The Palestinian human-rights activist Bassem Eid blames a corrupt and inept Palestinian leadership for the spate of vicious attacks on Israelis:

Palestinians appear to have no responsible leaders, neither in the Palestinian territories nor in the Knesset. Instead of calming the violence, these leaders are only fanning its flames.

This wave of violence will not help our ability to convince anyone, let alone Israelis, that we deserve a state. It will not help the growth of Palestinian civil society, which is badly needed if we are ever to be taken seriously as a peace partner. It will certainly not help the Palestinians’ economic situation. All that this “achieves” is to push Palestinians further back. Yet the leaders are content to preach hate then sit back and enjoy their financial perks while Palestinian society is crashing and burning. . . .

I think the main cause for this cycle of violence is that some Palestinians feel they have nothing to lose, and that is directly due to poor Palestinian leaders who are unable to bring them economic and political independence. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, uses the settlements as an excuse not to negotiate with Israel—which is totally ill-advised since the longer he waits to negotiate, the more settlements there are. Many young Palestinians realize they are led by incompetent individuals and they envy the prosperity of Israel. There is also an important aspect within Palestinian society of incitement toward Jews, a sort of hate culture that is nurtured by terrorists and corrupt politicians. The ongoing violence is partly driven by this hate, and results in more hate.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.