Hamas' Next Move

By Tim McGirk

The photo op of Hamas leaders with a free and smiling Briton--BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, released after 114 days of Gaza captivity--is, among other things, a huge publicity coup for Hamas and its leader, Ismail Haniyeh. It allows the embattled Haniyeh to show he can deliver positive results in his new role as the top authority in the Gaza Strip and to say, with some legitimacy, that he can bring stability back to Gaza's lawless streets.

Johnston's release was won through strong-arm tactics. A senior Hamas militant told TIME that Johnston's kidnappers, the Army of Islam, were made an offer they couldn't refuse: either they let the Briton go, or they would be hunted down and killed. The group, linked to the powerful Gaza Dogmush clan and its coterie of gunrunners and criminals, had its compound surrounded by 6,000 Hamas gunmen in the 48 hours before Johnston's release.

Freeing Johnston, say Palestinian analysts, may help pave the way toward the release of another Gaza hostage, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, because the Army of Islam is among the militant groups that helped kidnap Shalit a year ago. But he would probably be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and Israeli officials must first overcome their aversion to dealing with Hamas, a group they still brand as "terrorists."

One reporter who most likely will not be there to cover a possible Shalit release is Johnston, who plans on taking a much deserved "break" from Gaza. Says Johnston: "I literally dreamt many times of being free and always woke up back in that room. And now it really is over, and it really is indescribably good."