Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Hamas to leave Damascus?

In May, Al Hayat reported that Hamas would be leaving Syria though this was later denied by Hamas officials who announced their intention to stay in Damascus both when this was first suggested by Al Hayat and again later in further interviews.
Al Hayat reported that Qatar had offered to act as host country to the Islamic insurgence group in early May despite the fact that it is well known that since 2007, Hamas have been attempted to move to the Gaza strip but have failed to so as they could not gain permission from authorities.
There were also alleged talks with Egypt and Jordan though both rejected Hamas’ proposals; Egypt did however agree to host a Hamas ‘interest bureau’ which was to provide fuel for future speculation.
Gaza based political security analyst Shaker Shabat reported to Gulf News that Hamas had been asked to leave Syria due to their unwillingness to support and defend the regime but this again has been categorically denied by Hamas. Gulf News later reported that the move had gone ahead. This too has been denied.
More recently, there have been new reports about Hamas' possible next moves. There are reports that Hamas have now received an offer from the Egyptian government and will be relocating completely. These reports came after an announcement made by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, confirming the move, heralding it as 'symbolic'.
Most publications still view these announcements as highly speculative as Hamas has only denied its move to Qatar and has yet to issue a statement on Egypt.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting Emma. I am sure Israel will be pleased. But shouldn't this be on the MEPP blog - not here?
W.