On the backdrop of the events
taking place in the Gaza Strip, the relative calm maintained in the West Bank throughout the fighting stands out.
Four people have been killed in the West Bank in recent days, but Palestinian Authority officials agree that these were local events which do not indicate that the residents are being recruited in favor of the Strip's residents or that an uprising or renewed intifada is expected to take place.
| Warning |
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| IDF to Gaza residents: Strikes to intensify / Hanan Greenberg and AP |
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Air Force drops leaflets in Gaza, instructing residents to stay away from terrorists |
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Youths attempting to approach the settlement areas have been pushed back forcibly by Palestinians policemen.
Palestinian crying in Gaza. 'People want to live' (Photo: AFP)
A senior Fatah member in Nablus told Ynet that, excluding local events and the regular demonstrations in Ramallah, "The West Bank is not longer burning. People here are only busy with their livelihood and have forgotten or have been caused to forget the entire national issue, the entire issue of the occupation. I myself did not bother taking part in any rally or event, and certainly didn't initiate one."
According to the man, the inter-Palestinian rift was not the only think which led to this situation. "The people's desire to live after seven or eight years of intifada has dictated the pace of events and the calm in the West Bank. It hurts, and it may be considered shameful in our terms, but this is the situation."
An independent Hamas-affiliated
council member in one of the West Bank cities managed to express the rage of a considerable part of the West Bank population over the PA's moves.
"The means taken by the PA have made it clear to people that they had better not be recruited to a serious wave of protests. They eliminated any attempt to show solidarity with the Strip and slightly ease the pressure on our brothers in the Strip," he said.
Children in West Bank. Worship solidarity in Gaza (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
The same council member said, "It's true, there are hundreds of casualties in Gaza and thousands of demolished buildings. But despite the killing, I can say for certain that they are the ones living, we are the dead ones.
"Any feeling of solidarity in us, any feeling of mutual support, has died. We are nothing, we are worthless, we are dead. In Gaza they are alive, the Gazans have respect. We are worthless."
The council member said there was a general atmosphere of sympathy in the West Bank.
"The PA's information lineup, the security measures on the ground, the political line taken by the Fatah activists on the ground conveyed to people that they should stay home. The PA controlled all the protest moves and left them supervised.
"The rift between the West Bank and Strip deepened, as the recruitment among Palestinians in Israel and the Arabs worldwide was much higher than among the Palestinians in the West Bank.
And indeed, local rallies attended by dozens of people were seen in Jerusalem following the Friday prayers. Hundreds demonstrated in Qalqilya and Ramallah.
Hamas' attempt to take advantage of the war in the Strip in order to revive the Palestinian street and put it on a line of conflict against Israel, both in order to ease the pressure on the Strip and to try and slightly undermine the PA's control, has failed.
A Ramallah commentator told Ynet, "The Fatah supporters' feeling that taking to the streets would also be used by Hamas for political purposes has taken its toll."
The commentator noted that dozens of people were arrested in a demonstration last week, but "it turned out that most of the detainees were Fatah members arrested after trying to separate between Hamas protestors and PA policemen attempting to remove Hamas flags.
"In this event, as in the demonstration in Hebron, the Hamas media said that the PA organizations were oppressing the demonstrations, and it was clear that their attempt was not only to spark a wave of sympathy for the Strip, but also to gain political points in the struggle between the PA and Hamas."
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