Friday, July 26, 2013
Elder of Ziyon
Bardawil said that relations between Hamas and Iran "had not been interrupted at all" but he admitted that "they have become frosty since the crisis in Syria ... but we emphasize that Hamas does not want to drop relations with any Arab or Muslim party that supports the Palestinian cause."
On Tuesday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araghchi announced that Iran and Hamas are resolving issues that caused "misunderstandings" between them.
This comes after the Egyptian public, and army, have come out strongly against the Gaza-based Islamist group that enjoyed close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas needs a new patron that can help it pay its bills, and tacitly backing Assad is apparently a price it is willing to pay - a move that will, if made public explicitly, cause some serious damage to Hamas' reputation in the larger Arab world.
On the flip side, Iran has been having a hard time to position itself as the leader of the Muslim world when every major Sunni group bitterly opposes it. Hamas helps Iran as well.
It will be interesting to see if Khaled Meshal, Hamas "political" head who has been moving from country to country in search of a new permanent Hamas headquarters to replace Syria, will be on board with this.
