Palestinian Authority leaders on Thursday expressed joy over the downfall of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s regime, with some calling on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to follow suit and topple the Hamas government.
Palestinian analysts predicted that the collapse of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt would undermine Hamas, which in the past year has been emboldened by Morsi’s rise to power.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas was one of the first Arab leaders to congratulate the Egyptians on the ouster of Morsi.
In a letter to acting President Adli Mansour, Abbas congratulated him on the appointment, expressing hope that he would fulfill the aspirations of the Egyptian people to “live in freedom, dignity and stability.”
Abbas praised the Egyptian army and its commanders for preserving the country’s security and preventing it from slipping toward the abyss.
Tayeb Abdel Rahim, a top aide to Abbas, saluted the Egyptian army for the “wonderful achievement.”
Referring to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel Rahim hailed the Egyptian army and people for refusing to be intimidated by those who “sow sedition, civil war and sectarianism.”
Jamal Nazzal, a senior Fatah representative, called on Palestinians to overthrow Hamas in the wake of the events in Egypt.
Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf expressed hope that the ouster of Morsi would aid efforts to end divisions among the Palestinians.
“We hope that the historic victory of the Egyptian people’s will would help our people get rid of the destructive division and restore national unity,” Assaf said in an indirect reference to Hamas’s control over the Gaza Strip.
Several other Fatah officials expressed hope that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would wage a revolution against Hamas.
“Now it’s Gaza’s turn to get rid of the Muslim Brotherhood branch,” said one official. “The dark era of political Islam has ended. The era of hypocrisy and lies has ended and Gaza will soon witness its own revolution against Hamas.”
Abdel Rahim Jamous, a Fatahaffiliated political analyst, urged Hamas to seize the opportunity and “return to Palestinian national legitimacy before it’s too late.”
Addressing the Hamas leadership, Jamous said: “You have no future with the Muslim Brotherhood. They have failed even before they started. They are losers. Wake up before it’s too late.”
Palestinian reporters in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday that top Hamas officials seemed to be very worried by the ouster of Morsi.
Unlike the PA leadership, Hamas did not rush to congratulate the Egyptian army and opposition.
But Ahmed Youssef, a senior Hamas official, said his movement was worried not over the fall of Morsi’s regime, but over the possibility that events could lead to bloodshed in Egypt.
The “whole world is hoping to see stability in Egypt,” Youssef told the Ma’an news agency.
The crisis in Egypt had already resulted in a shortage of basic goods in the Gaza Strip because of the closure of the Rafah border crossing, he said.
Palestinians said that the Egyptian army had beefed up its presence along the border with the Gaza Strip in the past few days.
Egyptian troops on Thursday destroyed six smuggling tunnels under the border, they said.
The Egyptian authorities have also imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinians through the Rafah terminal, they added.
There are unconfirmed reports that Cairo has also issued an order banning Hamas leaders and members from entering Egypt.
Ehab Ghissin, a spokesman for the Hamas government, condemned as “trivial” Fatah’s call for an Egyptian-style revolution in the Gaza Strip.
Ghissin said that Fatah’s calls were intended to cover-up the continued PA security crackdown against Hamas supporters in the West Bank.