The Economist: Hamas runs Gaza more effectively than its W. Bank rivals

[ 05/04/2010 - 09:02 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The British Economist magazine said that the Movement of Hamas has been able to run the affairs of the Gaza Strip more effectively than their rivals in the West Bank despite the last Israeli war and four years of tight blockade.

“After four grueling years under siege, the Gazans and the Islamist movement, Hamas that governs them are still managing against the odds to survive. Some even prosper,” the Economist, one of the most popular business magazines in the world, added.

“Israel’s siege still causes misery. Yet some economists say the strip is growing faster than the West Bank run by Hamas’s rival Palestinian Authority (PA), albeit from a far lower base.”

The magazine stressed that in the 14 months since the Israeli war ended, Hamas has swept up much of the wreckage, where the Islamic University, bombed by Israel’s aircraft, sparkled again and new cafés and commercial stores opened across Gaza city.

It underlined that Hamas’s success in keeping Gaza’s economy and administration going testified to its resilience because it was achieved in light of the daily provocative incursions carried out by Israel and the attempts to isolate Hamas made by Mahmoud Abbas’s authority.


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