20 January 2016By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior Hamas official, described Iran as a liar and a
fraud in a telephone call that the media is talking about. It is closer to a
statement than a leaked telephone call. Hamas says that a large security
apparatus like that of Israel must have published the contents of the call.
When one listens to it, one does not find any secret information, names or
numbers but rather the mere opinion of a critic of Iran; an opinion that Abu
Marzook has voiced in the media before and that no one took notice of.
He says in the call that Iran has not provided Hamas with financial support
since 2009! If this claim is true, why did Hamas continue to support Iran for
six years? Even the Lebanese Hezbollah would not support Iran if the regime in
Tehran cut its annual support, let alone an organisation that describes itself
as Sunni.
We know that it is because of its alliances with the Iranian and Assad regimes
that Hamas has argued with the Palestinian Authority and most of the Gulf
countries for years. Hamas has helped the Iranians in every issue including
Syria at the beginning of the conflict there. After religious groups denounced
its position, it declared its commitment to being neutral towards not only the
ongoing slaughter of the Syrian people but also of Palestinians in the Yarmouk
refugee camp and others at the hands of Iranian and Hezbollah forces and
militias.
Abu Marzook accuses Iran of secrecy and is right when he does so. However,
Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood movement to which it belongs are more
secretive than Iran as they conceal more than they declare. There is no doubt
that the ''secret leaked'' telephone call is mere bait for the media and part of
a campaign by the Hamas administration and its journalists directed at the
capitals of Gulf countries to put pressure on them to change their positions
and fund them. Two weeks ago, Hamas leaked what it described as ''private''
information; that its ambassador in Tehran says that Iran asked Hamas to adopt
a stance against Saudi Arabia but that Hamas' political bureau decided to
refuse the Iranian request. The ''leaked'' news said that Iran stopped its
support of Hamas because of its position on Syria! It seems that the
campaign's designers do not read their previous statements because Abu Marzook
says in his ''leaked'' phone call that Iran stopped supporting them in 2009
whilst the political bureau says that happened as a result of Syria in 2012!
Hamas is certainly in great financial distress but that is not because Iran
had stopped its funding. Rather, this is due to the Egyptian army destroying
hundreds of tunnels that were a huge source of finance for many years and
prevented economic activity in various forms. These measures were taken as a
response to the Egyptian authorities saying that it is against Hamas' support
of armed groups in Sinai and its solidarity with the banned Muslim Brotherhood
in Egypt.
In a secretive stance, Hamas says that it has taken a public stance against
the Houthis. However, its sole statement on Houthis can be interpreted in many
ways. Some ask what is required of Hamas – is it the severing of ties with
Iran and Hezbollah?
In my opinion, it would be difficult to believe Hamas even if it said that it
had severed ties with them. The statements of Hamas and its sub organisations
such as the Al-Qassam Brigades vary. Also, its position on Iran is not
considered important at the moment because general opinion in the Arab world
is mostly against Iran, the Assad regime and Hezbollah. This villainous trio
used Hamas to serve its purposes in the past. Syria hired Hamas for twenty
years to balance its relations with Israel and to weaken the Palestinian
Authority which has always been at odds with the Assad regime since Yasser
Arafat's time. As for Iran, it used Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the
north to put pressure on Israel to achieve its aim of bargaining with the west
and today it has achieved its aim. Hamas played the role of the Trojan horse
for the Iranians well.
Whether Iran has rejected Hamas for political reasons or because the price of
oil no longer allows it to buy its support, the most important aspect is not
Iran but the uniting of the Palestinian ranks and ending the divisions that
Hamas previously caused within them. It is not in anyone's interests in the
Arab world, especially within Palestine, to have two conflicting republics.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has extended his hand and has made
many concessions to end the estrangement. However, Hamas has rejected these
efforts because of its links to the Palestinian Authority's rivals.
Now the scene is very different. If the aim of Hamas' public relations
campaign is reconciliation with the Gulf by saying that it has changed, turned
against Iran and Assad and now appreciates Saudi Arabia, then it is better
that it reconciles with other Palestinians and returns to the authority in
Ramallah and unites with it. This is more important than verbal positions that
are no longer important to the Gulf states or the Syrians or the Yemenis.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers
of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass
communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He
is currently based in Dubai.
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