The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on Wednesday sparked very different reactions around the world. As Israel and its allies celebrated the disappearance of the “mastermind” of the October 7, 2023 attacks, Palestinians, Arabs and others mourned him as a heroic figure.
It is essential to properly assess Sinwar’s role in the Palestinian struggle and what he and Hamas really represent in political terms, as we appear to be moving closer to a devastating regional conflagration.
Over the past year, Israel has sought to portray Hamas leaders as cowardly men hiding in underground tunnels, using Israeli captives as human shields and hoarding food, water and money .
Videos and details of Sinwar’s final moments that surfaced in the media, however, refuted this narrative. On the contrary, most people in the Middle East considered the Hamas leader a courageous fighter to the end, despite his injuries and his encirclement by Israeli forces.
This perception is reflected in the words of Hamas Politburo Vice Chairman Khalil al-Hayya: “(Sinwar) met his end standing, courageous, with his head held high, holding his gun, firing until his last breath, until the last moment of the war. his life. »
The tale of a heroic death can only consolidate Sinwar’s legacy in the Palestinian struggle. As Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi noted: “His plight – beautifully illustrated in his latest image – is not a deterrent but a source of inspiration for resistance fighters throughout the region, Palestinians and non-Palestinians. »
In contrast, Israel’s Western allies viewed Sinwar’s death as a victory over Hamas that could be exploited to reorganize Palestine and the region to Israel’s advantage. US President Joe Biden echoed the Israeli view that Sinwar was “an insurmountable obstacle” to achieving a ceasefire and that now, without Hamas in power, there is an opportunity for a ” day after” in Gaza.
The leaders of Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and NATO have all demanded a ceasefire that would allow the release of all Israeli prisoners still held in Gaza, without mentioning the Palestinian demand to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel or to end the Israeli presence in Gaza. Gaza. This is a typically pro-Israel orientation that defines most Western states’ policies and has prevented any serious negotiations from taking place.
That Sinwar or any other Hamas leader was an “obstacle” to a ceasefire or peace is simply false. Just four months before his death, he agreed to a deal presented by Biden and backed by the United Nations Security Council – which failed because Israel demanded more changes in its favor. In November, Sinwar also approved the only ceasefire and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas that has taken place so far.
Hamas, as a whole, has not been an “obstacle” to peace either. During its 37 years of existence, the movement has proposed a long-term truce and peaceful coexistence with Israel more than a dozen times, to which Israel has never responded.
Sinwar’s political life clearly illustrates the consequences of Israel’s rejection of peace. He first became politically active in the early 1980s at the Islamic University of Gaza, where he earned a degree in Arabic studies. Israel arrested him several times, and while in detention he met Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He then embarked on a life of political action focused on several parallel goals: cementing a unified Palestinian national consensus, maintaining Hamas’ internal unity, and overseeing military resistance capabilities while managing political and diplomatic initiatives for a peace based on Palestinian national rights.
His first responsibility after the creation of Hamas in 1987 was to create a unit that would eliminate intelligence leaks and Palestinian collaborators with Israel. For this work, Israeli forces arrested him in 1988 during the first Intifada and sentenced him to life in prison.
While he was in Israeli prison, the Intifada ended and was followed by the so-called peace process sponsored by Israel’s closest ally, the United States. He championed Palestinian national cohesion in prison and was involved in the 2006 Landmark Prisoner Document, which outlined a national agenda endorsed by all major Palestinian factions.
By the time Sinwar was released in 2011, the Oslo Accords had all but collapsed and Israel was aggressively expanding its colonial rule over Palestinian lands in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and imposing a debilitating siege on Gaza.
Israel’s refusal, supported by the United States, to negotiate a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has pushed Sinwar, Hamas and small fighting units to focus on armed resistance. This culminated in the October 7 attacks last year.
The rhetoric of Western leaders after Sinwar’s death reflects their refusal to admit this reality. They continue to deny that those who politically challenge or militarily engage Israel are acting as resistance groups waging a battle for justice for Palestinians and others in the region who are suffering the consequences of Zionist settler-colonialism.
This biased deficiency has characterized Western political elites for decades, as they fail to recognize that Israeli concerns are not superior to those of the Palestinians and that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict pits two parties whose mutual rights to sovereignty and Security must be respected so that meaningful peace can be established. .
This gap now helps the West ignore Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own words that the war will not stop after Sinwar’s death – a clear indication of who is really standing in the way of peace. In recent days, the Israeli military has only intensified its ethnic cleansing efforts in northern Gaza, killing around 640 people in 17 days.
Israel wants to continue its colonial subjugation of neighboring Palestinian and Arab lands and its US-backed imperial campaign to end Iranian influence in the region. He also works to silence any voices criticizing his actions, now widely recognized as apartheid and genocide.
To counter this, the Palestinians and their southern allies have gradually expanded their political and military resistance to Israeli actions.
In this context, it is clear – even to those of us who criticize some of Hamas’s activism against civilians – that Sinwar’s leadership and decision-making reflect the Palestinian refusal to give up its right to self-determination and a state. The actions it has undertaken in the area of military resistance and political peacemaking – whether we like it or not – have always been the result of intense consultations and consensus among the members of the organization rather than a decision of a single tyrant, as the West would like to present it.
Powers that fail to understand this reality and continue to ignore the historical dimensions of such indigenous resistance to US-backed Israeli colonial aggression condemn the region to perpetual war.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.
