Publication

This study explores the means and strategies by which Hamas and the Gaza government have consolidated their control in the Gaza Strip following the movement’s military takeover of that territory in June 2007. It focuses on how Hamas has coped with the challenge of economic and political isolation by reviewing the institutional set-up of the governmental apparatus under Hamas, assessing Hamas’s channels of communication with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and discussing Hamas’s economic responses to the embargo. The report concludes that Hamas has used a combination of economic, administrative and military means to consolidate its power in Gaza, defending their achievements and securing the survival of the regime.