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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <a
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href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-hamas-jerusalem-defending-claim-national-leadership">middleeasteye.net</a>
<h1 class="reader-title">By defending Jerusalem, Hamas stakes
its claim to Palestinian national leadership</h1>
<div class="credits reader-credits">Khaled al-Hroub - May 21,
2021<br>
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<p>A Gaza-based commentator posted the following on a
social media group that I follow: “After the
cancellation of the [Palestinian] <a
href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinian-elections-delayed-says-president-mahmoud-abbas-2021-04-29/"
target="_blank">elections</a> in which <a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210406-1389-candidates-to-run-in-36-lists-in-palestine-election/"
target="_blank">36 lists</a> 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.” </p>
<p>Against all odds, and perhaps against whatever adverse
physical consequences may come, a key question arises:
does the current <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/gaza-under-attack"
target="_blank">showdown</a> advance Hamas’s fortunes
with regards to Palestinian leadership - if not through
elections, then through “resistance”? There are no
simple answers here.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Amid this explosive atmosphere, angry and oppressed
Palestinians had no hopes of any help from the
politically crippled PA. Instead, they appealed to
Hamas</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The material damage achieved by the rockets fired by
Palestinian resistance factions towards Israeli cities
is small, when compared with the number fired (<a
href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57138996"
target="_blank">more than 3,000</a> 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.</p>
<p>Everyone has been watching the Palestinian Islamist
movement's determined re-emergence from Gaza as the
self-declared bearer of the Palestinian national cause.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/why-palestinians-deserve-new-leadership"
target="_blank">amid the failures</a> of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) and the PA in Ramallah. </p>
<p>The fact that Israel has blamed Hamas for provoking
Palestinians inside Israeli cities - with <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/north-south-palestinians-are-fighting-reclaim-our-voice"
target="_blank">unprecedented protests</a> 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.</p>
<h3>Great dividends</h3>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/gaza-siege"
target="_blank">blockade</a>, loosen fishing
restrictions or allow more humanitarian essentials into
Gaza, or to <a
href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/12/778506421/rockets-rain-on-gaza-and-israel-after-airstrike-kills-militant-leader"
target="_blank">retaliate after assassinations</a> of
political leaders.</p>
<p>This time, the rockets are being fired for a wider
national cause: <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/al-aqsa-attack"
target="_blank">that of Jerusalem itself</a>. 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, <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/israeli-settlers-attempt-justify-forcible-takeover-palestinian-home-sparks-online-anger"
target="_blank">Israeli settlements</a> and <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/uae-plotting-israel-against-palestinian-refugees"
target="_blank">Palestinian refugees</a>.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<figure role="group">
<div>
<p><img
src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/000_99U2QC.jpg"
alt="Rockets are launched towards Israel from
Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, controlled
by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 12, 202"
width="461" height="296"></p>
<figcaption>Rockets are launched towards Israel from
Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 12 May 2021
(AFP)</figcaption></div>
</figure>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/palestinians-celebrate-removal-israeli-barriers-jerusalems-damascus-gate"
target="_blank">Damascus Gate</a> and over the fate of
Palestinian families in <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-sheikh-jarrah-jerusalem-neighbourhood-eviction-explained"
target="_blank">Sheikh Jarrah</a>, 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 <a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/8/jerusalem-tensions-high-as-palestinians-head-to-al-aqsa-live"
target="_blank">cracked down</a>. </p>
<p>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 <a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/10/israeli-forces-raid-al-aqsa-compound-live"
target="_blank">hundreds</a> of Palestinian injuries,
while images of Israeli brutality and the steadfastness
of Sheikh Jarrah families went viral on social media.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, groups of extreme religious
Zionists poured into the Old City <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jerusalem-remains-edge-ahead-provocative-israeli-march"
target="_blank">to celebrate</a> the 1967 occupation
of East Jerusalem. To challenge this anticipated march,
thousands more Palestinians came to the city from inside
Israel, and tensions soared. </p>
<h3>'Sword of Jerusalem'</h3>
<p>Amid this explosive atmosphere, angry and oppressed
Palestinians had no hopes of any help from the
politically crippled PA. Instead, they appealed to
Hamas, <a
href="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"
target="_blank">chanting the name</a> 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. </p>
<p>In Gaza, demonstrators also urged Palestinian factions
to intervene militarily. Deif finally responded with an
ultimatum, warning Israel to <a
href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/hamas-and-netanyahu-are-gambling-dangerously-in-jerusalem"
target="_blank">withdraw its security forces</a> 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”. </p>
<div>
<p><a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-palestine-conflict-nine-days-changed"
target="_blank"><img
src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images-story/000_9A77NQ.jpg?itok=6HN5aU1Q"
alt="" width="400" height="250"></a></p>
<p>Israel-Palestine: Nine days that shook the world</p>
</div>
<p>Hamas <a
href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hundreds-injured-palestinians-israeli-forces-clash-holy-site-jerusalem-n1266812"
target="_blank">aimed its rockets</a> 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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Last week, as Israel flattened <a
href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-residential-tower-collapses-israeli-airstrike-witnesses-say-2021-05-11/"
target="_blank">residential buildings</a> in Gaza and
the death toll soared, a massive portrait of Hamas
leaders - including <a
href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/tags/ismail-haniyeh"
target="_blank">Ismail Haniyeh</a>, 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.</p>
<p>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 <a
href="http://pcpsr.org/en/node/829" target="_blank">beat
Abbas</a> by 50 percent to 43 percent. Tellingly,
Jibril Rajoub, a close advisor of Abbas and
secretary-general of Fatah's central committee, <a
href="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/"
target="_blank">lamented</a> that "not a single Arab
leader called the Palestinian president during the
current Israeli aggression".</p>
<h3>Turning point?</h3>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>Yet, a foreign - and <a
href="https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/"
target="_blank">particularly American</a> - 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><i>The views expressed in this article belong to the
author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial
policy of Middle East Eye.</i></p>
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