A rumor is going around that Gaza Strip Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is considering resigning. Is there any truth to this rumor? It all depends on who you ask.
One Hamas source completely denied it. He said that while Sinwar is very frustrated over the failure of the reconciliation efforts with Fatah, a goal that is high on his priority list, the Hamas leader still remains at his post and regularly holds discussions on how to extricate the Gaza Strip from the blockade it is subject to. By contrast, a high-ranking Palestinian security source told Al-Monitor that the Hamas leader in Gaza is sick and tired of his position following the collapse of the negotiations with Fatah. According to the source, Sinwar knows that reconciliation is the only way Hamas can survive in the long run. Testimony to the fact that the Hamas leader reached this conclusion is Sinwar’s dramatic announcement in the speech he delivered in Gaza on Dec. 20, 2017. He said that his movement is willing to relinquish civilian control over the entire Strip. “This decision is a strategic one, and there is no going back. Hamas will be completely out of the picture,” Sinwar declared emphatically.
However, subsequent to that declaration, nothing changed. Civil as well as military control still remains in Hamas’ hands. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refuses to accept the obligations of civilian control over the Strip as long as security and military control remains in Hamas’ hands. This is the major controversy between the sides ever since the much-trumpeted historic reconciliation was announced in Cairo six months ago. Meanwhile, the enmity between the two groups only intensifies, and the gaps continue to widen.
High-ranking members of Sinwar’s movement, especially those of the military wing, oppose the reconciliation. According to senior Fatah people in Gaza, the Hamas leader believed that a compromise could be achieved between the sides based on points of agreement, but certain elements in his movement prevented this from happening. As far as Sinwar is concerned, Hamas’ rule will collapse without a reconciliation with Abbas based on agreed-upon solutions for control of the security apparatuses in the Strip.
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