Israel's Gaza onslaught boosts Islamists' popularity »

"Opposition in the Arab world has become led by Islamist movements... Public opinion is led by these movements," at the expense of Arab nationalists and liberal oppositions who are losing ground."

Meanwhile, "the gap between Arab regimes and their people is being widened all the time," Rashwan added.

Abdul Aziz al-Sager, head of the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre (GRC), agreed that Islamists are reaping a windfall of popularity from the Gaza war.

"Injustice serves the Islamist movements, putting them in the vanguard through their support for jihad" or holy war, in the Arab world, he told AFP.

"What Israel is doing in Gaza is strengthening Hamas" in terms of gaining the backing of the public opinion for the movement, although "part of this opinion still notices a lack of political maturity of this movement," Sager said.

"In wanting to wipe out the resistance, you have created a resistance inside every household," Hamas's exiled political chief, Khaled Meshaal, told Israeli leaders in a speech on Saturday.

"As Israel strikes Hamas to weaken it, this movement is becoming stronger among the Palestinians and Arabs, mainly as it has proven to be the only one to stand up to Israel, following the example of Hezbollah in Lebanon," Bahraini activist Ali Fakhrou told AFP.

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