National Disunity: The Loss of Palestine's Hope in its Government

The title of this post barely describes the despair and distrust that many Palestinians now have for the main political parties, Hamas and Fatah. This wave of conflict in Gaza that has just fired up was started by Fatah's targeting of Hamas members and politicians, along with their compliance and collaboration with Israeli soldiers in kidnapping such politicians and other innocent people that may have entered in the way of these soldiers. But now, Israel seems to only watch the conflagration that is firing up in both Gaza and the West Bank, definitely benefitting from this new discord and discontent.

Personally, I am disappointed and disgusted that both parties sink to such a new low, and it looks like that they're not going to recover. Hamas responds to the attack on PM Haniya by killing Fatah members in the street and throwing them off the tops of buildings, while Fatah joins this bashfest and does the same. Fatah and Hamas make it worse by fighting each other in the open, and in the midst of all this, innocents and homes are being killed and demolished. And now, pResident Abbas, probably the smuggest scumbag of Fatah, dissolves the "Unity Government" and declares a state of emergency as Hamas tightens its grip on Gaza (1, 2), and all the while the neocons in the U.S. government, and surely Israel's Knesset, affirm their support for the so-called "moderates" of Fatah (3). The reeking stench of Fatah's corruption and dominance is all too evident in the West Bank, while Hamas has control of the Gaza Strip (4).

Even then, the Palestinian Unity Government was doomed from the start. According to Al Jazeera (2), the Palestinian fighting forces in this civil conflict are composed of several departments, of which the departments are divided in as sectarian a fashion as possible:

Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades:
- Armed wing of Hamas
- Estimated 15,000 members
-Well armed

Executive Force:
- Security force set up by Hamas in 2006
- Estimated 6,000 personnel
- Mainly drawn from armed wing of Hamas

Presidential Guards:
- Majority loyal to Fatah
- Up to 5,000 personnel
- Best equipped and trained security force
- US gave $43m to help restructure force

National Security Forces:
- Under direct command of president
- Includes military intelligence, naval police and Elite Force 17
- Up to 30,000 personnel

Police and Preventive Security:
- Under Hamas-led interior ministry
- Dominated by Fatah loyalists
- Estimated 30,000 personnel

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades:
- Offshoot of Fatah faction
- Several thousand members
- Many work for the security services

Impressive. That means at least 86,000 personnel vying for control of whatever is left of the Palestinian "Unity Government". Fatah might get some more loyalists smuggled into Gaza from Egypt, or some more loyalists trained in Egypt and sent in from there (5). Fatah might be able to gain control of Gaza if Hamas doesn't assign part of its forces to the Gaza-Egypt border, and I'm pretty sure that this is plausible since Egypt is both an ally of the U.S. and Israel, thereby ensuring that Hamas might stay clear from that border.

Shoving my pessimistic speculation aside for a while, let's turn back to the present and what is happening in Gaza. The situation infuriates my every nerve, and the Hamas that I thought might be able to stay calm in the face of the joint Fatah-Israeli-American intimidation proved to be as bad as those who are running against them and seeking to dismantle, destroy, obliterate, (insert word that would lead to Hamas's stripping of power or ultimate demise) the party we know as Hamas. I'm pretty sure that much of you know about the attack on the Gaza Hospital (6); that was definitely utterly despicable. One medical official described the assault on the hospital as such:

Bullets are being fired into patients' wards and the fighters have told doctors the only way they are going to be allowed to leave is if they are killed. The situation is bad and it's impossible to talk to the factions at the moment.

Worse still, the checkpoints and blockades imposed by the fighting factions have been restricting food and medical supplies from reaching their intended destinations.

