Hamas will likely use Brotherhood’s pragmatism as polls near

Sara Rashad

The Palestinian legislative elections, slated for mid-May, pose serious risks to the Palestinian Hamas movement which has been calling for resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories since its founding.

Hamas fired a rocket last week on Israeli settlements near the border with the Gaza Strip. Analysts viewed the rocket as an attempt by Hamas to demonstrate its continued policy of resisting the Israeli occupation, even if it wins a majority of seats in the elections.

The rocket firing did not cause either material or financial damage on the Israeli side.

However, the whole incident raises questions on whether Hamas will actually continue to adopt the same slogans about resistance if it wins the elections.

An ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas usually adopts a pragmatic policy whenever it faces difficult situations.

The movement appointed a woman for its politburo, even as it opposed the participation of women in politics for a long time in the past.

Renowned writer Mohamed Farrag Abulnour said the main challenge facing the movement in the coming period is that it might feel obliged to give up its resistance slogans.

This will cause a lot of embarrassment to Hamas,” Abulnour said.

He added that Hamas has been introducing concessions for a long time now since it became part of the political process in the Palestinian territories.

Abulnour said Hamas proved that it cares more about power than it does about resistance.

The fact is that the presence of this movement caused deep rifts and harm to the Palestinian cause as a whole, Abulnour said.