Media coverage
Ynetnews · 2014-03-14
Support in Hamas drops to 29% and there is a ripple of speculation the Islamic militant movement might be driven from power.
## Support in Hamas drops to 29% and there is a ripple of speculation the Islamic militant movement might be driven from power.
GAZA CITY - Gaza's Hamas rulers have been hit by the worst economic crisis since seizing the territory seven years ago and face growing discontent, even among core supporters, because there's no sign of relief from a blockade enforced not only by Israel but also by a suddenly hostile Egypt.
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Hamas government employees have complained publicly about getting only partial salaries for the past four months. Bus drivers have staged a strike over soaring fuel prices. Laborers have lost jobs as construction has dried up. Hamas' own surveys show its popularity plummeting.
"I never experienced a situation worse than this one," said Ahmed Zeitouniya, 32, who has been walking to his job in the Culture Ministry because he can no longer afford $1 in bus fares and is in debt to the neighborhood grocery and his oldest son's kindergarten.
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Last month, when taxi and bus drivers staged a one-day strike over rising fuel costs, they were detained for several hours by Hamas security and only released after signing pledges not to strike again, according to driver Wissam Abu Lehiyeh, 41.
"The first day we called for the strike, some people called us collaborators with Egypt and Israel," Abu Lehiyeh said.
Ahmed Yousef, an intellectual from Hamas' pragmatic wing, warned the status quo in Gaza is unsustainable.
"It is no longer possible for the government institutions ... to stop the continued decline in all walks of life," Yousef wrote in an essay sent to journalists on Wednesday.
The US and Europe view Hamas as an obstacle to any Israeli-Palestinian deal. However, European diplomats assessed in their recent annual mission report that neither Israel nor Egypt "is interested in a total collapse of Hamas at present as this would leave a potentially dangerous power vacuum" in Gaza.
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