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The conflict between Hamas and Fatah, which seemed
to be lessening in the face of relentless Israeli pressure on the
Palestinian people, rebounded with a vengeance following a bombing on a
Gaza beach Aug. 1 that killed five members of Hamas and a young girl.
The Hamas leadership in Gaza blamed the explosion on the pro-Fatah
Hiles clan and launched an attack on the clan's stronghold in the
Sijaia suburb of Gaza city.
The Hamas assault touched off a fierce
firefight involving machine guns, mortars, and explosives. According to
a Reuters dispatch, four fighters were killed: three Hamas policemen
and one Hiles clan member. About 40 other people were reportedly
wounded.
The confrontation led to tit-for-tat arrests
of hundreds of Fatah supporters in the Hamas-controlled Gaza and Hamas
supporters in the Fatah-controlled West Bank. A grave incident was the
kidnapping in the West Bank city of Nablus of senior Hamas leader
Mohammed Ghazal by members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militia
group linked to Fatah.
The Arab news agency al-Jazeera reported Aug.
2: "One abductor, who identified himself as Abu Qusai, the head of
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus, told al-Jazeera that his group
would execute Ghazal within four hours if what he called the Hamas
attack on the Shijaia neighborhood and the Hiles family did not
stop."
The Hamas leadership announced that it would
hold Palestinian Authority President Abbas personally responsible if
al-Ghazal were harmed. He was released after being held only an hour.
Both factions seem to have backed off from
what was rapidly becoming a head-on confrontation, perhaps even a civil
war. Most of those arrested were quickly released, although dozens
remained in captivity more than a day after their arrest. Obviously,
the conflict remained explosive, even if neither side yet wanted to
assume responsibility for starting a civil war.
The depth of the conflict is indicated by
Abbas's declaration that he will dismantle the Palestinian Authority if
Israel releases high-ranking Hamas political leaders in return for the
Islamist group's freeing a young Israeli soldier it has been holding
hostage.
This statement highlights Fatah's dependence
on the Israelis and the imperialists (who have trained and armed the PA
security forces) to stave off an uprising by Hamas on the West Bank. It
is bound, however, to accelerate the political decline of Fatah, which
is increasingly seen as a stooge of Israel.
The Fatah leadership had pinned its hopes on
a deal with Israel that would give it control of a viable Palestinian
statelet. Its expectations have been frustrated, as Zionists have
continued to build settlements in the occupied territories.
Conditions grew worse for Palestinians after
the 1992 Oslo Accords rather than improving. Fatah has nothing to show
for its policy of reconciliation with Israel. It has become evident
that the Hamas proposal of a "truce" with Israel is the
relatively more realistic perspective for a compromise, as long as the
Zionist state retains its objective of building an exclusively Jewish
state in Palestine. No peace settlement is possible without either the
defeat of Israel or of the Palestinians.
In fact, Abbas' threat of dismantling the
Palestinian Authority does reflect some reality. Israel continues to
effectively occupy the West Bank without taking responsibility for it.
Moreover, the existence of pre-state formations has become an apple of
discord among the Palestine factions without offering any solutions for
the Palestinian people.
It is reasonable to suppose that many
Palestinians think that it would be better for them if their leaders
withdraw from pseudo-parliamentary institutions and try to form one
united resistance group pledged to fight Israel until it abandons the
project of building an exclusively Jewish state and accepts a framework
in which Jews and Arabs could live together on a basis of equality—a
democratic secular Palestine.
Such a united resistance organization could
also include the Arabs who live within the pre-1967 borders of Israel. It
has become clear that they consider themselves part of the Palestinian
people.
New political forms have to be found to
overcome the conflicts among warring factions. Many studies have
confirmed that these incidents have a more demoralizing effect on the
Palestinian people than anything the Israelis have been able to do.
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