CAIRO, January 30, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The rise of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas to the helm of power is sure to affect its stand on occupying Israel and to impose "pragmatic positions" due to the international balance of power, pundits in the region believe.

"Being in power, Hamas finds itself in the middle of international balances it can not ignore. Such balances will force it to amend some of its constants and lower its political ceiling," Hossam Tammam, expert on Islamic movements' affairs, told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, January 29.

Ammar Hassan, researcher on Islamic movements and director of state-owned Middle East News Agency's Research Center in Cairo, went even further.

He said it was likely that Hamas would "backtrack – tactically at least – on many of its constants, topped by its belief that conflict with Israel is one of existence not one of borders."

The Egyptian expert said the same position was adopted by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the father grouping of Fatah.

Hassan cited Hamas total rejection of dialogue (with Israel) before the January 25 elections and the movement's talk on the possibility of dialogue through a third party.

Hamas won 74 seats in the 133-seat Palestinian Legislative Council, over 50 percent of the seats up for grabs, allowing it to form a government.

Rashwan believes Hamas made use of the rise of other Islamist groups in the region.

Diaa Rashwan, another expert on Islamic movements in the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, concurred.

"Hamas would accept pragmatic positions as it would manage the political process in Palestine amidst a turbulent regional atmosphere," he told IOL.

Tammam strongly doubted US and European statements on Hamas and opposition to dialogue with the group.

"Washington does not totally reject Hamas. It merely wants to trim the movement's political project to fall in line with US plans for the region," he opined.

The expert argued that the West is convinced real peace or stability in Palestine is only possible through Hamas, due to its clout and popularity among Palestinians.

Hamas came to existence during the first Palestinian Intifada in the late 1980s and gained soaring popularity among Palestinians through a mixture of social projects and resistance attacks against Israeli occupation forces.

The experts foresaw the political rise of other Islamist movements in the region after Hamas became the main political player in occupied Palestine.

"Hamas model is likely to stand a repeat and it is a tempting example that stands generalization among Islamist movements in the region," Tammam said.

"There is a near certainty among these movements now that they are only inches away from assuming power. That strong feeling was enhanced by Hamas's landslide victory and the popularity of the more organized movements in the region."

Tammam attributed the rise to the "rights' awareness and the state of political change gripping the area", adding such factors restrained the regimes that used to crackdown on Islamist groups.

Rashwan, on the other hand, believes Hamas made use of the rise of other Islamist currents in the region following the US "vicious attack on Muslims" in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

"Islamists' rise in the area reached Palestine and thus came the rise of Hamas."

Hassan, on his part, saw the dramatic rise of Hamas to assume power as a real test "for Islamists' ability to run politics from the position of rulers, rather than opposition."

Ahmed Al-Raisouny, a Moroccan researcher on Islamic movements, said Hamas's election victory "gave a great moral push to the region's peoples."

He expected that such a situation will have "long term positive effects on Islamist movements, being the closest to peoples."

The experts also attributed the Islamists' rise to power to corruption of the ruling regimes, citing Hamas as case in point.

They said long years of Fatah's corruption played a pivotal role in the dramatic win by Hamas.