Hamas Will Never Accept Peace; You Cannot Dialogue with a Cultist.
Soft-hearted Westerners imagine Hamas is reasonable and rational, and will lay down their arms if they are catered to. That will never happen.
I often hear from people who suggest that Israel could be nicer to Hamas, which would reform and de-radicalize them, and thus convert them into a peaceful neighbor. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Hamas’ own statements — 1988 Covenant
Hamas has had two charters. The first, from their founding in 1988, is virulently antisemitic and hateful. The second, a more politically-palatable version released in 2017, is also radical and violent, but removes or re-words some of the most offensive elements and phrases.
Here are quotes from the 1988 charter:
Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious.
and:
The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.
and:
It is necessary to instill in the minds of the Moslem generations that the Palestinian problem is a religious problem, and should be dealt with on this basis. Palestine contains Islamic holy sites. […]
I swear by the holder of Mohammed’s soul that I would like to invade and be killed for the sake of Allah, then invade and be killed, and then invade again and be killed.
finally:
Israel, Judaism and Jews challenge Islam and the Moslem people. “May the cowards never sleep.”
Hamas 2017 Charter
In 2017, the language was softened, likely to be more politically palatable to the West as Hamas shifted from purely physical terror to ideological and PR battles.
Here are quotes from the 2017 Charter (Hamas’ own English version):
Palestine symbolises the resistance that shall continue until liberation is accomplished, until the return is fulfilled and until a fully sovereign state is established with Jerusalem as its capital.
and:
Palestine [which extends from the River Jordan in the east to the Mediterranean in the west] is an Arab Islamic land.
They did back off the implacable Jew-Hatred parts from 1988 with:
Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. It provides an umbrella for the followers of other creeds and religions who can practice their beliefs in security and safety.
But the Charter immediately returns to intolerance and violence:
Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. […] Resistance and jihad for the liberation of Palestine will remain a legitimate right, a duty and an honour for all the sons and daughters of our people and our Ummah.
It casts terrorism, murder and other violence as “resistance” using “all means” and claims there is divine justification for all violence (language that has been uncritically adopted by many U.S. university protesters):
Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and laws. At the heart of these lies armed resistance […] Hamas rejects any attempt to undermine the resistance and its arms. It also affirms the right of our people to develop the means and mechanisms of resistance.
Hamas current statements
Here is a small selection of violent, extremist rhetoric that clarifies Hamas position, and shows they will never compromise:
Head of Hamas Women’s Movement values death and terror above life or security
Head of Hamas in Gaza “Needs the blood of women and children of Gaza”
Hamas MP and minister saying “Our land must be irrigated with our blood”
Extensive list showing how Hamas indoctrinates children
Stated aims of the October 7th terror attack
Hamas has not been shy about their goals. They despise the idea of any peace other than complete victory for Hamas and Islamic rule over all people in the region. They consistently attack to disrupt any hope for peace.
Hamas earlier used their missiles and power to disrupt the Oslo peace process.
As Mohammed Djani writes, Hamas killed enough people (via terrorist bombings) to throw political power to the Israeli Right (Likud) and thus successfully blocked peace in 1996 or thereabouts:
On the popular level, both the Palestinians and the Israelis […] wanted peace but […] The Hamas suicide bombing campaign against Israeli civilians severely undermined the Israeli peace camp, shifting some moderate Israeli voters to vote for the extremist parties.
But the biggest and most recent attack was of course October 7th, where over 1,000 innocents were killed, and brutalized in obscene and shocking ways, and many more kidnapped.
As with Oslo, the October 7th attacks were to prevent peace. Hamas freely admitted this to the NY Times:
Taher El-Nounou, […] told the New York Times [that] October 7 is necessary ‘to change the entire equation and not just have a clash’.
‘I hope that the state of war with Israel will become permanent on all the borders, and that the Arab world will stand with us.’
The attack was in the context of an imminent peace deal between Israel, Saudi Arabia and UAE. This would have reduced the need and likelihood of the “permanent war” Hamas demands, and would have been bad for Hamas’ sponsor, Iran, who are fighting for control of the region with the Saudis.
[T]he trigger to the [October 7th] attack was likely that the prospect of a wider Mideast peace was almost at hand through an impending deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Why Hamas rejects peace
Peace is anathema to Hamas, as it would make it harder to destroy Israel and instill Islamic Law over the entire region, which they believe to be Allah’s will.
Hamas maintains and cultivates an “assassins’ veto” where they are able to destroy peace by launching missiles, or sending suicide bombers. Now they have 100+ hostages (or however many are still alive) who they can execute publicly or gruesomely at any time to disrupt future peace initiatives.
(But not for long. Israel understands that Hamas must be removed from power.)
You cannot reason with a cultist
The best negotiators and peace advocates know that you can mediate between groups and foster understanding with most people, but never with religious fanatics.
For instance, Jessica Stern researched and wrote about extremists, and came to the conclusion that:
Americans embrace the idea that “every human being is inestimably valuable, whatever his race, gender or religion [and have a] commitment to freedom of religion, but not freedom to murder for religious reasons. These, alas, are values that put us fundamentally at odds with our foes.”
Even with intensive deprogramming and a new, healthy culture, it is difficult to reform a jihadist. ISIS took Western brides and educated young boys when they were in power for only a few years, and the effects have proved difficult to reverse:
[A]ttempts at reprogramming [boys who spent time in ISIS schools] don’t always stick. “The hardest age to treat is boys from 14 years old to 17. People have told me that before their sons went to those schools, they were okay, but after they went, they were coming home, hitting their siblings and threatening to kill them. [The mentality] is very difficult to eradicate.
A famous camp for former ISIS members, mostly women and children, called the Al-Hol camp, is still full of radicalized Islamists. They have been trying for years, under more ideal conditions where they control and run the camp, to de-radicalize these ISIS brides, women and children, but without much success.
Repeated episodes have demonstrated that the ISIS ideology is alive and well in al-Hol, [… where …] women proudly shouted in front of an Al Arabiya TV camera: “our faith, ideology have been implanted here forever, and America, the Kurds, the infidels, and the Jews will not be able to remove it.” […]
Likewise, children indoctrinated by ISIS ideology throw stones at journalists and threaten them with slaughter because they are “infidels.”
Even in the U.S. we see Q-Anon and some fringe extremists among MAGA and “woke” groups who hold irrational beliefs that are impervious to dialogue or logic. Election denialism, extreme anti-vaxxing, and conspiracy theories abound Most of us know someone who just cannot be talked to about these things.
Naive Western projections
Overall, then, Westerners, including the nicest, most soft-hearted people, tend to see Hamas through their own lens, as rational people in a difficult situation, and even empathize with them despite their being terrorists.
But the reality is that Hamas is different from the oppressed minority some imagine, and more like the craziest nutjob uncle you have, who you dread speaking to at Thanksgiving. Rationality and kindness are not the solution.
Regrettably, Hamas simply must be removed from power.
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