To counter Hamas, Israel nurtures Gazan criminals

 

By James M. Dorsey

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Israel’s throttling of aid for Gaza is as much about weaponizing food and other essential goods as it is about eventually installing a post-war Palestinian administration empathetic to Israeli concerns.

Similarly, Israel’s refusal to end the war intends to create space for an alternative to Hamas to emerge as the group’s popularity in Gaza hits rock bottom.

So is Israel’s sidelining of the United Nations, despite its decades of experience in delivering aid to Gaza and extensive infrastructure in the Strip.

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib. Credit Atlantic Council

An outspoken Palestinian American Hamas critic who lost 33 relatives in the Gaza war, Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, believes that Israel is following the example of the United States in Iraq, where it funded and trained Awakening Councils to counter Al-Qaeda.

Writing on X, Mr. Alkhatib welcomed the coming out of Al-Quwat al-Shabeeya (The Popular Forces) headed by Yaser Abu Shabab, “a notorious gangster and the leader of organized looting.”

This week, Mr. Abu Shabab, a scion of a Bedouin family whom Hamas jailed  on criminal charges, called in a video on Palestinians to return to their largely destroyed homes east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah and promised they would have access to food, medicine, security, and shelter.

Mr. Alkhatib said The Popular Forces were establishing camps “under the watch of the Israeli military” that would create a “beachhead for those who refuse Hamas’s tyrannical and unjust government that has stolen much of the aid and brought disaster and suffering onto the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

Yaser Abu Shabab. Source: Facebook

Mr. Alkhatib suggested that The Popular Forces’ coming out indicates that Gazan clans are emerging as “a potential challenger for Hamas’s dominion over Southern Gaza.”

In April, clan leaders participated in a second round of anti-Hamas protests staged despite Hamas’ brutal crackdown in March on demonstrators.

In response, members of the influential Abu Samra family tracked down and killed a Hamas police officer they claimed had killed their son, Abdul Rahman.

“The people of Gaza are completely against Hamas and against the group’s terror and the squandering of their lives and resources for absolutely nothing,” Mr. Alkhatib said at the time.

Israel’s problem is that Mr. Abu Shabab, like Hamas, “is deeply loathed by Palestinian society, many of whom view him and his comrades as Israeli collaborators doing the bidding of the IDF,” the Israel Defence Forces, according to Mr. Alkhatib.

Iraqi tribal leader talks to US military personnel in 2007. Credit: US Army

Even so, Mr. Alkhatib sees a parallel between The Popular Forces and the Iraqi Awakening Councils that were formed in 2007 by US General David Petraeus to stymie Al Qaeda in Anbar Province.

The Councils benefitted from their local roots and the support of tribal elders. Israel hopes The Popular Forces can do the same.

Mr. Alkhatib cautioned that the Iraqi model would only work in Gaza under “the umbrella of the (West Bank-based, internationally recognised) Palestinian Authority and an Arab/Regional policing and peacekeeping force. Anything beyond that will make such a force appear as a subcontractor for Israeli occupation, rendering it ineffective in the long term.”

The struggle for post-war control of Gaza has sparked a battle of narratives.

Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman  Al-Thani. Credit” Dawn TV 

Eager to avoid being condemned as an Israeli stooge, Mr. Abu Shabab said he was operating “under cover” of, and in coordination with “Palestinian legitimacy,” a term usually used to refer to the embattled Palestine Authority, Hamas’ arch-rival.

The Authority has neither denied nor confirmed Mr. Abu Shabab’s assertion.

Backed by most Arab and European states, the Authority has been angling to restore its Gaza mandate once the war ends.

Hamas ousted Al-Fatah, the Authority’s political backbone, from Gaza in 2007.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas before agreeing to end the Gaza war and has ruled out the Authority’s return to the Strip.

Hamas has conceded that it will not be part of Gaza’s post-war administration and has proposed that an "independent technocratic committee” govern the Strip.

Mr. Netanyahu’s stance reinforces suspicions that The Popular Forces is tied to Israel, bolstered by its ability to operate and openly carry arms in areas controlled by Israel.

