Shifting power dynamics inside Hamas in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings. Between moderation and radicalisation.

Abstract

The aim of the thesis is to provide an accurate answer to the following questions: “What has been the extent of the impact of the Arab Spring over Hamas’s authority structure?” and “Are the recent internal divisions between Hamas’s leaderships a new and unprecedented phenomenon triggered by the Arab Spring, or are they the result of a peculiar historical development that reached a new momentum in 2011?”. In order to answer these questions, the thesis provides a deep historical and political analysis of Hamas, since its establishment in Palestine, until the most recent Arab Spring, with particular emphasis on Hamas transition from resistance to pragmatism in 1990s, and the internal tensions along the politico-military line and internal/external leaderships before and after the spark of the Arab Spring. The methodology used in this thesis combines the extensive use of primary sources in Arabic (Hamas’s statements, leaflets, published interviews), as well as secondary sources from acknowledged scholars, press and surveys. Moreover, the author relies on interviews carried out between September 2012 and April 2013 across East Jerusalem and the West Bank with Hamas activists and leaders, and Palestinian political analysts. Findings of the research point to long-standing internal divisions within Hamas leaderships since mid 1990s, confuting the idea that the Arab Spring triggered new and unprecedented divisions. However, since April 2012 there have been major signs of growing interference of radical elements associated with the military wings gaining political power inside the Shura Council. Moreover, the thesis concludes that, if on the one hand the Arab Spring represented a concrete opportunity to engage in reconciliation with Fatah, to seek international recognition and to engage in moderate political negotiations, interviews with analysts and elaboration of primary sources suggest that the main obstacle to reconciliation stems from the Hamas leadership in Gaza that sees reconciliation as a threat to its tight hegemony over the Gaza Strip.