GAZA (JNI) — Hamas is courting other Palestinian groups, including a breakaway faction of the West Bank-based Fatah, in an effort to build a joint slate of candidates for elections scheduled for Nov. 26. Disputes over Hamas’s participation, along with other factors, may end up delaying the vote. Critics say the group is manipulating the process to wriggle out of its promise to give up power in Gaza as part of President Trump’s 2025 peace negotiations framework.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas announced new elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in a decree on July 9, setting off a flurry of political activity. A meeting in Cairo between Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and representatives of Mohammad Dahlan’s Fatah breakaway faction on Aug. 17 sparked speculation of a possible alliance between the two, including in the Qatari-owned Al-Araby al-Jadid pan-Arab newspaper. Dahlan’s deputy, Samir al-Masharawi, affirmed the contacts with Hamas, but said these are not based on a shared ideology. “If it were in the national interest for me to curse Hamas, you’d see me doing it for an entire television program,” Masharawi told Cairo-based Al-Ghad TV. “We don’t need insults … if Palestinians don’t unite now, we’re facing a real catastrophe.”
Palestinian political scientist Raed Musa told Jusoor News that Palestinians hoping for Hamas’s cooperation in installing a new government will likely be disappointed. “Even if we were to lose 90 percent of the Gaza Strip instead of 70 percent,” he said, ”it seems Hamas’s primary focus is preserving itself and its assets. It makes no effort to save the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Hamas leaders are avoiding real compromise with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to focus instead on negotiating with the U.S., Turkey, and other foreign powers on a path for their movement’s survival in Gaza, Musa said.
Hamas’s own statements on the election have struck a consistently combative tone. “Those who are counting on the fall of our glorious movement … will be surprised to find it even more deeply rooted and even more widely present,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Friday. “We intend to participate in the legislative elections with the biggest possible coalition,” Hamas Politburo member Husam Badran told Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV on Aug. 12. “We won’t let anyone reprogram the Palestinian political system to neutralize the people’s will or neutralize Hamas.”
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Some observers cast doubt on whether the election will actually be held at all, in light of past promises that did not pan out over the 20 years since Palestinians last voted for PLC representatives. Israel and the U.S. have yet to approve the new election plan, Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh told a group of Palestinian journalists in Ramallah Saturday. Al-Sheikh also said Hamas will not be able to run a slate of candidates in the election, though he did not rule out that Hamas-affiliated candidates might run as independents. Summarizing Al-Sheikh’s remarks, Al-Arabiya TV political analyst Islam Abd al-Karim said, “He talked about the elections but also mentioned every possible reason for delaying them.”
Raed Musa, the Palestinian political scientist, told Jusoor that Hamas leaders talking about reconciling with Fatah or other groups do so deceptively. Hamas “believes it has passed the point of no return regarding its actions in Gaza, including robbing, looting, killings, assassinations,” he explained. “Consequently, it intends to go all the way, even if it leads to its own destruction.”
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