A wartime opinion poll among Palestinians shows a rise in support for Hamas, which appears to have ticked up even in the devastated Gaza Strip.
The findings by a Palestinian pollster signal more difficulties ahead for the Biden administration’s postwar vision for Gaza and raise questions about Israel’s stated goal of ending Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.
Washington has called for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, currently led by Abbas, to eventually assume control of Gaza and run both territories as a precursor to statehood. U.S. officials have said the PA must be revitalized, without letting on whether this would mean leadership changes.
The PA administers pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and has governed Gaza until a takeover by Hamas militants in 2007. The Palestinians have not held elections since 2006 when Hamas won a parliamentary majority.
And Bush saw a huge surge of support after 9/11, even though he was widely unpopular leading up to it and nothing about it objectively reflected well on him. It’s a knee-jerk reaction to being attacked by an outside force.
Or it may have something to do with the fact that Hamas have actually proven willing to actually do something about the genocidal white supremacist settler-colonialist state threatening them with extinction - unlike the Israeli puppets that run the Palestinian Authority.