Edwin Koopman

This was a disturbing and deeply embarrassing scene in Gaza City today during the funeral of a man killed in an Israeli airstrike for allegedly being affiliated with Hamas. Members of his clan fired thousands of rounds into the air, initially causing panic and confusion among residents who did not understand what was happening. The spectacle of armed men recklessly discharging weapons sparked widespread anger and contempt among many Gazans, who viewed it as yet another example of the destructive behavior of powerful clans in the Strip. The incident renewed calls to disarm Gaza's clans and militias and remove weapons from civilian hands to reduce crime, curb intra-Palestinian violence, strengthen the rule of law, and break patterns of behavior that fuel radicalization, intimidation, and the dominance of armed actors over civil society. Many Palestinians bitterly note the irony that these same clans and armed strongmen, so eager to display their power before fellow Palestinians, tend to disappear when confronted by the Israeli military. Time and again, tribal militias, criminal gangs, and other armed actors avoid direct confrontation with the IDF, yet readily turn their weapons on other Palestinians, whether against Palestinian Authority forces in the past or, at times, even against Hamas itself. There should be no tolerance for lawlessness. Neither "martyrs" nor their families have the right to terrorize an entire society in the name of archaic notions of honor, death glorification, or tribal privilege. Hamas and Gaza's powerful clans alike must be disarmed, for the sake of Palestinians and Israelis alike.