Spoiled by its Gaza regime, Hamas may be struggling in elections

But since then he has left the poor Gaza Strip and, along with some other Hamas leaders, lives in luxury and divides his time between Turkey and Qatar. With new elections looming in the spring, it will be difficult for Hamas to campaign as a scrappy underdog that is above the trade of its principles for substantial benefits.

It remains to be seen whether the elections agreed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be held. Much depends on whether his secular party Fatah and Hamas can reach an agreement of some sort overcoming the bitter divisions that have thwarted previous attempts to hold a vote.

But it is clear that the image of Hamas among many Palestinians, even occasional supporters, has suffered since 2007, when the Gaza group seized Abbas’ forces in a week of bloody street battles.

Since then, Hamas has established its own state-owned state with its own civil service and security forces. But he has struggled to provide even basic services with Gaza’s economy devastated by three wars with Israel and an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has limited 2 million people’s land to what Palestinians have to often referred to as the largest outdoor prison in the world.

That has helped some of its leaders leave Gaza. Hamas leaders who climbed the ranks when it was an underground militant group have traded in the streetwear and motorcycles for business suits and shiny SUVs. Some, like Haniyeh, have shifted to luxury hotels in Turkey and Qatar, leaving low-level officials and ordinary Palestinians to deal with the impact of their policies.

“Every year, the situation is getting worse and worse,” said Youssef Ahmed, who works in a food stall in the eastern Gaza City market. “People don’t have the money to buy the basics.”

However, while Gazans complain in private, they rarely speak out against Hamas, which has a history of locking up critics.

Ahmed said he blames “everyone” – the Palestinian Authority of Hamas, Israel and Abbas. But he said, as a governing power, Hamas has a special responsibility.

Haniyeh, who became the prime minister of Palestine after the 2006 election and is now the overall leader of Hamas, left Gaza in 2019 for what Hamas said as a temporary foreign tour. He has not yet returned.

A recent video surfaced on social media showed Haniyeh playing football on a well-decorated field under the glass skyscrapers of a gas-filled Qatar – a world away from the Beach Refugee Camp in Gaza City, where he was born he and still maintains a family home. Another video from Monday showed him in a modified suit surrounded by defenders and greeted by Qatari dignitaries at a carpet event.

In Gaza, meanwhile, Palestinians are plagued by 50% unemployment, frequent power outages and polluted tap water.

That’s largely due to the blockade, which Israel says is necessary to keep Hamas from importing arms. Israel and most Western countries regard Hamas as a terrorist group because it has carried out scores of attacks over the years, including a suicide bombing, which killed hundreds of Israeli civilians.

A long-running dispute between Hamas and the Palestinian Abbas Authority over the provision of support and services to Gaza has exacerbated matters.

Hamas blames Gaza’s suffering on the PA, Israel and the international community.

“There is a widespread perception that it is not Hamas’ fault, and that outsiders are trying to weaken the democratic experience,” said Hamas Consult Hazem Qassem. Hamas would still be “popular” and would win a majority in any future election.

He said Hamas members in Gaza had also suffered from the wars, loneliness and economic collapse.

However, the suffering is not shared fairly.

Qatar has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to support Gaza in the last few years to stop an unprovoked fire. That money has allowed the Hamas-run government to pay its civil servants – while imposing taxes on imports, exports, businesses and tobacco that many of ordinary Palestinians have eradicated their suffering. Hamas security forces have violently cracked down on protests against these measures.

In another example of inequality in Gaza, there is a “fast track” through Rafah’s crossing with Egypt – the only way most Gazans can travel in and out of the land – available to those who can pay high taxes or who have connections to Egyptian Officials.

In the past few months, three of Haniyeh’s sons have appeared on the list, which has been published by the Hamas Interior Ministry. Other passengers have to go through a lengthy permit process.

Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Haniyeh who himself has moved to Istanbul, admits that the group has fallen short of his professional ideas.

“We have positioned ourselves as a popular movement, not an elite or factional movement, so this should lead us to better address people’s needs and problems,” he said.

Akram Atallah, a long-time columnist for Al-Ayyam-based West Bank newspaper, which moved from Gaza to London in 2019, said Hamas has tried to use the “duplicity” for to be a government and a militant group to profit.

When blamed for not providing basic services, it says it is a struggling organization; when criticized for taxing, it says it is a legitimate government, he said.

Hamas can still do well in any election, if not just because its main rival, Fatah, has an even longer record of failure. Fatah’s high standards are widely seen filled with corrupt people who are more interested in enjoying VIP status with Israel than advancing the struggle for statehood.

A December poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Survey found close party support – 38% for Hamas, compared to 34% for Fatah – but Haniyeh was expected to beat Abbas in a race primary school. The group surveyed 1,270 Palestinians across the West Bank and Gaza, with an error margin of 3 percentage points.

Assuming elections are held, “it seems [Fatah and Hamas] the next parliament will have control, but neither will have a majority, “said Khalil Shikaki, the center ‘s leader, who said independent candidates and smaller groups would win the remaining seats.

Atallah, the journalist, says that Hamas is still able to appeal to “people’s feelings,” but that its grip on many has waned.

“Hamas as an authority has been open,” he said. “People have found that its leaders live a lot better than they do.”