Remember that Israel encouraged the formation of Hamas as competitition to
the PLO. Also, imagine what it's like to be a Palestinian with all these
groups fighting to control your life.
Miriam
Mondoweiss
Gulf crisis could push Hamas closer to Iran, or cause it to fold under the
Palestinian Authority
Ahmad Kabarition June 26, 20174 Comments
Palestinian policemen keep guard as tankers exit Gaza's power plant in
Nuseirat in the center of Gaza strip on June 21, 2017. Egypt began to
deliver a million litres of fuel to Gaza, temporarily easing a crisis that
has left the Palestinian enclave's two million residents with only a few
hours of electricity per day. (Photo: APA Images/Yasser Qudih
A few minutes after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and
Egypt, announced on June 5 that they would cut diplomatic relations with
Qatar on the pretext of supporting terrorism, the Palestinians in the Gaza
Strip questioned how the strain would impact the electricity crisis in the
besieged coastal enclave. At the same time, analysts in Gaza began making
calculations on what Hamas next move will be, with the coming loss of a
prized benefactor.
Qatar is a major financial backer of humanitarian projects in Gaza and by
extension a stabilizer to Hamas. The Gulf country promised more than $30
million in reconstruction projects after the 2014 war including the
rehabilitation and development of Salah al-Din StreetGazas only
highwayand established several schools, hospitals and an entire residential
city in Khan Yunis that cost $160 million. Moreover, Qatar has paid the
salaries of 40,000 Hamas employees in 2016, a bill that totaled $20 million
and required careful coordination between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority.
The role Qatar had played in the region was one of deliberate calculations
to maintain a balance of power. Qatar is a small country flanked by Saudi
Arabia to the west and Iran to the east, across the Persian Gulf. Doha has
sought a fragile relationship with the two powerful countries yielding
competing influence across the Middle East. It is in this context that Qatar
has built relations with Hamas and coordinated their projects with Israelan
enemy state of both the Saudi Kingdom and Iranand a pocket of power for
Qatar who positioned themselves as a gatekeeper for aid and political
relations with both Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
Yet amid growing humanitarian chaos as a result of the power outages in
Gaza, former allies of Hamas are extending offers to rescue the Strip from
its electricity crisis, albeit with terms that would require Hamas to cede
authority. These offers presented themselves just as Qatar became
cash-strapped by the cut off from Arab countries.
Last week Egypt gave 220,000 gallons of fuel to Gazas power plant,raising
daily electrical supplies to eight hours, up from four the week before. But
the deal came with heavy concessions to Hamas authority. Reportedly,
Egyptian security officials extended the offer to increase electricity
supply as well as give more freedom of movement to Palestinians through the
Rafah border crossing, in exchange for Hamas handing over 17 men wanted by
Cairo on terrorism charges, according to the London-based newspaper al-Sharq
al-Awsat.
The move marks the most significant change in relations between Hamas and
Cairo in recent years.
A few years ago Hamas would have rebuked this kind of a deal. Relations with
Egypt deteriorated after a coup détat against former Egyptian President
Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Morsi is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, of
which Hamas took its start as Gaza off-shoot. But with Morsis ouster, Egypt
closed the Rafah crossing in the south, with the exception of a few days a
year, flooded the tunnel network where suppliesboth food and weaponswere
smuggled, and cut its political backing.
Most of Hamas other foreign backers distanced themselves from the group at
this time.
Yet even with Egypts fuel, Gaza needs to find a rich regional partner to
rescue the strip from the electricity crisis and with Qatar becoming less of
an option in the future, Iran potentially may fill the vacuum.
Iran had moved away from Hamas following the outbreak of war in Syria in
2011, but the tides have turned in the last three years and Iran may be
looking to extend its influence. In 2014 Hamas voted to bridge relations
with Iran,and that time for that was when Saudi Arabia began distancing
itself as a partner for Hamas and increasing support to the Palestinian
Authority.