Popular Forces gunmen. Credit: Yaser Abu Shabab Facebook page

Mr. Alkhatib suggested that Mr. Abu Shabab’s “gear…resources…, pick-up trucks, tents, and trucks containing flour and humanitarian supplies” indicate that he also has the tacit support of the Palestine Authority “and even Egyptian officials.”

Videos circulating on social media show Mr. Abu Shabab’s men sporting standard military gear, including vests, helmets, and insignia such as the Palestinian flag and a patch identifying them in English and Arabic as an "Anti-Terror Service."

An internal United Nations memo leaked last November said that gangs “may be benefiting from a passive if not active benevolence” or “protection” from the Israel Defence Forces. One gang leader, the memo said, established a “military-like compound” in an area “restricted, controlled, and patrolled by the IDF.”

In a telephone interview in November with The Washington Post, Mr. Abu Shabab acknowledged that he and his relatives “take from the trucks” but insisted they do not touch “food, tents, or supplies for children.”

Mr. Abu Shabab said his group was born of desperation. “Hamas has left us with nothing, and their armed men occasionally come and shoot at us. Let those who accuse us of working with Israel say what they want; Israel doesn’t need us,” he said.

Gunmen take over a flour truck. Credit: AA

In recent days, Palestinian militants in Gaza charged that The Popular Forces and other allegedly Israel-backed gangs were responsible for the looting of trucks transporting a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza after Israel prevented the entry of all assistance for 15 weeks.

The looted trucks included 15 vehicles carrying flour, one of the first World Food Program convoys to enter Gaza since Israel partially lifted its March 2 blocking of the flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Appearing on his Facebook page holding an AK-47, Mr. Abu Shabab said he was working with international aid agencies "to ensure the delivery of flour trucks to the displacement camps."

He said his “young men operated under dangerous conditions to prevent the theft of flour.”

Echoing Israeli allegations, Mr. Abu Shabab added, "We were shocked by the organised looting aimed at selling it on the black market."

Israel has justified the killing of Palestinians desperate to get a box of food at securitised distribution points operated by the troubled US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation by asserting Hamas provoked the incidents.

The United States and Israel hastily created the foundation to cut the UN out of the distribution process with the assistance of private US military contractors.

Johnnie Moore on a visit to Israel. Credit: Haksoz Haber

On Wednesday, the foundation named Reverend Johnnie Moore as its new executive director, an evangelical Christian leader close to both US President Donald J. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu.

Mr. Moore was appointed after former director Jake Wood resigned just weeks after taking the job, citing the foundation’s inability to provide aid "while upholding humanitarian principles."

The appointment also followed reports that the Boston Consulting Group had ended its logistics and planning assistance for the foundation.

Israel’s firing on aid seekers and chaotic scenes at the few distribution points forced the foundation to    pause distribution for a second day.

Israel asserts that the foundation will deprive Hamas of one of its last levers of control in Gaza and sources of income. Israel charges that Hamas diverts looted humanitarian goods to its own people and/or sells them at exorbitant prices.

Despite the foundation’s floundering, Gaza ceasefire negotiators are exploiting Hamas’ weakened position to pressure it to accept an Israeli-backed US proposal for a 60-day truce without Israel committing to end the war and withdraw from Gaza.

The mediators, Qatar-Egypt and the United States, are willing to guarantee that negotiations will continue during the 60 days but not beyond that.

 

Hamas wants a guarantee that is not limited in time and preferably anchored in a United Nations Security Council resolution – a demand rejected by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Mr. Netanyahu.

The mediators hope that they can pressure Mr. Netanyahu during the ceasefire to accept a Palestinian administration of Gaza made up of men like Mr. Abu Shabab, Gazan clan leaders, and businessmen, potentially under the auspices of the Palestine Authority.

To get there, the mediators have to break a stalemate in which Israel and Hamas are playing a game of who blinks first.

Hamas is betting on increased international pressure on Israel because it throttles aid, sidelines the United Nations, and opens fire on aid seekers to force Mr. Netanyahu’s hand. At the same time, the prime minister believes that Hamas’ weakened position will leave it no choice but to buckle.

“In the meantime, more lives are lost, more homes destroyed, and more damage done to the moral fibre of both societies,” said journalist and analyst Dan Perry.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and podcast, The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey.