BBC Partner Hub – Backgrounder – THE POLITICS OF GAZA

The Politics Of Gaza.  

An interesting backgrounder. Hamas, lacking their usual supporters in the Syrian and Egyptian government until recently were in a weak position politically, very isolated. Has this conflict with Israel actually strengthened their position despite the enormous human cost?

Written and recorded by the World Service Middle East editor Sebastian Usher

INTRO

(Update as news changes) Gaza has rarely left the news headlines recently. Images of violence and destruction and stories of human misery have been a daily occurrence. The human cost of this conflict on the residents of Gaza has been huge and undeniable, but what about the political cost on the region’s rulers? Gaza is governed by Hamas, who have been in power since 2006. How has their political position been altered by this conflict? In this short backgrounder, Sebastian Usher, the Middle East editor for the BBC World Service takes us through the politics of Gaza

TEXT

Just as Gaza’s physical landscape has been shaken by the month-long military operation by Israel so has the Palestinians’ political landscape.

It is perhaps inappropriate to talk of winners and losers when more than eighteen-hundred Palestinians have died — most of them civilians — but Hamas will certainly feel that it has emerged with its head held high.

This may not last long and may be seriously undercut by the huge damage that Israel has managed to do to its military and operational infrastructure.

But it still leaves Hamas in a very different situation from where it was before the latest conflict exploded.

It was clearly on the backfoot, politically and economically.

Some of its major backers, such as the Syrian government and the Muslim Brotherhood, had been so weakened that they could no longer offer Hamas an lifeline of support and protection.

This made Hamas more vulnerable than ever before to the effects of the Israeli and Egyptian economic blockade.

It was finding it hard even to pay state employees.

This may have played a key part in the reconciliation deal that Hamas and its rival, Fatah, in the West Bank, finally agreed.

The two parts of the Palestinian territories had been split since Hamas drove Fatah out of Gaza in 2007 after relations between the two factions broke down after Hamas’ election victory in Gaza the previous year.

Political isolation and economic weakness may have finally persuaded Hamas that agreeing to a national reconciliation government with Fatah, led by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, was now in its interest.

Fatah had long been criticized by many Palestinians as corrupt and ineffective.  But it undeniably gained from the deal, raising the prospect that it might once again be able to govern in Gaza as well as the West Bank.

That was how weak Hamas appeared just a few weeks ago.

Now, in the devastation of Gaza, it has regained prestige amongst Palestinians and the wider Arab world.

But it needs to show that the sacrifices made by Palestinians in Gaza have resulted in positive gains.

That means above all that the Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed since it took full power seven years ago is lifted.

Politically, that could have a downside for them, though.  International mediators, led by the US and Egypt, want the Palestinian Authority under President Abbas to have the key role in administering Gaza, which would be hard for Hamas to swallow.

The Palestinian delegation involved in talks in Cairo to try to secure a permanent end to the fighting is led by Mr Abbas’ aides, although it includes Hamas representatives and members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, also based in Gaza.

Even papering over the cracks and fissures between those factions during the talks will be hard enough.

Holding any deal together between Palestinian factions afterwards will be harder still.

RELATED LINKS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special_reports/middle_east_crisis/

THE 2 PHOTOS ATTACHED ARE FROM THE BBC WEBSITE AND WERE TAKEN BY JON DONNISON:

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76741290: Young boys give a victory salute as they take shelter in a UN school in Rafah
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76741577: A queue for bread in Jabalia
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