The Rapprochement between Hamas and Iran: A Necessity or an Option

This essay is an attempt to understand the relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran which is a major regional state of growing international and regional influence at the political, economic and military levels, and an Islamic resistance movement new to politics and its machinations - the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). The essay focuses on the rapprochement between both parties, especially after the rise of Hamas to power in Palestine, and the subsequent accelerated events that had an impact on the relationship, notably the "Arab Spring" and the transformations that have taken place on the regional scene, especially after the "revolutions" in the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Syrian Arab Republic. It should be noted that as a result of the acceleration of events in the Middle East, as well as the time limitations of the study, it was difficult to get a hold of all the interlocked strings of the relationship between both parties. This would require a thorough study more extensive than this manuscript. The essay was drafted in the first place as a thesis to obtain a Master in international relations from Ibrahim Abu Lughod Institute of International Studies at Birzeit  University, under the supervision of Dr. Roger Hickok.