![Palestinian militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) stand with their weapons at a demonstration during a military graduation ceremony in front of the media in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 13, 2013. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR3EX78](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/09/PFLP.jpg/PFLP.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=DoBfCJHc)
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
![Palestinian militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) stand with their weapons at a demonstration during a military graduation ceremony in front of the media in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 13, 2013. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR3EX78](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/09/PFLP.jpg/PFLP.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=DoBfCJHc)
![Islamic Jihad militants take part in the funeral of their comrade Mahmoud Shaath in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip November 28, 2012. Shaath died on Wednesday from a wound he suffered from an Israeli air strike during an eight-day conflict, Palestinian medics said. Eight days of Israeli air strikes on Gaza and cross-border Palestinian rocket attacks ended in an Egyptian-brokered truce agreement a week ago that called on Israel to ease restrictions on the territory. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZ](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/09/Islamic%20Jihad.jpg/Islamic%20Jihad.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=4M931ndz)
![Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (C) holds hands with Palestinian prisoners who were released from Israeli prisons during celebrations in the West Bank city of Ramallah early August 14, 2013. Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners on Wednesday to keep U.S.-sponsored peacemaking on course for a second round of talks, but diplomacy was dogged by Israeli plans for more Jewish homes on occupied land the Palestinians claim for a future state. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags: POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF T](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/08/RTX12KYS.jpg/RTX12KYS.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=2aUjTZvE)
![A Palestinian salesperson holds Apple's new iPhone 5 at a mobile phone store in Gaza City October 16, 2012. Apple's new iPhone 5 is selling well in the Gaza Strip despite inflated prices, reaching the Palestinian enclave via smuggling tunnels even before high-tech hub Israel next door. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS SOCIETY TELECOMS) - RTR3970R](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/08/RTR3970R.jpg/RTR3970R.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=nUoGNBz6)
![Palestinians hold up posters of prisoners during a protest calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails near the Red Cross in Gaza City July 29, 2013. Israel's cabinet on Sunday approved the release of 104 Arab prisoners to help restart peace talks with the Palestinians and end nearly three years of diplomatic stagnation.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded the release of prisoners held since before a 1993 interim peace accord took effect. Israel has jailed thousands more](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/07/Hamas.jpg/Hamas.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=1xGKSsMg)
![A Palestinian man recites the Koran as another man takes a nap at al-Omari mosque in Gaza City, during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan July 10, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: RELIGION) - RTX11ILF](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/07/RTX11ILF.jpg/RTX11ILF.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=kComebQi)
![Palestinians celebrate in the streets in Gaza City after Islamist Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood (depicted in poster) was declared Egypt's first democratic president June 24, 2012. Morsy's win was hailed by Hamas, the Islamist group governing Gaza and which is locked in a power-struggle with the West Bank-based, U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS) - RTR343GV](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/07/Gaza-Morsi.jpg/Gaza-Morsi.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=bQhfvHk_)
![A Palestinian works inside a smuggling tunnel flooded by Egyptian forces, beneath the Egyptian-Gaza border in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip February 19, 2013. Egypt will not tolerate a two-way flow of smuggled arms with the Gaza Strip that is destabilising its Sinai peninsula, a senior aide to its Islamist president said, explaining why Egyptian forces flooded sub-border tunnels last week. To match Interview PALESTINIANS TUNNELS/EGYPT/ REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNRES](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/07/RTR3DZI6.jpg/RTR3DZI6.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=aWyY85yU)
![A member of Hamas security forces stands guard in front of the closed gate of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip May 17, 2013. Egyptian policemen blocked the crossing into the Gaza Strip on Friday to protest against the kidnapping of Egyptian security forces in the Sinai, witnesses and sources said.
REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS) - RTXZQ8D](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/07/1-RTXZQ8D.jpg/1-RTXZQ8D.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=Ur4Iv2Ce)
![Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal uses his mobile phone in his office in Doha November 29, 2012. Meshaal said the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state won by his rival Mahmoud Abbas should be seen alongside Gaza's latest conflict with Israel as a single, bold strategy that could empower all Palestinians. Meshaal said the short war which claimed 162 Palestinian lives and five Israelis was concluded on terms set by the Palestinian Islamist movement and ended its isolation, creating a new mood that](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/07/MeshaalDoha.jpg/MeshaalDoha.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=cKBOUbkg)
![Young Palestinians take part in a military-style exercise during a summer camp organized by Hamas in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip June 13, 2013. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa (GAZA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) - RTX10MNR](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/06/Hamas%20camp.jpg/Hamas%20camp.jpg?h=930a6ae7&itok=AGgGxiEb)
![Lebanon's Hezbollah supporters wave Palestinian and Hezbollah flags during a demonstration, organised by Lebanese and Palestinian factions, against Israel's military operation in Gaza, in front of the U.N. headquarters in Beirut November 17, 2012. Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza on Saturday, including the prime minister's office, after Israel's cabinet authorised the mobilisation of up to 75,000 reservists, preparing for a possible ground invasion. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi (LEBANON - T](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2013/06/RTR3AINW.jpg/RTR3AINW.jpg?h=2d235432&itok=7gFdqym7)