[News] By defending Jerusalem, Hamas stakes its claim to Palestinian national leadership
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Fri May 21 21:25:50 EDT 2021
middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-hamas-jerusalem-defending-claim-national-leadership>
By defending Jerusalem, Hamas stakes its claim to Palestinian national
leadership
Khaled al-Hroub - May 21, 2021
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Gaza-based commentator posted the following on a social media group
that I follow: “After the cancellation of the [Palestinian] elections
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-elections-delayed-says-president-mahmoud-abbas-2021-04-29/>
in which 36 lists
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210406-1389-candidates-to-run-in-36-lists-in-palestine-election/>
were to participate … the people have now mandated the ‘list of
resistance’ by a landslide vote, supporting them to lead both the people
and the battle … [the resistance] is assuming [Palestinian] legitimacy
by defending people’s dignity.”
Against all odds, and perhaps against whatever adverse physical
consequences may come, a key question arises: does the current showdown
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/gaza-under-attack> advance Hamas’s
fortunes with regards to Palestinian leadership - if not through
elections, then through “resistance”? There are no simple answers here.
Amid this explosive atmosphere, angry and oppressed Palestinians had
no hopes of any help from the politically crippled PA. Instead, they
appealed to Hamas
The material damage achieved by the rockets fired by Palestinian
resistance factions towards Israeli cities is small, when compared with
the number fired (more than 3,000
<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57138996> so far) - or when
compared with the local and international furore surrounding them.
Yet the political damage that these rockets are inflicting on Israel,
the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other regional players hostile to
Hamas and other resistance factions is considerable.
Everyone has been watching the Palestinian Islamist
movement's determined re-emergence from Gaza as the self-declared bearer
of the Palestinian national cause.
In a broader sense, we have been seeing the advocates of resistance,
including other groups alongside Hamas, as more trustworthy protectors
of Palestinian national rights. Many Palestinians these days subscribe
to this notion, particularly amid the failures
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-palestinians-deserve-new-leadership>
of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the PA in Ramallah.
The fact that Israel has blamed Hamas for provoking Palestinians inside
Israeli cities - with unprecedented protests
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/north-south-palestinians-are-fighting-reclaim-our-voice>
breaking out in support of their brothers and sisters across the Green
Line - has actually worked in Hamas’s favour. The same applies when the
PA itself refrains from blaming Hamas for militarising the non-violent,
successful popular protests in Jerusalem. PA officials are nervous to
utter any criticism of Hamas these days, for fear of the public's response.
Great dividends
Thus, beyond the media’s obsession with the Palestinian resistance's
rockets, the most significant change during this round of military
engagement with Israel relates to the political ramifications, not the
military gains or losses. In the past, Palestinian factions’ use of
rockets has been primarily Gaza-focused, aimed at pressuring Israel to
ease the blockade <https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/gaza-siege>,
loosen fishing restrictions or allow more humanitarian essentials into
Gaza, or to retaliate after assassinations
<https://www.npr.org/2019/11/12/778506421/rockets-rain-on-gaza-and-israel-after-airstrike-kills-militant-leader>
of political leaders.
This time, the rockets are being fired for a wider national cause: that
of Jerusalem itself
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/al-aqsa-attack>. In so doing,
Hamas in particular is finally answering the standard criticism that,
since it took power in Gaza in 2007, it has been impotently absorbed
with local issues at the expense of large-scale national issues,
including Jerusalem, Israeli settlements
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/israeli-settlers-attempt-justify-forcible-takeover-palestinian-home-sparks-online-anger>
and Palestinian refugees
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/uae-plotting-israel-against-palestinian-refugees>.
A particular criticism has been that its military power is deployed more
to consolidate its rule in Gaza than to serve the Palestinian cause at
large. However, unlike loud criticism of Hamas’s rockets during previous
actions, this time around, the critical voices are fewer and quieter, as
support for Hamas has penetrated broader circles.
Rockets are launched towards Israel from Rafah, in the south of the Gaza
Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 12, 202
Rockets are launched towards Israel from Rafah, in the southern Gaza
Strip, on 12 May 2021 (AFP)
Launching rockets to defend Jerusalem has certainly yielded great
dividends for the movement. Hamas watched closely as Jerusalem began to
boil over last month, both due to Israel’s installation of barriers at
Damascus Gate
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/palestinians-celebrate-removal-israeli-barriers-jerusalems-damascus-gate>
and over the fate of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-sheikh-jarrah-jerusalem-neighbourhood-eviction-explained>,
who are being threatened with an Israeli-court-sanctioned settler
takeover of their homes. Hundreds of supporters gathered daily in
support of these families, and Israeli police cracked down
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/8/jerusalem-tensions-high-as-palestinians-head-to-al-aqsa-live>.
