By Sarakenos
Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), landed another one of his controversial articles in NowLebanon, this time on “Hamas’s many splendored contradictions.”
I take this opportunity to shed light on some of his misconceived ideas regarding Palestinian internal affairs.
The main contradiction espoused by Ibish is that Hamas has both a religious and a nationalist agenda, intertwined and at odds with one another. read.
Ever since Hamas won the 2006 election, the Palestinians have witnessed one of the greatest political divisions in their modern history. Upon my visit to Gaza a year ago, I have heard of many stories and countless accounts of divisions among Palestinians. While most of these divisions and political differences enrich the debate in the Palestinian society, those divisions can also undermine the cause. Throughout the conflict many Palestinian homes had siblings who supported different political factions without breaking up the family. But now things look different. Two recent events raise alarm;
During my visit to Gaza, I had learned about how politics have been injected into the places of worship in Gaza. Mosques in Gaza are everywhere and thanks to a high unemployment rate and the fact that desperation leads to people to God. Attendance is at all time high. That’s all fine and great, praying people are no more dangerous than no praying ones. However in the past the majority of Gaza mosques have been preaching life lessons, religious sermons about the life of the early Muslims and the proper way to worship. Few mosques where getting into politics and advocating one side’s political agendas. But that all changed after the Hamas take over. In addition to taking control of all government properties, Hamas militants wanted to take over mosques in Gaza in order to give them more platforms to defend their actions and point fingers to those who disagree with them.
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