The Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 270 people, is eroding the popularity of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas, while Hamas is gaining more and more support in the Palestinian street, leading Palestinian experts told The Media Line
‘Abbas has denounced the Israeli operation, describing it as a massacre, and has called for an immediate gathering of the Arab League. The P.A. chairman has nevertheless blamed Hamas, saying he had asked them to continue the calm agreement with Israel.
“This could have been prevented,” ‘Abbas told reporters during a press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit in Cairo on Sunday morning.
“In case of such massacres, you sympathize with the victim, and in the eyes of the ordinary man in the street, the victim is now Hamas,” former mayor of Gaza, Majid ‘Aouni Abu Ramadan, told The Media Line Sunday morning.
Abu Ramadan, an independent politician who was ousted by Hamas last year after a military coup, explained that, “even those who were opposing what Hamas was doing in the last 18 months in Gaza are now united in blaming Israel.”
In the past few weeks, Palestinian Authority officials close to ‘Abbas announced they were considering holding joint elections for both the legislative council and the office of the chairman. Israel’s assault on Gaza is now expected to change this time schedule, Abu Ramadan believes.
“I am sure this operation will delay any proposed elections. Beforehand, there was a large faction in Gaza which supported his [‘Abbas] call for holding elections, because after all we want to be a democracy here, but now – after the operation which has claimed many casualties, especially among civilians – I think the mood and the morale will go to the right. There will be more extremism and the popularity of Hamas will most probably increase,” said Abu Ramadan.
Dr. Firas Milhem, of the Ramallah-based Bir Zeit University, also believes the operation in Gaza will damage ‘Abbas’ standing in the Palestinian street.
“This will have negative effects on the image of Mahmoud ‘Abbas in the West Bank. The Palestinians see that one side [Hamas] resists Israel and the other side stays neutral. People who are aligned with Hamas will even say ‘Abbas is cooperating with Israel,” predicts Milhem.