Killing the dream
Hamas-Fatah rivalry killing dream of secular, democratic Palestinian state
“Khaled Mashaal is a liar. I’m saying it, and many Arab leaders have said it. Hamas’ people lie as easily as they breathe, and enlist religion in order to justify the lies. Any meeting between Fatah and Hamas is treason. That organization was established with Israel’s help in order to constitute an alternative to the PLO.”
The speaker who uttered the words above is not an Israeli or American leader. I heard these harsh words in an interview with senior Fatah figure Azzam al-Ahmad about a week.
Yet Hamas did not remain silent. The organization’s political bureau member in Damascus Mohammed Nazal told me in response: “Apparently, the stupid Azzam was very drunk at the time he spoke. These rude words do not reflect reality, and we, unlike Fatah, do not get our orders from Condoleezza Rice or the Zionists.”
More than anything, this mudslinging between the senior figures of the two leading Palestinian movements shows that the Palestinian public discourse has reached a point of no return – the schism between the movements has become a done deal, and all the talk about attempts to mend the rift is nothing but empty words.
It is difficult for me to be a Palestinian-Arab these days, because I’m simply ashamed. The conduct of my people in the “liberated” Gaza Strip and in the occupied West Bank does not leave room for any doubt: The dream of establishing a democratic and secular Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel is dissipating. My people is the only one in the world that has no state and, thank God, two governments.
I monitor developments in the Gaza state ruled by Hamas and the West Bank state ruled by Fatah, and I find it difficult to believe what I see. The mysterious explosion on the Gaza beach last weekend, which killed six Hamas activists and a baby girl, exposed the truth: Even before the dead were buried, Hamas spokesmen were quick to blame Fatah for the act, while Abbas’ advisor openly announced that the event was a result of internal Hamas conflicts.
Where is the silent majority?
From words, they shifted to actions: More than 200 Fatah men were detained in the Strip by Hamas’ security forces, while a similar number of Hamas activists were detained by Abbas’ forces in the West Bank, and they’re still going. Perhaps they’re preparing a prisoner exchange deal before the swap for Israeli captive Gilad Shalit.What’s the problem with that? We’ve become a “hot item” in the Israeli press and in the media worldwide. Public opinion, which tends to go against us anyway, has now been granted a backwind and is justifiably asking: How can such a split nation establish a state? If they behave this way towards each other, how will they behave to their enemies?
Those who have been following the all-out war between the two rival factions may think that the Israeli occupation has ended. But the question is: What about the silent majority? Why don’t we see an outcry against the gang leaders, who are managing affairs in a way that would not shame the Italian mafia?
Did the Palestinian people also join other Arab nations, who are currently in the intensive care ward and maintaining the silence of the lambs, even though the dictators abuse them?
In the not so distant past I believed that replacing the leadership will bring about quiet and peace will move closer. Today I can say with certainty that I was wrong. Perhaps we need to replace the people.
Zohir Andreus is CEO of the Israeli Arab newspaper Ma-Alhadath
