Hamas and rule in Gaza.

How did Hamas come to power, keep it and exploit/radicalise the Gaza population?
was it a vote against the aging kleptocracy of the PLO that was Arafats legacy to the Palestinians? Was it a result of its organisation of the suicide bombings over the years? Its campaign to Islamise Palestinian society? Its honesty inn local politics or its grassroots activism?

Hamas have never hid the unitary nature of all their parts, never disclaiming responsibility of the armed wing. Mouhamad al-Zahar claimed the armed wing would never be disbanded. Being a main political party has not managed to moderate their outlook.

It is rarely understood that the whole terrorist network of Hamas rests upon a network of political leaders and Charitable organisations which are several steps removed from terror attacks and operate under the guise of legitimate political, humanitarian, social and communal activities.

For example Hamas has a number of mosques, schools, orphanages, summer camps and sports leagues that are integral in the overarching terror apparatus. They engage in incitement, and the radicalisation of society and most importantly act as recruitment for the terror apparatus. They provide logistical and operational support to the radical wings of Hamas, as well as provide jobs and shelter for the terrorists in non-confrontational times.

This infrastructure is being exposed in Gaza by the IDF via their attacks on Mosques and government buildings which expose their use by Hamas for terroristic ends. The whole infrastructure of Gaza has been turned into a terror supporting entity, none of the institutions that Hamas runs is uninvolved in the conflict, and this turns them into legitimate targets for reprisal. the only way to defeat Hamas is to take away their infrastructure of Dawa in the Gaza strip, and to expose them for what they are: a terroristic entity wholly predicated on the destruction of Israel and not the building up or strengthening of Palestinian civil society.

Until the Palestinians learn to identify themselves as Palestinians on their own terms, not vis-a-vis Israel, then they will be stuck in the rut they are at the moment. They need to learn to love themselves more than they love to hate Israel. Only then will the Palestinians have a nation that is focused on building itself into something they and others can be proud of and respect.

Until then, Palestinians will continue to act as victims and will continue to act as a childish state that can't take responsibility for its own actions (the international community just empowers this view as it never asks the Palestinians to take responsibility for their actions). This is where Hamas trumped, as it offers an identity (Islamist) that Palestinians can feel positive about, yet it also has hijacked the Palestinian Nationalist narrative, exploiting it for their own ends.