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Regional events have Hamas in political limbo

Various events and unresolved regional crises have fed Hamas' reluctance to forge regional alliances and take decisive positions on developments in the Arab world.
A Palestinian policeman loyal to Hamas stands guard near burning tyres during a protest by Palestinians calling for reconstruction of their houses that witnesses said were destroyed by Israeli shelling during a 50-day war last summer, outside a United Nations food distribution center in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip February 16, 2015.  REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) - RTR4PQSX
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — An unfolding series of events, fast-moving developments and lingering crises in the Arab world have left Hamas unable to take definitive positions on policies and alliances. In particular, it is in no position to decisively assert a position in the Palestinian domestic​ arena or set a clear-cut strategy for its regional alliances.

Hamas had been encouraged by the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Tunisia following the Arab Spring revolutions, reforging its alliances in the region after its leadership withdrew from Syria and distanced the organization from Iran. After the toppling of the Brotherhood-led government in Egypt in 2013, there was talk of a rapprochement with Iran, but nothing came of it in the immediate aftermath. The death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in late January and the subsequent change in the kingdom's ruling regime has prompted the movement to continue to move slowly before making a final decision in that regard.

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