re: #203 Ghost of Tom Joad

Is there a definitive reason why Hamas came into power in Gaza? There’s so much muddled information out there. It’s obvious they’ve been militant for their existence, and the Gazan people turned to them (well, more voted for them than Fatah, which led to infighting between the 2 groups, which Hamas won, which is where we are now.)

Was the PLO (Fatah) that ineffective in governing the area that they turned to Hamas (which they had to know was militant)? Forgive my ignorance, but would I be at least somewhat correct in saying that the Gazans (Palestinians, or whatever people want to call them) were unhappy about the negotiations being conducted by the PLO at the time (mostly over historical boundaries with Israel) and the occupation?

I think everyone agrees Hamas is evil, there are innocents in Gaza, and that Israel needs to defend itself. Figuring out why Hamas was supported in the first place may be an important question to answer so that once they are removed from power (which I think is the only thing Israel can do at this point) they, or a group similar to them, will never come back into power (which means creating a stable Gaza so that they never feel the need to support a group like Hamas.)

Again, sorry for a lack of understanding, but I’m trying to figure out the underlying issues behind this conflict.

I think you’re asking the right questions. There are no easy answers and much of what passes for answers is kind of unpleasant.I’ll give you a short version of my take. Part of it has to do with the discussion on this thread. In the old days of warfare, if you’re enemy refused to surrender you’d flatten their cities and totally devastate them. This is no longer acceptable in modern warfare and Hamas, along with other resistance factions, exploit this loophole to keep fighting with the knowledge that Israel won’t destroy them.
Other Muslim countries have been exploiting the Palestinians for ages. Paying martyr payments to the families of suicide bombers, sending them useless weapons to annoy Israel with, assisting in smuggling and just keeping the Palestinians fighting a war they can’t possibly win.
There is also the issue of Palestinian culture. Generations of war, executions, corruption, religiously endorsed hate, sense of victim hood and humiliation has poisoned their society. You see the same thing in African or Asian countries who have stayed at war too long. People lose their humanity and common sense.
It’s really hard for us to understand why the Palestinians still support Hamas. I don’t think we’ll ever really be able to understand it.