Khaled Mashaal visits Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara, on March 16, 2012. (Photo: AA) |
Reconciliation efforts between the two main Palestinian political factions, Hamas and Fatah, are continuing. The last time the two groups came together for talks was in Cairo last December. They reached a key agreement at the time that saw Hamas admitted into the PLO, the umbrella organization of the Palestinian independence movement. The PLO has engaged in two decades of intermittent peace talks with Israel.
Prior to the conflict, top Hamas officials sent controversial signals that they would not stay on the sidelines if Israel attacks Iran. On March 7, Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, as saying that “retaliation with utmost power is the position of Hamas with regard to a Zionist war on Iran.”
Speculation has surfaced that Iran-Hamas ties deteriorated after Hamas abandoned the Assad regime, while Iran remained loyal to the tyrant. Furthermore, claims have surfaced that the flow of Iranian aid to Gaza was affected negatively as a result of international sanctions that have hit the Iranian economy.
In January, following a visit to Turkey by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, Turkish officials dismissed claims that Turkey will host a Hamas office after it left Damascus. Later that month, Turkey was also reported as preparing to replace Hamas’ chief financier, Iran, to alleviate the Gazan ruling party’s financial straits as it faced difficulties in receiving aid from the Islamic republic.
Mashaal: Israel Using Gaza as Testing Ground for Iran Strike
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