Rumors About Hamas Creating A Palestinian State -- But Not In Gaza

Khaled Abu Toameh writes about a report recommending Allow Gaza population to expand into Sinai:

A study published Monday by a Palestinian engineer recommends solving the Gaza Strip’s “population explosion” by allowing the enclave to expand into the Sinai Peninsula.

The study also recommends transferring some of the Gaza Strip’s residents to the West Bank and setting rules for birth control as a way of solving the problem.

...He also suggested vertical construction and filling parts of the sea as possible methods to solve the problems facing the residents of the Gaza Strip.

The study, prepared by an engineer
and published in al-Quds, for the most part suggests ways for Gazans to resolve their problems independently.

However, there are rumors that Hamas is thinking of taking the idea of using the Sinai one step further: settling Palestinian Arabs there and declaring a state.

Perhaps that makes sense considering that Hamas itself is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and assumes it can count on their support.

Maybe so, but apparently Hamas would not get the support of the Egyptians themselves, who have come out strongly against such a move:

Writing in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly last October, columnist Ahmad Naguib Roushdy said: “Even if they are only rumors, these rumors have roots in Egypt’s
history. Every Egyptian sympathizes with the Palestinian cause, and much Egyptian blood has been shed in defense of it.

But if these rumors are true, the
Palestinians have shown themselves to be ungrateful and could be considered to be Egypt’s enemies.

“The Egyptian government should force any Palestinians in Sinai now to return to where they came from,” he wrote. “I believe that the [Egyptian] revolution did not only
aspire to freedom and dignity, but also to the idea that Egypt is for all Egyptians.

Read the whole thing.

If the rumors are true, perhaps Hamas just wants to show that it can go Abbas one step further and create a real "Palestinian" state.

If so, it appears that Hamas knows as little about what it takes to create a state as Abbas does.