In recent weeks, reports have spread about civilian conduct in Gaza, especially the distribution of aid, which is done “without UNRA and without Hamas”. Various sources claim that the clans that make up Gaza City have organized to distribute aid in a “Hamas bypass axis”. Defense Minister Yoav Galant said there are no alternatives but Hamas or Fatah, and he spoke of another Fatah, possibly as a hint of the return of Muhammad Dahlan and his loyalists to the arena. However, according to Dr. Michael Milstein, head of the Forum for Palestinian Studies at the Moshe Dayan Center, this is a false hope.
“The IDF didn’t conquer the neighborhoods and cities, it just sits in between them,” Milstein tells Dabr, “The IDF comes in and out, but the one who controls everyday life is still Hamas. A Hamas that looks a little different, but in the end it’s the same Hamas.”
According to Milstein, the clans are still cooperating on Hamas. “The leaders of the clans in Gaza published a joint proclamation according to which they give full support to Hamas, and condemn traitors – that is, those who will work with Israel,” he explains, “Hamas warned the clans that anyone who works with Israel will be eliminated.”
Michael Milstein. “Either we occupy Gaza and stay inside it, or we reconcile with Hamas as an existing fact” (photo: private album)
“The clans would not be in a hurry to support and back Hamas if Israel was in control,” he says. “They go with the Rais, with whoever controls the territory. If they announced that they go with Hamas, it shows who controls the street.”
Are you talking about the northern strip? The area that Israel has seemingly finished occupying?” Of course I’m talking about the north. In the center of the Gaza Strip and in the south, this is not a question at all, Hamas controls there quite openly. In the north of the Gaza Strip, Hamas cannot go out in a police car, or walk around the street too openly because the IDF will immediately react like which we have seen in the last few days in Shifa, so he manages things from the hidden.”
What does it look like?” In the north of the Strip there are pockets of clear and unequivocal control by Hamas, such as Jabaliya. This is infuriating because we paid with the blood of our soldiers to occupy Jabaliya, but we hurried to get out of there, and it returned to being a neighborhood under the full control of Hamas.
“Other areas that have undergone Somaliization (from the language of Somalia, AL), are controlled by all kinds of gangs, and everything is conducted there in a chaotic manner. This is a situation that is convenient for Hamas, and dangerous for Israel. These gangs threaten Israel no less than Hamas.”
Milstein claims that it is very difficult to follow what is happening in the Strip. “The civil conduct in Bardak is great, everything changes all the time and there is mainly a lot of mess.”
IDF soldiers in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip. “Hamas is back under full control” (Photo: Haim Goldberg/Flash90)
“There is no point in negotiating with the clansmen if they will be assassinated when you walk out the door”
In recent days, videos have been published showing organized queues of food distribution. According to Milstein, “The orderly distribution of food in the north of the Strip is proof that Hamas is returning to control. It was not planted, the mechanism is a civilian mechanism of Hamas. There are no rainbow unicorns in Gaza who can manage food distribution there, it is Hamas under cover.”
Is Hamas under cover like in the West Bank?
It is different from the West Bank, because in the West Bank Hamas is in opposition and there is Palestinian rule by the PA. In Gaza there is no one else’s rule, Israel is not trying to control the population. So the rule of Hamas undergoes a metamorphosis – they move to outsourcing, to agents. Hamas understands that they cannot act openly, so they look for disguised ways to manage affairs, they use clans.”
Is the elimination of Pa’ak Mabukh related to this?
“Fa’ak Mabuhuh was responsible for the coordination between Hamas, the clans and UNRWA. He coordinated between the bodies that dealt with the distribution of aid. Hamas announced that Israel killed him to harm civil coordination. Hamas claims to have regained order in the Strip, and Israel is trying to undermine it and create chaos.”
Is Israel trying to approach the clans?” The Palestinians reported that there were meetings of IDF and Shin Bet representatives with clan leaders in Gaza. This may be what is behind the assassinations, and the threats by Hamas towards the clans. If it did happen, then we threw the baby out with the bath water.
“We learned nothing from the bitter experience that Ariel Sharon had with the village associations in the 1970s. So it ended in the elimination of everyone who was willing to work with Israel. There is no point in entering into negotiations with the clansmen, without having confidence that they will not be assassinated the moment you walk out the door.”
“Actually, the IDF is not inside the Gaza Strip, the Gazans understand that the old order remains”
How do you think it’s right to build the ‘day after’?” All talk about the day after is nonsense. We’re nowhere near there. How can we talk about the day after when there’s such a mess, and Hamas is still in control. Who would want to get into it? Who would you work with?
“If Israel were to occupy Gaza and stay inside it, arrest every Hamas operative, give the residents at least the feeling that it is the sovereign, then there would be a possibility to perhaps start a new order, new elements. But in practice the IDF sits around Gaza and not inside it. Gazans understand that the old order remains. It has changed its form, but it is still Hamas. This is the sad situation we have found ourselves in.”
Where are the international players pulling?” Most of them, as you see in the media, are pulling for the end of the war. The Arab countries in the picture – Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia – are not in a hurry to go deep in terms of internal affairs in the Strip. They keep a certain distance. In my understanding, the Egyptians are considering all options, And waiting to see what develops. The Emiratis have entered the picture a little more recently’ but it still seems to be out of necessity. They don’t rush in, they don’t jump into the water.
What do you propose?” Our problem is that there is no strategy. The cabinet has to decide: either we will be serious about changing the reality in Gaza, we will occupy it and stay inside it, or we will put up with Hamas as an existing fact. There is no intermediate solution. In the meantime, we are basking in strategic mud.”
