The Palestinians are one of the most radicalized societies on Earth.
Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the founding of Al Jazeera in 1996, and the ongoing surge of incitement on social media, the minds of young Muslims – particularly Palestinians – have been manipulated.
Three things became clear after October 7: Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in the Gaza Strip must be destroyed so that the genocidal terrorist organization would never be able to use Gaza as a base of terror and murder.
Gaza must be demilitarized so that others in the Strip won’t be able to murder again – and Palestinian society needs to be deradicalized so that new generations of Palestinians can have a future.
Hamas’s military and governing capabilities have been significantly degraded and Gaza is being demilitarized. It is now time to start deradicalization.
The civilized world should unite in this effort.
Is radicalization reversible? Can Palestinian society be deradicalized?
The short answer is yes.
It turns out that deradicalization of terrorists is feasible. Singapore, for example, has been able to apply a deradicalization program that reportedly rehabilitated dozens of dangerous Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists.
One of the pillars of the program is to hold conversations and debates between moderate clergy, Islamic scholars, and inmates in an effort to persuade prisoners that the religious justification for their actions is wrong and rests on a distorted understanding of Islam.
Aside from Singapore: Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and even Norway attest to having effective programs aimed at mitigating radicalism.
Of the approximate 10,000 Palestinian prisoners currently serving time in Israel, 8,000 could be freed to deradicalization centers around the world. Their families would be welcome to join them. In return, the hostages should be released immediately.
With the return to the negotiations for the release of the hostages comes the Pavlovian demand for the release of Palestinian prisoners (convicted terrorists) from Israeli prisons.
This is wrong.
Continuous terrorism
Beyond the sheer injustice, such policies have proven counterproductive to peace. Time and again, the release of terrorists has led to more terror.
Terrorists released in 1985 in return for captured IDF soldiers formed the foundation for the First Intifada in 1987. Terrorists released as part of confidence-building measures during the Oslo process quickly returned to terrorism and took part in the Second Intifada, launched in 2000.
Terrorists released in the 2011 Gilad Schalit deal led to the October 7 massacre. Thousands of innocent Israeli lives have been taken and a generation of Palestinian hopes lost.
There is an alternative to the wholesale release of terrorists. An alternative that may increase prospects for peace or at least stability.
Anyone truly interested in advancing a peace process should insist that terrorist inmates take part in a deradicalized program prior to being released onto the terror-riddled streets of Gaza.
The international community can sponsor the program, providing it with the opportunity to constructively contribute to the peace process.
For the current ceasefire negotiations to succeed in securing the release of the 59 Israeli hostages, a new approach should be proposed, in which Palestinian prisoners would undergo deradicalization programs, ensuring their ideological rehabilitation.
While there are differences between Israelis and Palestinians that are irreconcilable, but the deradicalization of convicted terrorists is a common objective for all pursuers of peace and can serve as an important building block.
For the sake of 59 innocent hostages still being held by Hamas, give deradicalization a chance.
The writer is a senior analyst at Acumen Risk Ltd., a risk-management firm.