Double standards and opportunism.. Hamas justifies normalizing Turkey’s relations with Israel to protect its investments
Hamas has a long history of opportunism, contradiction, and temperament in dealing with regional issues, even if these issues are related to the Palestinian cause itself. The extremist movement, and behind it the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood, has been adapting its ideological discourse according to the whim and in a way that serves its interests.
Israel and Turkey officially revealed the normalization of relations between them, following a dispute that lasted six years due to the attack by the Israeli occupation army on the Turkish ship Marmara which was aimed at breaking the siege on Gaza and delivering aid.
Despite Hamas’s onslaught against the Gulf States over the Brahimi peace treaties, the radical movement has not been shy about adapting its rhetoric to praise Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is currently receiving Israeli President Herzog.
Hamas has long been silent about announced or hidden relations between Israel and some countries that host its leaders and members, especially Qatar and Turkey.
While some see it as pragmatic, serving its interests, the map of its alliances, and its geographic location, others see it as a purely political adolescence.
For example, Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, considered the Gulf normalization agreements a betrayal that opens the door to evil in the region. These days, however, Abu Marzouk made statements from Istanbul, blessing Turkish-Israeli relations and glorifying Erdogan’s policies.
Before Abu Marzouk, the position of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, who announced in 2016, and the day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an agreement to normalize Turkish-Israeli relations, was that the movement appreciated the Turkish president’s positions on the Palestinian issue and turned a blind eye to the Turkish-Israeli agreement as a special Turkish decision.
In the national interest
Jihad Al-Harazin, a leader in the Fatah movement and a professor of political science at Al-Quds University, said that Hamas has persisted in pursuing unreasonable positions, which are only compatible with its own interests, away from the national interest, which requires unity of position and unity of all efforts within the framework of the national working melting pot and in the interest of the issue. But Hamas has always distanced itself from its positions on the national issue, especially positions that contradict the national interest in the position concerning its encouragement of Turkish-Israeli rapprochement, given that Israel is the occupying State, which Hamas regards as its enemy.
For fear of their interests
Jihad Al-Harazin confirms that Hamas was prompted by this declaration because of its fear for its interests, connections and investments in the Turkish state, and the attempt to find a mediator between Hamas and Israel to achieve the interests of both parties, which removes the mask from the true face of Hamas’s political orientations and its attempts to create an alternative and present itself as an alternative, even if this is at the expense of the national interest. Hamas should have encouraged the process of Palestinian-Palestinian rapprochement and put an end to the division that entered its fifteenth year, which resulted from the putsch of Hamas in 2007, and responded to the calls launched by President Abu Mazen, and the implementation of what was agreed upon in Cairo in October 2017, and the end of its control over the Gaza Strip, for Hamas, which raises the slogan of Israel, to encourage relations with Turkey.
At the expense of the Palestinian people
The Palestinian leader stressed that this double dealing and slogans are in the interest of Hamas, which pays the price of the Palestinian people, and that is why Hamas is today more than in the past demanding to end the division and achieve reconciliation, and to work within a purely national strategy because it is the one that has failed all the reconciliation rounds, and has not implemented any of the agreements it signed to end the division, but it still wagons on foreign agendas and affiliation to its keenness to satisfy Turkey and other countries so as not to lose its privileges, status and investments that have priority over the national cause.
Hamas investments in Turkey
Ayman Al-Raqeb, a leader in the Fatah movement and professor of political science, also clarifies the story of the rapprochement between Turkey, Israel and Hamas, pointing out that the largest investments of Hamas are in Turkey, and therefore any rapprochement will be paid for by Hamas in its work inside Turkey, pointing out that there was a request from the occupation government to expel the vice president of Hamas, Saleh Al-Arouri, from Turkey years ago, and indeed he was deported to Qatar.
Shy stand
Ayman Al-Raqeb added: Unfortunately, the Hamas movement’s shy stance in criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his reception of the head of the Israeli occupation government, is a shy statement that confirms Hamas’ fears of the possibility of the collapse of its interests in Turkey, considering that Hamas’s justification of the occupation’s relations is, however, permissible. Of course, they are a duplication of Hamas, which fears for its investments and presence in Turkey without paying attention or taking a sharp stand towards this Turkish-Israeli rapprochement.
Never-ending relationships
He continued: “As Palestinians, we wished that there would be a serious stance towards Hamas and a clear stance with the Turkish regime”, he said, pointing out that even the Israeli occupation’s investments in Turkey were not affected and not affected by the strained political relations between the two countries, amounting to $8 billion in Turkey.
He added: “The time has come for Turkey to show that it is talking clearly about its relationship with the Israeli occupation”, he said, adding that reaching this point means that it has never stopped, but that it was proceeding according to the interests of any country, and then it will return to its normal form.
