How Hamas plans to win the Palestinian elections
Palestinian national elections are set for Nov. 28. Hamas will run, just not as Hamas; it will campaign, instead, as part of a broad coalition. If successful, some Mideast experts warn, Hamas will position itself within the Palestinian Authority, its Islamist terror cells peppered throughout Judea and Samaria.Driving Hamas’s decision to run on a coalition slate is a precondition set by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), the group that dominates the P.A., requiring all candidate lists to accept the PLO’s program. This includes its agreements with Israel.The PLO hoped to create a barrier to prevent Hamas from running while not barring the group outright so as not to appear “undemocratic,” observers told JNS.Hamas could never accept the State of Israel because doing so would cut to the core of its ideology. “Hamas’s political identity is rooted in radical-Islamist rejectionism and uncompromising hostility to the Oslo Accords,” Amine Ayoub, a fellow…
Hamas plans to participate in the upcoming Palestinian national elections on November 28 by running proxy candidates under neutral titles like "National Unity" or "Change." This strategy allows Hamas to circumvent the PLO's precondition requiring all candidate lists to accept its program, which includes recognizing agreements with Israel. Experts warn that if successful, Hamas could gain legislative veto power, financial access, and legal immunity, thereby undermining U.S. President Donald Trump's post-conflict plans and international efforts to establish a non-factional civilian administration. Amine Ayoub, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, stated, "Hamas achieves legislative veto power, financial access and legal immunity—paralyzing international efforts to establish clean, non-factional civilian administration." However, there is skepticism about whether the elections will actually take place, as Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas may cancel or postpone them if a Hamas proxy surge becomes apparent, prioritizing Fatah's authoritarian control over democratic accountability.
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