GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Political expression in this seaside strip is firmly regulated by the ruling Islamist militant group Hamas, and authorities recently approved a robust street rally against an unlikely target: the government in Syria, long Hamas’s benefactor and host.
The demonstration, as well as Hamas leaders’ statements in support of Syrian protesters and the abandonment of their Damascus offices, was an indicator of the Gaza-based movement’s stark break with Syria - and of the rapidly shifting partnerships of a changing Middle East.
Although Hamas could once comfortably ally itself with fellow Sunni powers while receiving aid and hospitality from Shi’ite forces in Syria and Iran, the region’s growing sectarian divide means the group will probably have to pick sides.
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It might seem an easy choice. Sunni Islamic political movements are awakening across the region, and Hamas’s parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, is ascendant in next-door Egypt. But the power and policies of those forces are still evolving, making a wholesale split from Iran, a Syria ally and Hamas’s prime patron, risky. Wavering, on the other hand, carries its own price: Hamas considers itself a populist movement, and polls indicate that Palestinians support the prodemocracy wave sweeping the region.
In interviews, Hamas’s leaders depicted ties to the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad as a liability, and they distanced themselves from Iran. One senior leader, Salah al- Bardaweel, said Hamas fighters, long viewed as Iranian proxies, would hold fire in the event of an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.
“If Israel strikes Iran, Iran will defend itself. Hamas doesn’t have any desire to be in a regional war,’’ Bardaweel said. “Hamas cannot close its eyes to bloodshed like that taking place in Syria. It is Arab blood,’’ he said, calling the Syrian government’s crackdown “embarrassing.’’