And if that wasn't enough, 36 dead and 250 wounded... all on June 12, 2007 (7). Electronic Intifada and the Palestinian Commission of Human Rights both expressed their concern over this grave situation:

Armed clashes have erupted between militants from both movements in various areas in the Gaza Strip, especially in Gaza City and the north. Hundreds of militants have deployed in the streets, some of them are in military uniforms, others are in militia uniforms, and some of them are masked. They have closed dozens of the main and branch roads. Militants from the two sides have taken positions in civilian populated areas and exchanged fire. They have also seized control over a number of high apartment buildings using them as bases for shooting. The two movements have carried out mutual kidnappings, some of which ended with killing the hostages.

The two sides have blatantly demonstrated disregard for the lives of civilians, who have stayed at homes voluntarily out of concern for their lives. The educational process has been paralyzed, and the two sides have not listened to calls to provide an appropriate atmosphere for students of the General Certificate of Education to attend their final exams. Additionally, a number of houses and public buildings have been burnt. PCHR has received information that ambulances have not been able to reach areas of clashes on time to evacuate the wounded, and a number of ambulances have been seized. Some medical personnel have not been able to reach hospitals and medical centers to carry out their humanitarian duties. Moreover, UNRWA has declared the closure of four medical centers due to the tense situation around them. These actions violate the principles of international humanitarian law, especially those relevant to the protection of civilians, which raises deep concerns, especially as such violations were recorded in previous clashes too.

What sickens me further is that as the names of the deceased were called out, it became clear that many of those who died were middle-aged or young people in their early 20's, and a number of civilians were killed or wounded. However, property damage was widespread and evident, and this makes the fighting factions as bad as the Israeli occupation, only this time the factions are in control.

Amidst the bullets, rockets, and fire, there is some hope; that is, there are people who realize that these 2 factions are fighting over squat and are hindering any efforts towards real progress. Two wrongs indeed don't make a right, as PCHR kept this in mind in the following demands:

PCHR reiterates condemnation for the bloody internal fighting between Fatah and Hamas movements, and:

1. Calls upon the Palestinian President and Government to fulfill their responsibilities, and to take immediate steps to restore order and security, and to protect civilians from the effects of these disgraceful clashes.

2. Calls for a serious investigation into all these incidents, and for the prosecution of the perpetrators regardless of their identity.

3. Holds the two movements fully responsible for any damage to the educational process, warns of the consequences of the continuation of fighting on students of the General Certificate of Education, and stresses that there is no justification to sacrifice the educational process and push students into disgraceful fighting and a conflict over authority.

4. Calls for the withdrawal of all forms of militancy from streets, intersections, and residential buildings, including members of security forces and militias, as continued militant presence threatens the lives of innocent civilians.

5. Calls upon all political factions and NGOs to act to stop this disgraceful conflict over authority, whose price is paid by the Palestinian people and their cause.

6. Reminds that this fighting comes on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; instead of joining efforts to confront the Israeli occupation and realize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, the two main Palestinian factions are involved in regrettable fighting that can be described as self-destruction.

And I fully back these demands, along with the complete disbandment of both Palestinian factions, and the formation of a government of the people, for the people and by the people of Palestine, regardless of their former factional alliances, which I believe they should all renounce as I have done years ago.

But what do you think? Will this fighting continue and lead to the demise of one or both factions? Will it lead to Fatah's suckups winning and signing a deal with Israel that ensures Israeli interests are maintained over Palestinian interests, or will Hamas take control and promote justification for an all-out Israeli-American effort to occupy the West Bank and the Gaza Strip? Or will this become the new status quo, and pervade into the next few decades? Also, might it lead to a three state solution, with Hamasistan in Gaza, Fatah-land in the West Bank, and Israel takes whatever is left including maintaining control over the West Bank via Fatah's goons? If it does, I don't see any hope for a survivable West Bank and Gaza Strip, and all the while, this serves the interests of those who oppose Palestine, including the factions themselves, who have proven to be nothing but gangs vying for control of a pseudo-government under the eventual authority of the Israeli Knesset. Then again, I'm open to suggestions.

Salaam, from Saracen