Tamarod's Gaza Campaign Denounced by Fellow Activists
Palestinian activists under the name of Tamarod have distanced themselves from another Tamarod group in Gaza's calls to overthrow the Hamas government.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Following the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in early July, much confusion has arisen regarding the Tamarod campaign in Palestine. Multiple groups in Gaza and the West Bank carrying the same name have emerged in recent months.
The name originally belonged to the Egyptian movement, which claimed that it had gathered more than 22 million signatures supporting the overthrow of Morsi and organized a day of mass protests on June 30. Yet, the unverifiable and hyperbolic statistics of more than 30 million Egyptians protesting in the streets, as well as the unseating of Morsi by the army a few days later, has led many to question the grass-roots nature of Tamarod, and whether it was connected to the greater scheme of a military coup.
The multiple Tamarod groups do not share the same agenda. In Gaza, the Tamarod group is portrayed as one hell-bent on overthrowing the Hamas government, similarly to how the Muslim Brotherhood was toppled in Egypt. The group is calling for a day of mass protest on Nov. 11, the anniversary of the late Fatah and PLO leader Yasser Arafat’s death.
What media coverage of this group failed to mention was how such a program would further strengthen the Palestinian political division, especially if no alternatives were offered. But with the Egyptian regime tightening the siege on Gaza by destroying the tunnels, compounded by Fatah spokesperson Azzam al Ahmad’s dangerous statement on local Palestinian channel Ma’an TV that, “If I could go back to Gaza on the back of an Egyptian tank, I would,” there seems little doubt that the Gaza Tamarod group, however small, is following a specific and harmful agenda backed by the Egyptian military and Fatah.
