di Shorsh Surme –
Shortly after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel began on October 7, a video began circulating of leader Ismail Haniyeh in his elegant office in Doha, the capital of Qatar, watching the bloody attack on al-Jazeera and “yes prostrated in gratitude” with a group of other party officials for the action that cost the lives of 1300 people, including a thousand civilians.
For years Haniyeh has been reproached by many Palestinians for having led a comfortable life, far from the difficulties of Gaza, in the oil-rich Gulf monarchy, which offers refuge to all leaders of the group deemed terrorist by the US and EU. Qatar is also home to the pan-Arab media outlet al-Jazeera.
Before Hamas’s victory in the Palestinian elections over Fatah in 2006, Haniyeh was not a prominent member of the party’s leadership. After the electoral victory, his star began to rise: he was immediately appointed prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip, and his wealth grew rapidly thanks to the control that he and other ministers exercised over the Gaza economy and thanks to taxes imposed on goods imported into the Strip from Egypt.
According to a 2014 report published by Ynet, an Israeli news site, top Hamas officials, including Haniyeh, would impose a 20 percent tax on all trade that passes through the tunnels.
In 2010, Haniyeh spent $4 million on a plot of land on the Gaza waterfront, near the Shati refugee camp where he grew up, a parcel of land registered under his son-in-law’s name, according to the Egyptian magazine Rose al-Yusuf.
Haniyeh has since purchased several apartments, villas and buildings in the Gaza Strip, registered in the names of some of his 13 children.
Its wealthy public holdings contrast sharply with the endemic poverty of the Gaza Strip, where about half the population is unemployed and GDP per capita was about $5,600 in 2021.
Some experts attribute the stunted economic growth to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade in place since 2007, which has imposed restrictions on goods traveling into or out of the Strip. Israel says the restrictions are necessary for security reasons, to prevent Hamas from arming itself and building tunnels into Israel. Corruption is also believed to be widespread.
Gaza’s economy is heavily dependent on foreign aid, with Qatar at the top of the list of donors: the Gulf monarchy is estimated to have contributed more than $1.5 billion over the past decade, although the money has been shelled out as salaries for public officials and poor families, not to directly develop the economy.
The divide between Hamas leaders and the streets of Gaza extends beyond bank accounts, with the group’s top brass and their families apparently able to leave the besieged enclave at will, an advantage enjoyed by few Gazans.
On December 30, 2022, the Saudi news website Elaph quoted an “expert Palestinian source” as reporting that Haniyeh’s son Maaz, known in Gaza as Abu Al-Iqarat or “The Father of Real Estate,” obtained a Turkish passport, which allowed him to easily exit Gaza, travel abroad and invest in property in Turkey.
