The Iran-Qatar-Turkey-Hamas Alliance: A Threat To The Region

The Dangerous New Iran-Qatar-Turkey-Hamas Alliance

 Khaled Abu Toameh

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s continued rapprochement with the Iran-backed Hamas is jeopardizing the Palestinians’ relations with Egypt. Egyptian media outlets have resumed their scathing attacks on the Palestinian leadership in general, and the Islamist movement that has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007 in particular.

The Egyptian attacks came on the eve of a meeting in Turkey between leaders of Abbas’s Fatah faction and Hamas. At the meeting, held under the auspices of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Hamas and Fatah leaders discussed ways of ending their dispute and holding long overdue Palestinian presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Fatah-Hamas meeting in Turkey took place in the context of Abbas’s initiative to achieve Palestinian “national unity to confront Israeli and American schemes against the Palestinians.” The reconciliation efforts are also designed to thwart normalization agreements between Israel and some Arab states.

The Egyptian attacks, focusing mostly on Hamas, are aimed at sending a warning to Abbas against joining the extremist camp led by Iran, Qatar and Turkey. In addition, the attacks are aimed at reminding Abbas and the rest of the world that Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, continues to pose a real threat to Egypt’s national security.

Abbas, however, seems determined to ignore the Egyptian warnings and is marching forward with full speed toward forming an alliance with Hamas and its masters in Iran, Qatar and Turkey.

Abbas has already damaged the Palestinians’ relations with some Arab countries by condemning the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain for signing peace treaties with Israel. Abbas and his senior officials have accused both Gulf countries of “stabbing the Palestinians in the back” and betraying the Palestinian cause, Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque by signing normalization accords with Israel.

The decision marks the beginning of a divorce process between the Palestinians and the Arab world. The Palestinian leadership has been boycotting the US administration since December 2017, when President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Palestinians have also suspended their ties with Israel, including security coordination.

Now it appears that the Palestinians are also headed toward ruining their relations with Egypt because of Abbas’s decision to make peace with Hamas and appease Iran, Turkey and Qatar.

Egyptian writer Abdel Mun’em Said accused Turkey, Iran, Qatar and Hamas of “using history profusely, selectively and tragically to impose appropriate political and strategic choices to maintain a state of tension, hostility and conflict in the region.” According to Said, the goal of the four parties is to infiltrate the Arab countries and obtain material and political gains in the region.

Egyptian writer Mustafa Anbar denounced Hamas as a “satanic movement with a misleading history and constant support for terrorism.” He accused Hamas of serving the Turkish-Qatari agenda in the region.

“Day after day, the malicious goals and intentions of Hamas are revealed through its trading with the Palestinian issue in order to achieve unlawful gains at the expense of the Palestinian people… This is the agenda of Turkey and Qatar: supporting terrorism.”

Yet, the Palestinian leadership and the international community appear distinctly indifferent to the looming danger of this newest axis of evil. For them, the only fate worse than death is normalization between the Arabs and Israel. Abbas has once again pegged his hopes and those of his people on entities that would obstruct the Palestinians and destroy Israel.