BICOM

According to a report in Haaretz, the Hamas leadership has decided to transfer some of Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal’s critical areas of authority to the leadership in the Gaza Strip, including control of the organisation’s budget and of its military wing.

Meshaal’s control of Hamas’s finances gave him de-facto authority over Iz al-Din al-Qassam, the Gaza-based military wing of the movement. The stripping of Meshaal of his critical areas of authority seem to be part of a reorganisation of the movement, since its leadership left Damascus in the wake of unrest in Syria. Meshaal’s position in Hamas declined steeply after the movement’s leadership in Gaza rejected the ‘Doha agreement’ – Meshaal’s efforts to achieve reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

Since losing its base in Damascus, the Gaza Strip has become the main source of revenue for Hamas, via tax collection and smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt. In addition, since the exiled leadership left Syria and relocated to several Arab countries, Gaza has also become Hamas’s main decision-making centre.

These developments come as Hamas is increasingly losing popularity to Fatah in the West Bank.  Fatah swept the student council elections held in most of the West Bank’s leading Palestinian colleges and universities in the past few weeks. Fatah’s candidates won in the elections to the territory’s professional associations for lawyers and for engineers, and the organisation also came out ahead in the election of the association representing employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip.