Amid Qatar crisis, Hamas lays groundwork for official presence in Algeria
Hamas and Algeria are in talks about accommodating Hamas leaders as well as opening a new office in the sympathetic North African country.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stated July 15 that he personally asked Algeria to accommodate some Hamas leaders. He said leaders of the movement are welcomed upon arrival to Algeria and their visas require only a couple of hours to process, unlike other Arab countries that sometimes take more than two months to be issued. He did not identify the Hamas leaders receiving special treatment in Algeria, nor did he name the Arab countries that take much longer to process visas.
Abu Zuhri himself has been in Algeria since the beginning of this year, meeting with Algerian political leaders. His most recent meeting was July 26, when he met with the Algerian Association of Muslim Scholars and the Algerian Workers Party to discuss means of supporting the Palestinian people.
