![A Palestinian Hamas supporter celebrates after Erdogan declared victory in local polls during a rally organised by Hamas movement in the northern Gaza Strip March 31, 2014. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in local polls that had become a referendum on his rule and said he would "enter the lair" of enemies who have accused him of corruption and leaked state secrets. The Arabic words read "Turkey Justice and development forward". REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNRES](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/04/RTR3JDQS.jpg/RTR3JDQS.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=FAPEQIoR)
Hazem Balousha is a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza City. He has worked as a news producer for BBC World Service, contributed to Deutsche Welle and has written for The Guardian, Al-Raya (Qatar) and other publications. He is the founder of the Palestinian Institute for Communication and Development (PICD). On Twitter: @iHaZeMi
![A Palestinian Hamas supporter celebrates after Erdogan declared victory in local polls during a rally organised by Hamas movement in the northern Gaza Strip March 31, 2014. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in local polls that had become a referendum on his rule and said he would "enter the lair" of enemies who have accused him of corruption and leaked state secrets. The Arabic words read "Turkey Justice and development forward". REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNRES](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/04/RTR3JDQS.jpg/RTR3JDQS.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=FAPEQIoR)
![A Palestinian anchor works inside a studio of Al-Aqsa Television in Gaza City March 19, 2010. U.S. Treasury on Thursday imposed sanctions against two firms in Gaza Islamic National Bank and Al-Aqsa Television for their ties to Hamas. Mohammed Abu Thraya, deputy director of the Al-Aqsa station called on world media outlets to condemn what he called an assault by Israel and the U.S. against "free media". REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MEDIA) - RTR2BTGD](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTR2BTGD.jpg/RTR2BTGD.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=sGbZaBzi)
![Palestinians check the damage to their house in the Khan Younis refugee
camp, south of the Gaza strip January 1, 2003. Overnight 10 Israeli
tanks and armoured personnel carriers were involved in the operation to
blow up the house of Yassin al-Agha, who was killed by Israeli troops
last month. Palestinians and human rights groups call Israel's house
demolition policy a form of "collective punishment" that violates
international humanitarian law. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
AJ/JDP - RTRFZES](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTRFZES.jpg/RTRFZES.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=HRRjs4y5)
![GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - MARCH 14: Palestinian students vote during student council election at the Islamic University on March 14, 2005 in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. The Hamas supporting Yassien List won 83.65%, defeating the Mahmoud Abbas supporting Shuhada Falasten List who gained 10.5% of the vote. An estimated 71 % of 14678 students voted in the council election at the Islamic University. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/52402315.jpg/52402315.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=NnTKaDJU)
![An Islamic Jihad militant stands guard near a military base that was targeted in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 13, 2014. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israeli cities on Thursday in the second day of a cross-border flare-up that has drawn Israeli warnings of a tough military response. The Israeli military carried out 29 air strikes and fired tank shells at militant targets in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after the Islamic Jihad group launched](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/03/RTR3GX9B.jpg/RTR3GX9B.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=qPncv91I)
![GAZA CITY, -: Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, new Finance Minister Salam Fayad (2R) and new Sports and Youth Minister Bassem Naim (R) arrive for the first meeting of the new Palestinian unity cabinet in Gaza City, 18 March 2007. The new Palestinian government held its first cabinet meeting today, vowing to confront rampant lawlessness and end a crippling international aid freeze but facing a continued Israeli boycott. AFP PHOTO/MAHMUD HAMS (Photo credit should read MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/73624350.jpg/73624350.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=o32QkZuN)
![Fatah faction leader Mohammed Dahlan addresses the media during a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah January 15, 2006. Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved voting in Arab East Jerusalem in a January 25 Palestinian parliamentary election but said it would ban the militant Hamas group from listing its candidates on ballots there. REUTERS/Loay Abu Haykel - RTR1BTKM](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTR1BTKM.jpg/RTR1BTKM.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=mXAE5nqF)
![Suhad al-Katib, a Palestinian woman patient who suffers cancer sits inside her house after she was not allowed to enter Israel, in Gaza City February 12, 2014. Israel has denied entry permits to some 50 Palestinian medical patients from the Gaza Strip because the words "State of Palestine" appears on the letterhead of their application, officials said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST HEALTH) - RTX18O7O](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTX18O7O.jpg/RTX18O7O.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=hl2tQ2O8)
![Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) gives the letter of appointment to Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh (L) as senior Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan watches in Gaza February 15, 2007. Abbas formally asked Haniyeh of Hamas on Thursday to form a new unity government and urged him to abide by peace accords signed with Israel. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA) - RTR1MG8X](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/02/RTR1MG8X.jpg/RTR1MG8X.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=0ry1F61y)
![Members of Hamas security forces sit between posters depicting senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (L) and Qatar's Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani (R) in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip October 22, 2012. The emir of pro-Western Qatar will become the first head of state to enter the blockaded Gaza Strip on Tuesday, in a high-profile visit breaking the isolation of the Iranian-backed Islamist movement Hamas that seized power in 2007. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR39F87](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/01/RTR39F87.jpg/RTR39F87.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=3KbGf1ot)
![A Palestinian nurse tends to a baby inside an incubator in a hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 24, 2012. Israel allowed nine fuel tankers to cross into the Gaza Strip on Friday to ease a severe power shortage triggered by a dispute over supplies between Egypt and the enclave's Hamas Islamist rulers. The fuel crisis has crippled Gaza in recent weeks. Petrol pumps have run dry and its 1.7 million residents are suffering major electricity blackouts. REUTERS/ Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA -](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/01/RTR2ZSTN.jpg/RTR2ZSTN.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=uvL6lIT9)
![Palestinians step on crossed-out posters depicting late former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as they celebrate his passing in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip January 11, 2014. Sharon, the trailblazing warrior-statesman who transformed the region and was reviled by Arab foes over generations of conflict, died on Saturday at 85 eight years after suffering a massive stroke. Palestinians in Gaza were handing out sweets to passersby and motorists in celebration of Sharon's passing. REUTERS/Ibraheem](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2014/01/RTX179LO.jpg/RTX179LO.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=zH_pca03)