BEWARE WHAT YOU WISH FOR: Granted that Gaza is not the kind of place most countries would fight to call their own--just how much trouble could Gaza cause Hamas?

Amir Taheri writes in Hopeless in Gaza:

Some 85 percent of Gaza's estimated 1.7 million inhabitants depend on U.N. refugee organizations, mostly funded by the United States, for food and other daily needs. Yet Hamas would still need some $1.5 billion a year to keep the place afloat. Iran has promised to help, and the pan-Islamist movement of which Hamas is a branch is also certain to be generous. But even if that kind of money becomes available, Hamas' ability to keep Gaza going, even at the miserable level of its current existence, is not guaranteed.

Having withdrawn from Gaza last year, Israel has sealed the strip's land, sea and air borders. The only outlet still open is the Rafa'ah crossing on the border with Egypt. Were Egypt to close the crossing, Gaza could become one of those sealed rooms in which mysterious crimes are committed.

Often labeled "the biggest prison on earth," Gaza depends on Israel and the West Bank for virtually all of its water and electricity and much of the raw material and spare parts its businesses need. If Israel, the West Bank, the Europeans and the United Nations let Hamas stew in its juices in Gaza, the Islamist movement might well collapse under the weight of the strip's economic problems and social tensions.

Alot of the potential for Hamas to follow in Hizbollah's footsteps--both as a governing body and as another battle front against Israel--is going to depend on what they do with Gaza.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza and Palestinian Civil War.