CFR Daily News Brief update: Emir of Qatar Begins Historic Gaza Visit

Daily News Brief October 23, 2012

Top of the Agenda: Emir of Qatar Begins Historic Gaza Visit

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in a landmark trip that makes him the first head of state (Guardian)

to visit the Palestinian territory since the Islamist militant group Hamas seized control of the coastal strip five years ago. Al Thani's trip is billed as a humanitarian visit inaugurating $250 million worth of reconstruction projects to build homes in the south of the strip. However, the move drew fire from Israel, whose foreign ministry spokesman said it was "astounding" that Qatar was taking sides, noting that the emir has never "dignified" (Reuters) the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas, with a visit. Hamas took control of Gaza from Abbas' Fatah forces in 2007, and is considered a terrorist group by the West.

Analysis

"Long-time observers believe recent tensions with Syria and Iran are part of a broader shift. Hamas leaders, they argue, have come to recognize that the group's traditional patrons will emerge weakened from the Arab spring, if they survive. The group is therefore working hard

, and with considerable success, to improve ties with rising regional powers such as Turkey and Qatar. Officials have also been careful to cultivate ties with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, attempting to align themselves more closely with the Islamist group that was the inspiration for the founders of Hamas," writes Tobias Buck for the Financial Times.

"Hamas will be unable to act against Israel in a way which will put Egypt's government, headed by the Muslim Brotherhood, in a place where it will have to choose between supporting terror and maintaining its stance as a state acting for a secure region (as well as its relations with the West). Egypt's role

may be about to change. Unlike Mubarak who did not hesitate to cooperate in imposing sanctions on Gaza, Morsi will not want to be in a position he is forced to maintain Mubarak's policy regarding Gaza," writes Zvi Bar'el for Haaretz.

"History may credit Mr. Abbas with reigning over the more virtuous phase of this cycle, but he has likely laid the groundwork for the uglier one. Hamas, meanwhile, has already moved on. 'Israelis had a golden opportunity

to sign an agreement with Abbas,' Hamas's health minister, Basem Naim, told me in Gaza last November. 'But the chance has already passed. They will not get it again,'" writes Nathan Thrall for the New York Times.