Hamas Has Lost A Big Battle, But Not The War By Mudar Zahran
While everyone in Israel and the Arab world was shocked with the sudden reconciliation between Hamas and Fattah, we have been aware of this being worked on since February. It was very expected by all insiders. Nonetheless, journalists may sometimes build their analysis on what they see on the outside, and some second hand inside information they get, and therefore may end up with faulty conclusions. In fact, we have seen some writers concluding that Hamas had “won”. Some went as far as suggesting that Hamas now has a freehand to fight Israel while Abbas gets the blame as Gaza’s ruler. While these concerns may be justified when taking matters by their face value, realities on the ground maybe very different. The first question everyone should ask is: why did Hamas hand Gaza to Abbas without him firing a shot? Didn’t Hamas take Gaza over by a bloody coup against the man in 2006? The answer to that begins at the White House. Our Arab sources confirmed to us t...