On Dec. 1 Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’ political bureau, left Gaza for a series of meetings in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence regarding his movement's arrangement with Israel. On the same occasion, the Egyptians authorized Haniyeh, at his request, to travel to Muslim countries on the condition that he not visit Iran. Haniyeh agreed to the condition and left Gaza after having been “imprisoned” since his election to his current post in summer 2017, because Egypt had not allowed him transit through the Rafah crossing.
Haniyeh had intended to use his permission to leave Gaza to prove that he can raise funds for Hamas at least as well as Mousa Abu Marzouk, the Hamas senior whiz who is thought to have set a movement record for fundraising from Islamic foundations around the world. Haniyeh even planned to travel as far as Indonesia. Egypt’s goodwill “exit visa” stemmed from the hope of creating a more conducive atmosphere to help advance a long-term arrangement with Israel.
Against this backdrop, Haniyeh traveled to a number of countries, including paying visits to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamed Al Thani, the generous and primary supporter of Gaza. On Jan. 3, toward the end of Haniyeh's journey, the United States assassinated Gen. Qasem Soleimani, leader of Iran's Quds Force, after which Haniyeh decided to take a risk and fly to Tehran to attend the funeral and even deliver a eulogy. The Egyptians, angry of course, quickly responded with sanctioning: the price of cooking gas piped from Egypt into Gaza immediately increased. That appears to have only been the beginning.
A political source in Hamas asserted to Al-Monitor that Haniyeh had had no choice. “At the moment the news was received about the assassination, he [Haniyeh] made the right decision to express sadness and anger at the atrocious American attack,” the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. In conversation, the source tried to minimize the depth of the crisis the visit has cause between the Egyptians and Hamas.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
