Hamas' Short Reign Is Long on Problems

GAZA CITY — The Islamist group Hamas, in control of the Palestinian Authority for less than a month, is already in deeper trouble than critics had predicted: diplomatically isolated, profoundly in debt and in a state of increasing internal disarray.

Hardship is beginning to take hold among the families of tens of thousands of civil servants who have gone unpaid because of the dramatic drop in foreign aid. Angry gunmen, many from the rival Fatah faction that Hamas defeated in January parliamentary elections, roam the streets of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The militant movement alienated moderate Arab regimes last week with its contention that a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, carried out by a different radical Palestinian group, was a "legitimate form of resistance."

"The question is really where they can go from here," Palestinian analyst Talal Okal said. "It looks like a dead end -- but one that could drag down everyone else along with them."

Still uncertain is whether ordinary Palestinians would prefer to see a flawed and struggling Hamas government stay afloat rather than witness the fulfillment of what they see as Israeli and U.S. wishes to bring about its downfall.

"Our help is from Allah, not from America and the West," said Hamed abu Harbid, a 27-year-old government employee who is scrambling to support his elderly parents as well as his wife and two daughters in the absence of a paycheck. "A collapse of the Hamas government wouldn't mean the alternative was any better."

Since the swearing-in of its prime minister and Cabinet last month, Hamas has repeatedly and defiantly insisted that it can get by without the Western aid that was cut off in response to its refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. But a hoped-for infusion of large-scale aid from the Arab and Muslim world has been slow to materialize; instead it has received sums that would cover less than a month's outlays.

In the meantime, neighbors such as Jordan and Egypt, both of which have peace treaties with Israel, are pressing Hamas to moderate its views. Jordan snubbed Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, waving him off a scheduled visit and accusing Hamas of maintaining arms caches in its territory, which Hamas angrily denied.