When the United Arab Emirates, and then Bahrain, announced their decisions to normalize relations with Israel, the leaders both of the Palestinian Authority and of Hamas reacted with outrage. In the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem, protestors burned UAE flags and pictures of Prince Mohammad bin Zayed. This reaction only heightened the increasing hostility of Arab nations toward the Palestinians, or at the very least to their politicians. But Khaled Abu Toameh argues that there could be positive outcomes in the long term:

For the first time ever, the Palestinian leadership now feels that it has been left out; that the Arab world is simply fed up and does not want to wait for [these leaders to make peace] anymore. Of course, this is good news for Israel and good news for all peace‑loving people in the region.

Mahmoud Abbas, [the Palestinian Authority’s president], is now being criticized because he is not being creative. He is not coming up with any plans or any alternative options. All you hear [from other Arabs] is condemnation, condemnation, condemnation. Those who were inciting against Israel all those years are now inciting against the Arab world. Those who were demonizing Israel are now trying to demonize their own Arab and Muslim brothers; this is serious. The gap between the Palestinians and the Arab world is growing.

This change may, by the way, bring something good in the end, because what the Palestinians need is new leadership. They need new thinking. We are talking about the same people, the same leaders who have been around for 40 and 50 years. We are talking about leaders who still think like Gamal Abdel Nasser, Moammar Ghadaffi, and all the Arab presidents we had in the past.

Palestinian leaders have failed to bring anything new to the Palestinians. Of course, the biggest losers are always the Palestinian people, whether they are in the West Bank, living under Palestinian Authority, or in Gaza, living under Hamas.

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.