(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121023-qatar-gaza-315a.photoblog600.jpg)Mohammed Abed / Pool via ReutersHamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh welcomes the Emir of Qatar Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, right, to Gaza at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Oct. 23.By NBC News staff and wire servicesUpdated 4:10 p.m. ET -- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The emir of Qatar embraced the Hamas leadership of Gaza on Tuesday with an official visit that broke the isolation of the Palestinian Islamist movement, to the dismay of Israel and rival, Western-backed Palestinian leaders.
Israel said it was "astounding" that Qatar, a U.S.-allied Gulf state whose oil and gas permit it to punch way above its diplomatic weight, would take sides in the Palestinian dispute and endorse Hamas, branded as terrorists in the West. The emir had "thrown peace under the bus," an Israeli spokesman said.
But some analysts saw a daring move, aimed at rehabilitating Hamas in Western eyes in order to coax it into the peace camp at a time of Arab Spring revolts and civil war in Syria, have been reshaping power balances across the Middle East.
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