during a rally Friday in Cairo as the audience chanted against Iran.
The speech by Haniya was his first expression of support for the uprising and a clear rupture with Iran, which provides a major part of the revenues Hamas and Haniya need to run Gaza.
“I salute all the people of the Arab Spring, or rather the Islamic Winter,” Haniya told thousands of cheering people during the demonstration of support for Palestinians and Syrians at Cairo’s Al-Azhar mosque.
“I salute the heroic Syrian people, who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform,” he said.
The protesters chanted back, “No Iran. No Hezbollah. Syria is Islamic.” The chants had a clear anti-Shia cast.
Iran has long been a key supporter of Hamas. Last Thursday, Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, a London-based Arabic daily, quoted Ezzat Ar-Rashq, a Hamas Politburo member, as saying Iran had been the main financial backer of the Hamas government in Gaza. Without the Iranian money, he said, Hamas would never have been able to pay the 45,000 people on the Gaza state payroll.
Hamas has been drifting away from Iran in recent months as Sunni Arabs increasingly see Syria as a Shiite force, which has become an embarrassment for Hamas. At the same time, Hamas is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been growing in strength this past year with election victories in Egypt and Tunisia. Some think Hamas is under strong urging from the Brothers to get out from under Iran.
Musa Abu Marzouk, the Number Two in the Hamas, told The Associated Press Sunday that Hamas wishes to keep links to Iran but had stood up to the Islamic Republic over Syria. “The Iranians are not happy with our position on Syria. And when they are not happy, they don’t deal with you the same old way,” he said, adding that Iranian payments to Hamas have declined. He would not say how much Iranian money Hamas has received.
Until now, the Hamas political leadership has refused to criticize President Bashar Al-Assad’s crackdown on the 11-month long uprising, even when Assad’s forces targeted a Palestinian refugee camp.
The Islamist movement’s Politburo has long been based in Damascus, but it is reportedly leaving Syria—its main backer along with Iran—as Assad’s regime faces growing Arab isolation.
In January, the Hamas leadership denied it was relocating its headquarters, but politburo members are known to be scattering to other Arab countries.
The Hamas silence on Assad’s crackdown, especially after the Ramel refugee camp came under attack in August, was seen as an embarrassment, especially as the rival Palestine Liberation Organization denounced the attack.
Earlier this month, Hezb-ollah chief Hassan Nasrollah defended Assad, saying he believed the president was intent on carrying out reforms, and suggested Assad was the victim of a plot that would serve Israel.
On Friday, about 25 Egyptians and Syrians gathered outside the Iranian diplomatic mission in Cairo with anti-Shiite posters, condemning Iran for supporting Assad.
“God exalt the Sunnis and humiliate the Shiites,” said the caption of one poster with a picture of Saudi King Abdullah.