Hamas Entrenched in Gaza After 5 Years of Rule In five years of rule in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has established a functioning, authoritarian mini-state with a strong Islamic flavor, so firmly in control that nothing short of an unlikely Israeli military takeover seems capable of dislodging the militants. The Islamists of Palestine were once respected as a supposedly honest alternative to corrupt secular rivals, the Western-backed Fatah group led by the late Yasser Arafat. But that luster has mostly been lost as miserable Gaza becomes even poorer and more aid-dependent. The corruption of the Fatah days is perceived to have persisted into Hamas' rule, as Audis, Porsches and Hummers are driven around potholed streets by a newly wealthy class of black market traders who benefit from the regime. For those inclined to fight Israel, even that appeal was lost as Hamas has mostly stuck to a truce in recent years. On the streets of Gaza, bitterness seems prevalent. "I am not saying Fatah was better, but when I voted for Hamas I voted for change," said Fahmi Khamis, 42, a vendor who sells made-in-China household goods in Gaza City's outdoor market. This did not happen. Instead, we lost a lot. Palestinian security police officers secure the main beach as people bathe in the Mediterranean sea in Gaza City, Friday, June 22, 2012. In five years, the Islamist group Hamas has established a functioning but authoritarian and highly entrenched statelet with a strong Islamic flavor in Gaza. Having come to power as a "clean" alternative to corrupt secular rivals, the Palestinian Islamists have lost much of that luster among Gazans who are even poorer and even more despondent now. It's an embarrassment for their parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood, as it vies for power in a tense electoral standoff in neighboring Egypt. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) Close This month marks five years since Hamas violently seized Gaza in a brief civil war - a year after winning 2006 parliamentary elections and following an effort at joint rule with Fatah. The anniversary comes at a tense moment in the region. Its parent group, the Muslim Brotherhood, is locked in a struggle for power in neighboring Egypt. Results from last weekend's close presidential vote are expected at any moment and there is widespread fear of renewed violence if the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi is not declared the winner. Are there lessons to be learned here about what would follow in Egypt should Islamists ultimately come to power there? The inclination to seek them is natural enough: Hamas became the first branch of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood to get a chance to govern. But the differences are considerable between huge, proudly independent Egypt and tiny Gaza, with its narrative of victimization, struggles with Israel and split from the still Fatah-ruled West Bank. And for fellow Islamists on the rise - not just in Egypt but in Tunisia, Libya and other countries transformed by the Arab Spring - the Hamas experiment in Gaza seems mostly an embarrassment. "If they (Islamic movements) look at Hamas, it's as a negative model of what happens if you win elections too quickly and face unfavorable international conditions," said Nathan Brown of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From the moment Hamas seized Gaza from Arafat's successor, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel and Egypt sealed the territory's borders and much of the world boycotted the Islamists for refusing to renounce violence and recognize Israel. The economy hobbled along, relying on blockade-evading smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border, support from a U.N. aid agency that serves two-thirds of the population, Iranian largesse and continued salary transfers from the Abbas government in the West Bank for tens of thousands of pro-Fatah civil servants who were paid not to work for Hamas.