Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Ed Davey should stick to his silly stunts – not lecture us on Gaza

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey (Getty images)

Ed Davey’s got this Middle East business figured out. The Liberal Democrat leader has tweeted — because, honestly, what else is there to do as Lib Dem leader other than tweet? — his latest insight into the Gaza war:

‘Now the Hamas terrorists behind the October 7 atrocities are trying to erode support for recognition of a Palestinian state by falsely claiming it would be a victory for them. Hamas do not represent the Palestinian people and have no future in Gaza with a two-state solution.’

I know who we can ask about what the Palestinians really think. Let’s ask…the Palestinians

That’s nice, Ed. Now, I’m not suggesting you’re a disingenuous twit and should stick to making a prat of yourself on a surfboard instead of making a prat of yourself on foreign policy, but it couldn’t hurt to get a second opinion. Just on the off-chance that you’re desperately trying to deflect from your policy of handing Hamas a massive victory by calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state and its unfortunate – and surprising – side effect of handing Hamas a massive victory.

In fact, I know who we can ask about what the Palestinians really think. Let’s ask…the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research is widely respected for its analysis of Palestinian public opinion, not least for its researchers’ unrivalled data-gathering in the middle of a war zone. The centre’s most recent poll of Palestinian adults was conducted in May and asked a series of questions about the current war and the political mood in the West Bank and Gaza.

If legislative elections were held tomorrow, how would they vote?

Hamas 43 per cent

Fatah 28 per cent

Other parties 8 per cent

Don’t know 19 per cent

Did Hamas commit atrocities against Israeli civilians, including women and children, on October 7?

Yes 9 per cent

No 87 per cent

Do they support the disarmament of Hamas in order to stop the war in Gaza?

Support 18 per cent

Oppose 77 per cent

Don’t know 5 per cent

Satisfaction level for each Palestinian faction or institution:

Hamas 57 per cent

Fatah 24 per cent

Palestinian Authority 23 per cent

Mahmoud Abbas 15 per cent

Now, it’s true that support for Hamas is falling, and on current polling it would not win a hypothetical presidential election. (The incumbent, Mahmoud Abbas, is currently in the 20th year of his four-year term. In Palestine, all elections are hypothetical.) But to suggest that Hamas ‘do not represent the Palestinian people’ is, if Davey is as fencepost-dumb as I suspect he is, a critical misunderstanding or, if there is a flicker of intelligent life that I have missed, an outright lie.

Even if it is a lie, don’t be too harsh on the man. You’d lie, too, if you were the kind of chump who thought recognising a Palestinian state in the middle of a war started by Hamas wouldn’t send the message that Hamas’s methods get results. You’d pathetically attempt to spin it as a tactic by the terrorists who committed (or, if you ask the Palestinians, did not commit) the October 7 atrocities. You’d insist that these terrorists did not represent the Palestinian people, the same Palestinian people who would prefer the war continue than that the terrorists put down their guns.

It really is a dilemma. The face of students-and-shires British progressivism says one thing about Hamas, but the people in the West Bank and Gaza say another.

Who are you going to believe? Ed Davey, or those lying Palestinians?

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