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Egyptians Increasingly Critical of Hamas

(Washington Times) Mohamed Abdelbaky, Angela Waters and Janelle Dumalaon - The Palestinian militant group Hamas is losing support among Egyptians. Samir Ghattas, director of the Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies, an Egyptian think tank, said that although the vast majority of Egyptians dislike Israel and sympathize with the Palestinians, they think Hamas is provoking the violence. "Everybody here in Cairo and in many Arab cities knows that Hamas is behind this wave of violence in order to earn some sympathy," Ghattas said. Egyptians' attitudes toward Hamas are likely to worsen in the wake of the group's rejection of Egyptian President el-Sisi's cease-fire plan Tuesday, which Israel accepted. Akram Alfy, deputy director of the Cairo-based Ahwal Masrya Center for Political Studies, said, "The public considers Hamas now as any other radical group....Hamas has proved to Arab public opinion over the last decade that it only cares about its interests; everything it does indicates that it has no interest to either have reconciliation with the other Palestinian factions in West Bank or peace with Israel."
2014-07-18 00:00:00
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