Journalists and academics often claim that Hamas has achieved and maintained its popularity because of the social services it provides. Yet, as Hillel Frisch demonstrates, while it has indeed provided some basic services, Hamas has consistently degraded the economic wellbeing of the people of Gaza. Moreover, the services administered by Hamas, like sewage treatment and water management, are often administered poorly. There’s more:
According to many human-rights organizations, [a supposed Israeli] “siege” is responsible for an almost perpetual humanitarian crisis in Gaza (an unfathomable assessment in itself, given an average life expectancy in Gaza of over 74 years, which is higher than half the states around the world). Overlooked is the critical role of Hamas and other violent Palestinian organizations in reducing trade between Israel and Gaza, in favor of Egyptian-Gazan trade through tunnel smuggling, which financed these organizations at the expense of the welfare of Gaza’s inhabitants. Essentially, Hamas and other Palestinian violent organizations imposed a siege on Gaza’s inhabitants long before the takeover. . . .
The most prominent [means of discouraging trade with Israel] were the frequent attacks on the Israel-Gaza border crossings, which were manned by Israeli authorities and the PA’s Preventive Security Force. . . . Hamas and other violent organizations sought to divert the trade flow between Israel and Gaza to tunnel smuggling between Egypt and Gaza, which enabled them both to impose fees on others, and to sell smuggled goods that were subsidized in Egypt. . . . [In addition], during the second intifada, Hamas sought to deprive the Palestinian Authority . . . of revenue accrued from the value-added tax that Israel collected on its behalf on goods imported into Gaza through Israel.
Read more on BESA Center: http://besacenter.org/mideast-security-and-policy-studies/9483/