The International Power Broker Trying to Normalize Hamas
Foreign Policy · Anchal Vohra ·
Mohammed Dahlan is aiming to unite Palestine by reaching out to Gaza’s ostracized leaders.
Mohammed Dahlan is aiming to unite Palestine by reaching out to Gaza’s ostracized leaders.
In 2006, the last time that Palestinians voted in an election, national power broker Mohammed Dahlan fiercely opposed the new Hamas-led administration in Gaza. Dahlan has been in exile in the United Arab Emirates since 2011. But he is now setting out again to win political power in Gaza by uniting the fractious Palestinian movement—this time by including Hamas. And he is suspected of doing so with the support of influential Arab leaders and Israelis and Americans across the political spectrum.
Earlier this month, when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas postponed elections scheduled for November to next autumn, it wasn’t surprising. Every attempt since the last election 20 years ago has run into trouble either due to Abbas’s fear of losing or Israel’s refusal to allow voting in East Jerusalem. Fatah and Hamas, the two main Palestinian factions, clashed in 2006, which resulted in a de facto division of Palestinian territories into the West Bank and Gaza.
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