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Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Well, if we want the “timelines” to be correct, it was also Israeli influence that led to Hamas as they aided Hamas in an effort to weaken or “balance” the Palestinian Authority.
We shouldn’t pretend for a single second that Israel bailed on Gaza and OOPS! looks like they voted in Hamas out of nowhere!
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Israel showed indifference towards the Muslim Brotherhood (the precursor group of Hamas) who had denounced violence. Starting in the early 80s, when it became clear that the founders of Hamas were actually pursuing violent means, Israel began to arrest them.
Even if Israel wanted to challenge the Muslim Brotherhood, how were they supposed to do that? Tear down random mosques (who had denounced violence). That would have gone over real well.
After Hamas won the election, Israel immediately began to arrest Hamas supporters. The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was in September of 2005. In June of 2006 Israel had full scale military operation against Hamas after Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. Israel and the US then tried to overthrow Hamas and forced a unity government. War breaks out between Hamas and Fatah in June of 2007 and Hamas takes control of Gaza soon after. Hamas is forced to withdraw from the West Bank due to Fatah receiving US and Israeli support.
The idea that Israel put Hamas in power in Gaza is complete hogwash. Israel didn't do anything to actively support Islamist movements, and began to actively fight them as soon as the early 1980s, over twenty years before Hamas was elected into power.