Palestinians hold banners during a protest against the worsening crisis of
power outages in front of Gazas power plant in Nuseirat in the center of
Gaza Strip, on June 21, 2017. Egypt began to deliver a million liters of
fuel to Gaza, temporarily easing a crisis that has left the Palestinian
enclaves two million residents with only a few hours of electricity per
day. (Photo: APA Images/Yasser Qudih)
Many in Gaza are trying to piece together how the crisis in Qatar unfold.
Tayseer al-Jamasi, 44, a computer science teacher from Gaza City, said the
Gulf boycott of Qatar over allegations of supporting terrorism could have
been set in motion by President Donald Trump who described Hamas as a terror
group last May.
We have been shocked! We expected those countries to stand by the
Palestinian issue and the ongoing struggle, al-Jamasi said while preparing
his evening meal to break the Ramadan fast.
Hamas was designated as a terror organization by the CIA in 1997, but
Trumps statement was seen to carry a heavier weight in Gaza.
At the time of Trumps statement, Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum
criticized Trump for labeling the group as a terror organization, stating
Trump made a distortion of our image and shows a complete bias.
Thats what we exactly need! After decades of waiting for a solution to the
Palestinian crisis, a new U.S. president sets us back a thousand years back
by saying that Gaza and Hamas are terrorists, a boutique owner in Gaza City,
Duaa al-Sumairi, 37, said.
We seem to have to wait for another thousand more to see some stability in
the region and sleep without dreaming about policy, al-Sumiri said, adding
Cairo hates us and Amman has not been interested in Gaza since it
established a field hospital in 2008.
Internally, Hamas faces a mounting economic crisis, compounded recently by
the Palestinian Authority increasing the price of electricity and cutting
wages. Hamas officials are aware that they need to overcome both their
disputes with the Palestinian government in the West Bank and find a new
foreign backer if they are to avoid a further humanitarian disaster, which
is already politically destabilizing.
Hamas has realized that a political plan is being implemented in the region
and that the successive events that are raging in the Arab World/Arab
relations are entrenching Hamas in the corner and forcing it to re-examine
its political presence on the external level as well as its internal
options, senior Hamas official and a member of legislative council Salah
al-Bardawil told Mondoweiss.
Hamas has lost the rule of its Islamist allies, which had formed the
backbone of its hopes and aspirations for the future. It also lost its main
financial resources when Egypt closed the tunnels and the siege was
tightened. It has also lost its Iranian ally by the beginning of the Arab
Spring. Qatar is its only ally left, in light of the Turkish-Israeli
reconciliation agreement, he added referencing the detente between Ankara
and Tel Aviv last year.
Thought for al-Bardawil, Gazas immediate problems do not originate in the
Gulf.
What hurts Hamas is that the siege imposed on Gaza has reached an
unprecedented degree and has caused severe suffering in the lives of people,
and has disrupted the most vital sectors, and the situation is approaching a
disaster, he said.
Political scientist Mukhaimer Abu Saada, a professor at Gazas Al Azhar
University, said Hamas was able to adapt to the changes of the region in
light of the Arab revolutions in the past, but the current crisis threatens
Hamas continuation.
For the first time since the founding of Hamas, pliers has been clutched
against Hamass neck, facing both an internal and an external crisis, and
finds itself in the face of successive developments, without holding
powerful cards that could carry them to safety, Abu Saada told Mondoweiss.
Yet if Iran steps in, Hamas could avoid losing their grip, Abu Saada said.
In that configuration, Hamas dependence on Iran would be absolute.
Abu Saada added if Iran and Hamas do not forge a deal and soon, Hamas would
be pressured to return the keys to Gaza to the Palestinian Authority in
Ramallah, and Hamass alliance with Tehran in 2014 would totally
disintegrate.
If Hamas folds to the Palestinian Authority, Abu Saada believed that it
would have the potential remove the possibility of another the disastrous
war with the Israeli military.
In short, Hamas is now is racing against the clock to avoid the coming
storm.
