Hamas supporters took to the streets earlier today, in the first pro-Hamas rally in the Fatah-led west bank, in five years.
Yielding the green flags of Hamas, supporters marched from the Nasser Mosque in Nablus and rallied in the central square, where they eventually called for a return to armed resistance against Israel.
The rally indicated the rising popularity of Hamas in the West Bank, following Israel’s eight day assault last month.
Fatah controls West Bank’s Palestinian Authority and, as a result of Hamas’s recent resilience, are facing pressure to offer Hamas concessions, such as more public rallies.
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) president, criticised Hamas’ leader-in-exile, Khaled Meshaal, for a fierce anti-Israeli speech in Gaza.
Marking Hamas’s 25th anniversary on Saturday, Meshaal vowed never to recognise Israel’s right to exist, reaffirming that Hamas "does not accept the two state solution” to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Rebuking the Hamas leader’s remarks, Abbas said,
“We recognised Israel in 1993. There is an agreement between Fatah and Hamas that recognises the two-state solution. Meshaal approved this agreement.”
Meshaal’s remarks on Saturday conflicts with his recent tone on Israel, where he suggested that Hamas could possibly recognise its resistance, and also supported Abbas’s bid to the UN, which explicitly recognised Israel. Meshaal’s shift to a hard-line stance on Israel has been seen as ploy to regain popular support in the West Bank following Israel’s recent military assault on Gaza.
