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Qatar's Gaza Visit Helps Hamas, But Poses Risks
(Wall Street Journal) Matt Bradley - The Emir of Qatar became the first head of state to visit Gaza while under Hamas control. In a jubilant celebration alongside Hamas' leader, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on Tuesday pledged $400 million in infrastructure aid for roads, a new hospital and housing for freed Palestinian prisoners. Qatar's move exploits a patronage vacuum left by Iran, which halted aid to Hamas after it spurned the Assad regime in support of the Syrian rebellion. Syria had hosted Hamas' exiled leadership until earlier this year. But some analysts worried that Sheik Hamad's largess threatened to deepen the estrangement between Hamas-ruled Gaza and the Fatah-ruled West Bank by empowering Hamas and frustrating any potential rapprochement with Israel. "It gives a stamp of permanence to Palestinian secession, you have two Palestinian de facto states that refuse to talk to each other,'' said Yigal Palmor, Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman. "What does that do to the ability to negotiate peace?"