GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Head of Hamas’ political bureau Khaled Meshaal recently said that Hamas made a mistake when it decided to rule the Gaza Strip alone for the past 10 years. His statement led to many questions among the Palestinian people: Why did Hamas finally reach this conclusion? Is this a turning point in Hamas’ path toward Palestinian reconciliation? What are the future repercussions of this statement on the Gaza Strip?

Meshaal said during a dialogue session in Doha on Sept. 24 in the presence of his deputy Ismail Haniyeh, “Hamas made a mistake when it thought it was easy for it to rule the Gaza Strip alone following the Palestinian division with Fatah in the wake of its victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections. It thought that ruling Gaza would be easy, but discovered that it was hard.”

He added, “We made a mistake when we thought that Fatah’s days were long gone and that it was Hamas’ time now.”

Meshaal’s words shocked the movement’s public base and members who believe that its leaders are infallible. Hamas leader Ahmed Youssef wrote in an article headlined “Khaled Meshaal sings off key” published by a local media outlet on Oct. 1, “Meshaal’s statement was a slap in the face for many of Hamas’ youths. The word ‘mistake’ does not normally figure in their vocabulary or political discourse. Their religious and factional upbringing has given them the confidence to believe they are infallible.”