GAZA CITY: Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters thronged downtown Gaza City Monday to mark the 22nd anniversary of the group’s founding, a massive display that showed the Islamists still enjoy broad support despite years of rule that have led to war, poverty and isolation.
Gaza was decked out in green, with Hamas flags fluttering from roofs, lampposts and cars. Some parents dressed small children in combat fatigues and green Hamas headbands.
The crowd packed an outdoor square where a huge banner draped over the wall of a building showed a picture of Al-Aqsa Mosque and photos of senior Hamas figures.
Leaders made fiery speeches, bands played and scout troops marched in processions.
“Gaza is free. Gaza is steadfast,” shouted a male singing troupe, whose members wore military camouflage.
Hamas’ Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh exuberantly waved Palestinian and Hamas flags to the crowd as he took the stage.
In a long, defiant speech, Haniyeh pledged Hamas would never lay down its arms, nor recognize Israel.
“This movement, with the help of the militant factions liberated the Gaza Strip, and we say, brothers and sisters, we will not be satisfied with Gaza,” he said. “Hamas looks toward the whole of Palestine, the liberation of the strip is just a step to liberating all of Palestine.”
Turnout appeared to match last year’s level despite a year of setbacks for Hamas, key among them Israel’s military offensive on Gaza last winter.
The three-week war, launched to halt rocket fire from the Palestinian territory, failed to dislodge Hamas but inflicted heavy losses on the group and made it harder for the militants to provide for 1.5 million Gazans.
Hamas has been unable to rebuild homes, sewage lines and water pipes destroyed in the assault because Israel and Egypt continue to enforce a border blockade.
Basic goods like food and some medicines are allowed into Gaza, but construction materials are not.
Smugglers bring in goods from Egypt through tunnels, though those routes may eventually be cut off. Egypt has recently begun installing border fortifications to block the tunnels, which also serve as a conduit for Hamas weapons.
Israel first sealed Gaza in June 2006 after Hamas-allied militants captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. It was tightened a year later, when Hamas overran the coastal strip, ousting forces loyal to Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas now faces an impasse on two interconnected deals that could pry Gaza’s borders open — a swap trading Shalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and a power-sharing deal with Abbas and his Fatah movement. A German mediator appears to have achieved some recent progress on a prisoner swap, but there has been no apparent headway in Palestinian unity talks.
Ghazi Hamad, one of the more pragmatic officials in the group, said Hamas would not be able to rule alone indefinitely. “No one can expel Hamas from the political game ... but Hamas cannot play alone and Fatah cannot play alone,” he said.
