Police forces controlled by the terrorist organization Hamas violently dispersed several hundred protesting Gaza youth on Wednesday, arresting many demonstrators who were peacefully protesting against the dismal economic situation in Gaza under the iron-fisted rule of the Islamic militant fundamentalist movement.
Hundreds of young people attended the protest that called for improving living conditions in the Gaza Strip. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that protest organizers claimed that Hamas internal security forces raided the rally in civilian clothes and used violence against demonstrators. Hamas prevents (Arabic link) any public demonstrations against its rule and forcibly shuts down any protests.
The demonstration took place just days after a group of youths in the Gaza Strip announced the launch of a campaign intended to pressure decision-makers in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank “to change the bitter reality” on the ground. In a press conference, one of the group’s leaders said that it is time that the voice of young people in Gaza who suffer from reality should be heard.
Many of the group members are graduate students who could not find work after finishing their studies at Gaza universities.
Despite a major international donors conference six months ago that led to billions of dollars in aid pledged to Gaza, most of the money has not been forthcoming. A housing crisis, poor living conditions, and high unemployment rates in Gaza have not changed. The newspaper al-Watan al-Arabi (Arabic link) reported that the young people of Gaza are tired of the isolation Hamas has imposed on the Gaza Strip, leading to their call for change.
Hamas and its allies condemned the protests, with Palestinian columnist Ibrahim Madhoun writing in the Hamas newspaper al-Risala (Arabic link) that young Palestinians need to fight only against Israel, and that the protests are motivated by “egoistic ambitions.”
According to AFP, the protesters were “urging reconstruction and calling for an end to intra-Palestinian division.” The continued feuding between Gaza-based Hamas and the Fatah movement, which controls the West Bank, has prevented the rebuilding of Gaza, even as Israel has allowed construction materials into Gaza. Hamas also has diverted concrete meant for reconstruction to rebuild its terror tunnels.
[Photo: AFP news agency / YouTube]