The Next Face of Gaza?

[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]

Why is the world even discussing who should run Gaza right now?

Hamas is still armed. Still ruling, holding the bodies of hostages, and killing Gazans who step out of line.

And yet, Western diplomats, UN bureaucrats, and the usual Red-Green players are already mapping out Gaza’s “post-war” governance.

It’s not over. But the handshakes have already begun.

They call it a “technocratic transition,” “civil society leadership,” and “moving forward.”

What they never call it what it is: appeasement.

Let’s call it what it is:

Another surrender-to-terror dressed up as progress.

The narrative is predictable. Hamas will be left in place, unofficially or otherwise. A few ministries will be handed to friendly faces with NGO ties. And the world will pretend that this counts as change.

Enter the new name making rounds:

Amjad Shawa.

You probably haven’t heard of him, and that’s the point.

He’s not a militant. He’s not an elected official. He’s not part of Hamas, the PA, or Islamic Jihad.

But he’s made a career out of laundering terror through human rights language.

Amjad Shawa, born in Gaza on April 24, 1971, runs the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), one of the most influential coalitions of so-called “civil society” groups operating across Gaza and the West Bank.

This coalition has long been accused of shielding terror under the cover of humanitarianism.

• NGO Monitor has documented that at least five PNGO member organizations have ties to EU-designated terror groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
• PNGO includes over 130 member organizations, many of which have direct or indirect ties to Hamas or other terror-supporting entities.
• PNGO refused to accept European Union anti-terror funding conditions, specifically objecting to clauses that prohibit cooperation with terror-listed entities. Amjad Shawa defended this rejection, calling the conditions “unacceptable political blackmail.”
• PNGO conferences and events have included senior officials from terrorist organizations, including individuals convicted for orchestrating attacks on Israeli civilians.
• The network has also been flagged for opaque financial practices, refusal to publish donor records, and laundering radical narratives through Western aid frameworks.
• Under Shawa’s leadership, PNGO has openly opposed peace negotiations, refused to denounce terrorism, and boycotted donor frameworks that required Palestinian groups to recognize Israel’s right to exist.
• Shawa himself has appeared in dozens of international forums, positioning Hamas’s rule as a humanitarian crisis caused exclusively by Israel without ever condemning Hamas’s military control, executions, or the use of human shields.
• According to watchdog groups like NGO Monitor and Influence Watch, PNGO has been used repeatedly to launder pro-terror narratives through Western aid channels, while blocking real reform inside Gaza.

So yes, Shawa speaks the right language for the West: “reconstruction,” “dialogue,” “civil society.”

But behind the language is a decades-old infrastructure built to protect Hamas, obstruct peace, and redirect aid into endless grievance campaigns.

And Shawa has been managing that protection racket since 1999.

That’s why Hamas hasn’t blocked him.

That’s why the PA signs off.

That’s why media reports are now calling him the favorite for leading the “transitional technocratic committee,” the new civilian face of Gaza’s future.

But don’t mistake the optics for reform.

Shawa may not carry a rifle, but the men who do are just offstage, still in charge.

This entire plan is a soft coup, not against Hamas, but against the truth, and against the Lord’s promise.

Because while bodies still lie under the rubble, and tunnels still snake under hospitals, and hostage families still wait for answers, the world is preparing a brochure. A press release. A rebrand.

And Shawa fits the role perfectly.

He’s the front-office manager for a managed decline. The kind of figure who can get invited to European conferences while the rockets are still warm.

If the goal is to protect Hamas while pretending Gaza is changing, he’s the perfect frontman.

Let’s be clear:

There is no legitimate transitional government for Gaza because the land isn’t up for negotiation. It belongs to Israel. Historically. Biblically. Morally.

And any process that starts by denying that truth is already corrupt.

But beyond the land, the problem is the players.

This isn’t a solution. It’s an arrangement between old collaborators and new appeasers, all part of the Red-Green alliance, whether by ideology or by cowardice.

• The communists want the optics of peace.
• The Islamists want the mechanisms of power.
• The West wants to benefit from the chaos.

And somewhere in between, they found a man with the right title, the right image, and just enough ambiguity to keep the illusion alive.

So ask yourself:

What kind of peace needs this much theater?

And who has to be buried beneath it for the illusion to work?