Hamas holds large pre-election rallies across Gaza

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters
poured into the streets of Gaza on Friday in a show of strength
by the Islamic militant group before next week’s Palestinian
parliamentary election.

Cheering Palestinians waved green Hamas flags and chanted
“God is Greatest” as Hamas candidates took the stage in Gaza
City, where one of the largest rallies was held.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah said the group rejected
international pressure to end its campaign against Israel.

“We tell you today that Hamas will go on until we raise
flags over the Dome of the Rock,” he said, referring to the
Jerusalem shrine located in a complex holy to Muslims and Jews.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement is
widely expected to lose ground in the January 25 election to
Hamas, which has been riding a wave of popularity among
Palestinians because of its corruption-free reputation and
extensive charity network.

Hamas is sworn to Israel’s destruction and has carried out
nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis during a more than
five-year-old Palestinian uprising.

But in a pragmatic change in tone, the group has omitted
its long-standing call to destroy Israel from an election
manifesto.

While Gaza has been plagued by growing chaos since Israel’s
withdrawal last September, there were no reports of violence at
several Hamas rallies on Friday.

At the urging to the group’s leaders, militants left their
guns at home.

Making its first bid for parliamentary seats, Hamas said it
staged the rallies in Gaza City and several refugee camps to
demonstrate its growing clout with the Palestinian people.

“Those people say that Hamas will be victorious,” said
Hamas spokesman and candidate Mushir al-Masri.

The United States and Israel fear that Hamas could make a
strong enough showing against Abbas’s dominant Fatah movement
to win cabinet seats. If that happens, Washington could scale
back U.S. financial aid to the Palestinians, U.S. diplomats
said.

“They have tried to pressure Hamas to abandon resistance
and to abandon arms. They tried to pressure Hamas to abandon
its strategic choice in Palestine, all of Palestine. They tried
to pressure Hamas to recognize the legitimacy of the
occupation,” Haniyah said.

“But they failed,” he added. “All the attempts, pressures
and blackmail failed. We say Hamas will not change its constant
principles.”