The blockade’s philosophy took on a geographic dimension: while the West Bank under Abbas’s leadership could be embraced and empowered, Gaza under Hamas’s control was to be ring-fenced. The reasoning was presumably simple: once Gazans suffered and their lives were badly hit relative to West Bankers, they would revolt against Hamas’s authority. This would pave the way for Hamas’s collapse and the return of the Palestinian Authority, under Mahmoud Abbas’s leadership, back into the Gaza Strip, thereby reunifying the Palestinian territories under a single leadership committed to negotiations with
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