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Hamas Popularity Hits a New Low
(Christian Science Monitor) Kristen Chick - Fathi Abu Gamar, a gas station owner in Jabaliya in Gaza, says Hamas takes more than half his revenue from gas sales. But he quickly becomes quiet when a man, whom neighbors identify as a Hamas informer, begins hovering nearby, listening intently. Hamas has been steadily losing support among Gaza's 1.6 million residents after winning elections in 2006. Gazans appear increasingly tired of a government that they see as just as corrupt as the Fatah one it replaced. Now, its popularity has fallen to a new low because of its opposition to a bid for Palestinian statehood at the UN. A joke circulating in Gaza posits that the reason Hamas' armed wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, has stopped firing rockets at Israel is that the fighters' jeeps lack air conditioning. Residents tell stories of Hamas officials who used to drive modest cars now sporting luxury vehicles.