Analyst: Hamas sees itself as having unified Gaza, West Bank, Jerusalem, Israeli Arabs as single entity opposing Israel

Amid the latest surge of Hamas barrages deep into southern Israel, Arab affairs analyst Shimrit Meir tells Channel 12 that, for all the talk of Israel staving off pressure for a ceasefire and the assertions that Hamas wants one, “Hamas is seeking still greater achievements.”

She notes that Hamas is still issuing “demands regarding Jerusalem as part of the parameters of a ceasefire — including regarding Sheikh Jarrah — and demanding  prisoner releases, and so on.” Hamas’s “state of mind is still for a lengthy battle.”

Meir, a former Army Radio Arab affairs correspondent, notes that Hamas feels it is achieving further successes today not only in its ongoing, deadly rocket barrages, but in the “day of rage” it has provoked in the West Bank, and the general strike in the Arab sector in Israel. Hamas sees this combination as “unifying ‘Palestine from the river to the sea’ in a collective protest [against Israel’s presence].”

“This is an important moment, from a narrative and propaganda point of view, for Hamas. It sees itself as the trigger that has unified the ‘Palestinians of 1948’ — Palestinian citizens of Israel — together with Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem into a single entity, protesting as one, acting as one.”