One thing that has not been highlighted in the reports and discussions that have been going on these past several months regarding the Hamas attack on Israel last October 7 and the subsequent retaliation by Israeli forces has been the respective ideologies of the two opposing groups.
On the one hand, Hamas, like other Islamic terrorist groups, is dedicated to wiping Israel and Jews from the face of the earth. This is reflected in their Charter where they declare – with some paraphrasing – that “Palestine is an Islamic land”. That being the case, “the liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Muslim wherever he may be” or Jihad. It further declares that “Israel exists and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it”.
This ideology reflects the writings of Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, a Palestinian jihadist and theologian, also known as “the father of global jihad” for his role in putting the Afghan struggle against the Soviets from 1979 to 1989 within an Islamic perspective. In 1979, Azzam – who had moved to Pakistan and Afghanistan by that time, issued a fatwa or Islamic religious edict which was published under the title “Defense of Muslim Lands: The First Obligation after Iman” (faith).
In this fatwa, Azzam declared that both the Afghan and Palestinian struggles were jihads, and that all able-bodied Muslims were obligated to fight against foreign occupations of Islamic countries. Because of the situation at that time, Azzam gave emphasis on the fighting in Afghanistan, and his fatwa provided the theological basis for this struggle.
Azzam, incidentally, was one of the key persons who persuaded Osama bin Laden to go to Afghanistan and support and oversee the efforts of the mujahideen fighting against the Soviets.
On the Israeli side the situation is much more complex to interpret, what with various political parties on the left and the right. But it would be fair to say that following the October 7 attack by Hamas and the horrific manner by which the attack was carried out, more Israelis support a harder line against Hamas and Palestinians.
The current ruling coalition in Israel is a coalition of conservative and ultra-conservative parties led by Likud, the party headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These parties oppose the creation of a Palestinian State.
The Likud Party Platform, for example, explicitly states that “the government will oppose the establishment of an independent Palestinian state”. The most that Likud will allow is for “Palestinians to manage their lives freely within the framework of self-government. However, foreign affairs and defense and matters which require coordination, will remain the responsibility of the State of Israel.” Hence, while the Conservative parties will allow a form of autonomy for Palestinians, nevertheless, control of critical functions will continue to be in Israel’s hands.
The resistance of segments of the Israeli population against Palestinian statehood is so deep-seated that it resulted in the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, following his signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 which recognized the right of Palestinians to a sovereign State.
Unless and until these conflicting outlooks on the part of the respective peoples are somehow reconciled, the enmity between Israel and Palestinians and other groups which support them will not be resolved.