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View all search resultsPrioritize Palestine, not Hamas
Making the dissolution of Hamas a prerequisite for the establishment of a Palestinian state is an act of coercion that disregards the root causes of the issue.
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Palestinians gather to receive cooked meals from a food distribution center in Gaza City on Aug. 13, 2025. (AFP/Omar Al-Qattaa)
A
new wave of recognition for the state of Palestine is gaining momentum. Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and several nations from the Global South, particularly Arab states, are voicing their support for an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, provided that Hamas is dissolved first.
This is a reversal of logic. It should be Palestine first, then reconciliation.
Such a condition is not only politically flawed but also morally unjust. Making the dissolution of Hamas a prerequisite for the establishment of a Palestinian state is an act of coercion that disregards the root causes of the issue: occupation, colonization and the prolonged suffering of the Palestinian people for over 75 years. This logic also echoes a troubling double standard in international diplomacy, where the oppressed are held to a higher moral threshold than the oppressor.
Hamas is not the origin of the conflict. Rather, it is a consequence of the international community’s failure to uphold the right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation. Hamas emerged in 1987 amid the first Intifada, born out of long-standing frustration with stalled peace negotiations and escalating violence under Israeli rule. Its rise reflected the vacuum left by diplomatic inaction and injustice.
Yes, Hamas has employed armed resistance, which is open to criticism and debate. However, to demand its dissolution without first offering a clear and irreversible path to Palestinian statehood is both shallow and historically blind. It treats the symptom while ignoring the disease.
Hamas exists because of a 17-year-long total blockade on Gaza, because of the repeated failure of international diplomacy to deliver on promises of Palestinian sovereignty and because of systematic oppression, including killings, land confiscations, home demolitions and arbitrary detentions, that continues to this day. In such a context, resistance, in one form or another, becomes inevitable.
Dismantling Hamas without addressing the structural violence imposed by the occupation will not bring peace. On the contrary, it risks generating more radical and fragmented resistance movements. History has shown us that repression without justice breeds further instability.
