Haniya’s trip: Palestine’s return to Islamic roots

An Arab analyst described the Palestinian Premier, Ismail Haniya’s recent regional tour of the Middle East countries as a return for the Palestinian issue to its Islamic roots.

Jamal Abu Raida wrote in the Gaza-based Palestine daily that Haniya’s regional tour of Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, IRI and UAE promoted the status of the Palestinian government more than ever before.

He said the second round of Haniya’s visit was more important than the first round that took him to Egypt, Sudan, Turkey, and Tunisia for several reasons.

For one thing, the author says, the second round of visit took him for the first time ever to the capitals of four countries (Doha, Manama, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi) that are considered as staunch US allies and used to shy Hamas government in the past six years.

He accordingly believed that the Arab world was undergoing major developments due to breakout of popular uprisings, prompting the Arab governments to welcome Haniya in his true place as legal Palestinian premier while they even declined to contact the government on phone before the waves of uprisings.

“The visits thus prove that the siege on the elected Palestinian government has failed,” Abu Raida wrote.

The author then points to Haniya’s visit to Islamic Republic of Iran and calls it a strategic issue “signaling that the Hamas leaders seek to streamline Arab and Islamic world in support of the Palestinian issue and shows that Haniya wishes to steer the Palestinian issue into its Arab and Islamic roots.”