This was all unfolding during the holy month of Ramadan, when tens of
thousands of Palestinians come to pray at al-Aqsa Mosque daily. The
heavy-handed response of Israeli police resulted in hundreds
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/10/israeli-forces-raid-al-aqsa-compound-live>
of Palestinian injuries, while images of Israeli brutality and the
steadfastness of Sheikh Jarrah families went viral on social media.
To make matters worse, groups of extreme religious Zionists poured into
the Old City to celebrate
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jerusalem-remains-edge-ahead-provocative-israeli-march>
the 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem. To challenge this anticipated
march, thousands more Palestinians came to the city from inside Israel,
and tensions soared.
'Sword of Jerusalem'
Amid this explosive atmosphere, angry and oppressed Palestinians had no
hopes of any help from the politically crippled PA. Instead, they
appealed to Hamas, chanting the name
<https://www.aljazeera.net/news/2021/5/12/%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B6%D9%8A%D9%81-%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AF-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B0%D9%8A-%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A8>
of military leader Mohammed ad-Deif and asking for the “strength of his
sword”. These chants spread widely among Palestinians, raising the
pressure on Hamas.
In Gaza, demonstrators also urged Palestinian factions to intervene
militarily. Deif finally responded with an ultimatum, warning Israel to
withdraw its security forces
<https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/hamas-and-netanyahu-are-gambling-dangerously-in-jerusalem>
from al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah by 6pm on 10 May. Israel ignored
the warning, and Hamas fired its first rockets exactly on schedule,
calling the operation “Sword of Jerusalem”.
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-conflict-nine-days-changed>
Israel-Palestine: Nine days that shook the world
Hamas aimed its rockets
<https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hundreds-injured-palestinians-israeli-forces-clash-holy-site-jerusalem-n1266812>
at the Israeli outskirts of Jerusalem. As sirens went off across the
city, scores of Zionists who had gathered to march hurried off,
prompting a huge sigh of relief from Palestinians.
Critics accused Hamas of aborting peaceful and widespread popular
demonstrations - diverting attention from Jerusalem, instead of helping
it. But there are many signs that the rocket intervention was largely
welcomed by the Palestinian public.
Last week, as Israel flattened residential buildings
<https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-residential-tower-collapses-israeli-airstrike-witnesses-say-2021-05-11/>
in Gaza and the death toll soared, a massive portrait of Hamas leaders -
including Ismail Haniyeh
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/ismail-haniyeh>, the head of the
movement’s political bureau - was mounted by al-Aqsa Mosque, another
symbolic claim for Hamas to national leadership. It is difficult to
remember when any image has been mounted on the same spot for
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Such symbolism reflects the changing realities on the ground. The
continuous rise of Hamas’s political capital is matched by an erosion in
the PA’s support. In recent polls surveying Palestinians in the occupied
West Bank and Gaza on their preferences for a Palestinian president,
Haniyeh beat Abbas <http://pcpsr.org/en/node/829> by 50 percent to 43
percent. Tellingly, Jibril Rajoub, a close advisor of Abbas and
secretary-general of Fatah's central committee, lamented
<https://arabic.rt.com/middle_east/1231767-%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A4%D9%88%D9%84-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9-%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%AD-%D8%A3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B2%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D9%84%D9%85-%D9%8A%D8%AA%D8%B5%D9%84-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A/>
that "not a single Arab leader called the Palestinian president during
the current Israeli aggression".
Turning point?
The rocket showdown could mark a turning point in the Palestinian
political landscape. Hamas’s emergence from Gaza to take on national
issues further undermines the PA and challenges Israel. Hamas has often
stressed the need to end the monopoly over the Palestinian leadership,
calling for a partnership with Fatah and other resistance groups.
Whatever the outcome of this confrontation, Hamas is gaining further
political capital and legitimacy.
This won't necessarily be enough for the group to counter the regional
and international backing of Abbas. But it may push the PLO and PA to
either reschedule elections as soon as possible, or allow for a new
collective leadership involving Hamas and other resistance groups. Many
Palestinians want to see an inclusive partnership.
Yet, a foreign - and particularly American
<https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/> - veto against
including Hamas in the Palestinian leadership presents a difficult
obstacle. To circumvent the group's new political capital, the US,
Israel and their Arab allies will likely try to save Abbas from
irrelevancy, putting him at the centre of post-conflict aid, financial
assistance and diplomacy.
While this could obscure the real picture for a while, it won't change
the fact that the PA's legitimacy has been eroded in the long term,
while the power of Hamas has continued to rise.
/The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not
necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye./
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