The question today is no longer: What does Hamas want? But rather, what does the Palestinian people need? Between these two questions lies the distance separating factional calculations from the requirements of the national cause, and between the organization's gambles and the entitlements of a people facing one of the most dangerous stages in its contemporary history.
After long months of war, destruction, massacres, siege, and starvation, and after Gaza has turned into an open arena for death, devastation, and unprecedented human suffering, there is no longer time for more political maneuvers or regional gambles, whose limited impact and inability to protect the Palestinian people or stop their continuous bleeding have been proven by facts.
Gaza has paid a price beyond any society's capacity to endure.
Tens of thousands of victims and wounded, entire cities and neighborhoods razed to the ground, and a social and economic infrastructure systematically destroyed, while threats to the very existence of Palestinians continue through displacement projects and the reshaping of the demographic and political reality of the Strip to serve the goals of the extremist Israeli right.
In this context, the ongoing negotiations appear to be more than just a discussion about temporary arrangements, prisoner exchanges, or managing a transitional phase; they concern the fate of Gaza and the future of the entire Palestinian cause.
Therefore, any unjustified delay or any attempt to improve political positions at the expense of national necessities could have a heavy cost for the Palestinian people and their cause.
What is alarming is not only the continuation of the war but also the persistence of some parties in believing that some regional variable will turn the equations upside down, or that external gambles can compensate for internal losses.
Experience has shown that regional powers, no matter how much they raise slogans of support and assistance, act according to their national interests and private calculations, and not according to the priorities of the Palestinian people alone.
It is the Palestinians who always pay the price when calculations are wrong or illusions are inflated.
From here, it becomes legitimate to ask: What have the Palestinians gained from the continuation of these gambles? Has the so-called axis of support succeeded in preventing the destruction of Gaza, protecting its people, or stopping the massacres against them? Have grand slogans been able to provide Palestinians with security, food, protection, or a political horizon?
The painful answer lies in the reality of Gaza itself.
Events have proven that possessing weapons alone is not enough to protect peoples if it is not part of a comprehensive national strategy that combines politics, resistance, diplomacy, and the ability to manage conflict with wisdom and responsibility.
It has also proven that monopolizing national decision-making, whatever its motives or justifications, ultimately leads to weakening the internal front and fragmenting Palestinian elements of strength.
Therefore, what is required today is not to search for exits that save the face of this party or that, but to search for an exit that saves Gaza, protects the Palestinian people, and preserves what remains of the Palestinian national project. The cause is bigger than any faction, and Gaza is bigger than any authority, administration, or political influence.
The current moment imposes on everyone, especially the Hamas movement, a courageous and responsible review of the entire experience, away from arrogance or escaping forward. Review is not a defeat, but a condition for national revival.
As for insisting on the same policies despite the catastrophic results, it is an insistence on error and a waste of possible salvation opportunities.
The Palestinian people today do not need an organizational or factional victory, but a national victory that restores consideration to the unity of the cause, the unity of representation, and the unity of political decision. And above all, they need a leadership that places their interests above its own, their future above its calculations, and their right to remain on their land above all other considerations.
Gaza has reached a moment of truth. A moment that forces everyone to choose between continuing in the spiral of gambles that have exhausted their purposes, and siding with the logic of reason and national responsibility.
History does not hold political forces accountable for their intentions or their slogans, but for the results of their decisions.
The question remains suspended before the Hamas movement and before all Palestinian forces: Will the interest of the Palestinian people and the salvation of Gaza be the compass, the reference, and the goal, or will factional calculations and external gambles remain the rulers of the decision?
The answer to this question will not only determine the future of Gaza but may determine the future of the entire Palestinian cause.
شارك برأيك
Gaza: Between the Gambles of the Past and the Requirements of the Future