A Brief Guide for the Perplexed 25
were violently ousted from Gaza by Hamas , which took complete control of the area in 2007 . Hamas , recognized as a terrorist group by the U . S . and E . U ., has received substantial support from Iran and funding from Qatar ; diverted essential supplies to military purposes ; launched countless rockets at Israel , including more than 4,000 in May 2021 alone and far more than double that number to date , following the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7 , 2023 ; built infiltration tunnels with the express purpose of attacking and kidnapping Israelis ; repeatedly provoked neighboring Egypt ; and denied residents the chance to pursue political , social , and economic development .
All along , a key test for the leadership of President Abbas has been the challenge posed by terror groups operating within Palestinian society . Without firm and consistent action in confronting the enemies of an accord , including Hamas with which Abbas has on occasion sought to forge an unholy coalition , the chances for moving ahead successfully on the peace front diminish dramatically . Moreover , the Palestinian Authority can never establish its centrality if armed groups have the luxury of operating both as political factions and separate militia groups .
There ’ s one other important point . If , after the 1993 Oslo Accords , the Palestinian Authority had begun to introduce the values of mutual respect and coexistence into the school curriculum , perhaps the generation of young terrorists we have witnessed in recent years might have acted differently . But , instead , they were fed a steady diet of incitement , hatred , vilification , and demonization of Jews , Judaism , Israel , and Zionism . They were led to believe there could be no higher calling for Arabs and Muslims than so-called martyrdom through the killing of as many detested Jews — the “ sons of monkeys and pigs ,” as some spokesmen regularly refer to the Jews — as possible .
And this teaching has been reinforced by the drumbeat of hatred pouring out of mosques during Friday sermons , the popularity of notoriously antisemitic books like Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion , and the use of Palestinian media as a mouthpiece