamas must be unequivocally defeated and its military and political-civilian presence uprooted from Gaza once and for all; and the second, that there should be no return to the status quo ante – that is, that any post-Hamas regime must be consistent with Israel’s security needs and the trauma suffered by the Israeli people on 7 October. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has confirmed as much by asserting that Israel will retain “indefinite” security control over the Strip, thereby reversing the withdrawal that ostensibly ended in 2005.
Hamas’s armed force is no match for Israel’s military might, and the immediate result in the field is almost certain to reflect this. But Hamas is not only deeply embedded in the soil of Gaza as a social and political movement; its presence stretches across the region with an extensive network of cadres, sympathisers and sponsors, including the broader Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated movements globally. Regardless of what happens in the military confrontation, Hamas’s residual presence and its claim to represent the spirit of Palestinian resistance is likely to enhance its reputation and ability to renew itself among the masses of Palestinians maddened, frustrated and traumatised by the images of death rained down on Gaza’s civilians. Even those who do not support Hamas may be drawn to the notion of resistance.
Ahmad Samih Khalidi is a Palestinian writer and former negotiator
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