Leaders at odds over suggestion Islamist party plans strategic turn away from armed struggle to popular non-violent resistance
Harriet Sherwood in Gaza City
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 January 2012
"....Meshaal, he said, believed that in the wake of the Arab spring, armed resistance was no longer appropriate or acceptable, and that Hamas needed to review its strategy to bring it into line with populist movements in the region.
Ghazi Hamad, Gaza's deputy foreign minister and a Hamas moderate, said: "We have to create a new strategy with our brothers in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya."
According to Gaza-based analyst Ibrahim Ibrach, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood privately asked Hamas to "stop military activities and to work on politics. They want the situation to remain calm."
The "outside" leadership is thought to be more sensitive to regional change, whereas the "inside" leadership is focused on consolidating its domestic position. According to one Hamas insider, "Meshaal is trying to convince the leadership here that we have to open a new page, that isolation is a big burden."
Amid the Syrian uprising – in which Hamas has refused to back the regime, incurring the wrath of its sponsors there and in Tehran – the Damascus-based leadership is seeking a new base and may be inclined to curry favour with the politically-ascendent Islamist parties in the region....."
Harriet Sherwood in Gaza City
guardian.co.uk, Friday 6 January 2012
"....Meshaal, he said, believed that in the wake of the Arab spring, armed resistance was no longer appropriate or acceptable, and that Hamas needed to review its strategy to bring it into line with populist movements in the region.
Ghazi Hamad, Gaza's deputy foreign minister and a Hamas moderate, said: "We have to create a new strategy with our brothers in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya."
According to Gaza-based analyst Ibrahim Ibrach, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood privately asked Hamas to "stop military activities and to work on politics. They want the situation to remain calm."
The "outside" leadership is thought to be more sensitive to regional change, whereas the "inside" leadership is focused on consolidating its domestic position. According to one Hamas insider, "Meshaal is trying to convince the leadership here that we have to open a new page, that isolation is a big burden."
Amid the Syrian uprising – in which Hamas has refused to back the regime, incurring the wrath of its sponsors there and in Tehran – the Damascus-based leadership is seeking a new base and may be inclined to curry favour with the politically-ascendent Islamist parties in the region....."
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