Hamas and the New Mideast Puzzle
Hamas, the Palestinian “Islamic Resistance Movement,” is on the move. Among many other things, it is leaving Syria and planning to relocate its headquarters to Qatar. Sam Bahour writes that Hamas’ decision to act now on so many fronts might be a response to the broader Islamic political waves moving across the region.
Hamas, the Palestinian “Islamic Resistance Movement,” is on the move.
Hamas is leaving Syria, where it has been based, making a pit stop in Jordan to mend affairs with King Abdullah II, declaring nonviolent resistance the preferred mode of struggle against Israeli occupation, signing (yet another) reconciliation agreement with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and lastly, planning to relocate its headquarters to the State of Qatar. All of this has happened in the span of a few weeks.
In the information-scarce, investigative reporting-light Middle East, one takes note of every word said and action taken at each high-level meeting—many times, these gestures and nuggets of information are the only insights available to construct the puzzle of the current state of affairs.
Following multiple victories in recent elections across the Arab world, Islamist movements are boasting that their political time has arrived. The “Arab Spring,” as it has been coined, may be morphing into an “Islamic Winter,” as recently noted by Galilaean Palestinian attorney Sabri Jiryis. It is very possible that Hamas’ decision to act now on so many fronts can be attributed to the broader Islamic political waves moving across the region:
