The fourth year of the war in Gaza brings intensified calls for Hamas to surrender administrative authority and evacuate the Strip. Charting a meaningful recovery is impossible without addressing the historical realities that gave rise to the group. The conflict predates Hamas, rooted in the 1948 Nakba and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Founders like Ibrahim al-Yazouri, Abdulaziz al-Rantisi, and Ahmed Yassin experienced displacement firsthand during these events. The group remains a symptom of a century of oppression rather than an isolated phenomenon. Western framing of Palestinian self-determination as a reward for Hamas ignores international law and demographic realities, where nearly 50 percent of Gaza's population is under 18. An Arab Barometer survey from late September to early October 2023 showed only 29 percent of Gaza respondents trusted the Hamas-led government, with a majority supporting a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has viewed Hamas as useful to maintain that no moderate partner exists, aligning with Bezalel Smotrich's 2017 Subjugation Plan. Meanwhile, diplomatic negotiations remain deadlocked by demands for complete disarmament, perpetuating a status quo.
The insistence on absolute disarmament as a precondition for a permanent truce functions primarily as a mechanism to perpetuate territorial consolidation. By establishing an unattainable military threshold in ceasefire negotiations, state actors systematically foreclose negotiated settlements while maintaining operational momentum on the ground. Historical precedents, such as the political integration of the Irgun and the Lehi under Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, demonstrate that militant factions often transition into state-level governance once structural conditions shift. Consequently, demanding the complete eradication of an insurgent authority before initiating political dialogue serves to freeze the diplomatic landscape rather than resolve the underlying drivers of conflict.
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