"The Palestinian Hamas movement briefly captured renewed attention when Ismail Haniyeh, a leader from Gaza, received the Ayatollah’s honors at the funeral of Qasem Soleimani in Tehran. Yet for the past few years, it has been Yahya Sinwar, head of the Hamas Political Bureau in Gaza, who has consolidated his stature as one of the most influential figures in the movement. This power shift has occurred over a relatively short period, less than a decade, when Sinwar was freed from the Israeli prison where he had spent a quarter of a century.
Sinwar’s personal profile is engrossing, but it is his political history that provides a lens into major contemporary developments both inside Hamas and in Palestinian public life as a whole. This essay aims to outline that profile, and analyze how it is likely to play out in the near future, whether inside the Palestinian arena or in relations with Israel. A second installment will explore the wider significance of Sinwar’s trajectory, and of the choices facing the Hamas leader".
External reference: Fikra Forum, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
This article available also in Arabic.