Gulf Crisis: Can Hamas survive the worst crisis since its existence
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The Gaza-based Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, is facing a new and harsh reality in light of the recent Gulf crisis between Qatar and several Gulf countries.
The resistance movement, which has administered Gaza since 2007, did not previously anticipate that the presence of some of its leaders in Qatar would constitute a matter of concern. Qatar's embrace of the movement, by hosting some of its political leaders in Doha, provided some security and stability for Hamas to build its political platforms and regional relations.
Over the past few years, Hamas has been able to adapt to the Arab region's reality, in light of the popular uprisingsthat swept the region, and it survived - albeit with many losses - the sharp turning points that exhausted the movement and affected its alliances and capabilities. The current crisis, however, seems to be the most difficult in the movement's history.
For the first time since its inception, Hamas is facing both an internal and an external crisis, and finds itself facing a barrage of events, like a storm, without having the power to secure its place.
Internally, Hamas is facing mounting pressure with the deteriorating living situation in the besieged Gaza Strip, compounded by the Palestinian Authority's recent decisions to cut electricity supply and medicine as a result of the stalled political crisis between Hamas and the PA.
When the US President Donald Trumpmade his remarks last month, labellingHamas a "terrorist organisation" during a summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh, Hamas mistakenly thought it was nothing more than a conventional statement in the world of politics.
But the movement was taken aback by the Gulf crisis that has placed the expulsion of its leaders from Qatar on the top of the agenda for solving the crisis. Hamas officials were also shocked by the recent Saudi foreign minister's statements which characterised it as a "terrorist movement".
Hamas has realised that a preplanned campaign was being implemented and that a new reality was being created in the region forcing it to re-examine its presence and political position on the external level.
In the new anti-Hamas atmosphere forming in the Arab region, Hamas' options are dwindling in an unprecedented manner. Al Jazeera
