Hamas won power by delivering social services where Fatah had failed

Evidence

The self-determining response of the Palestinian people was to catapult Hamas into power, the very group to which Israel was instrumental in giving birth, and which now it seeks most to destroy. And to do so less because Hamas has stood up to Israel than that, in the face of relentless Israeli attack, it was seen to succeed, at least within limit, where Arafat’s Fatah had hopelessly failed. Hamas delivered social services, providing the garbage collection, medical treatment, and food supplements for the starving, services the long-ruling Palestinian Authority could only complain about not having the resources to provide. In the lead-up to its winning formal political power in a democratic election, Hamas – like Hizbullah in Lebanon – succeeded in making more bearable on the ground the otherwise excruciating everyday existence of ordinary Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 650

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader literature on militant groups providing governance (e.g., Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the ‘welfare as legitimacy’ thesis in political science). — connects to: Hamas won Palestinian support by delivering services where the state failed — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 650