Picking Partners
Now it's Hamas complaining that Fatah is picking on them. Well, perhaps that's too mild a phrase; rather, Hamas-affiliated individuals living in the West Bank bitterly complain that they'd be better off as prisoners of Israel, that Fatah has been arresting, imprisoning, accusing and torturing them, an affront to their common heritage and their common purpose, so awkwardly rent asunder.Just as Fatah's people are being harassed, arrested, interrogated, exposed to humiliating beatings and incidences of abuse by Hamas, in Gaza. What an incorrigibly unfortunate situation. Erstwhile allies, albeit uneasy ones, at each others' throats. Gaza-residing Fatah members campaigning against an ascendant Hamas, attempting to gather in mass protests, only to be confronted by determinedly violence-prone Hamas militias making quick work of the attempted protests.
Hamas sympathizers residing in the West Bank, taking great pains to gather food and medicines to spirit them over to their need-abandoned, Gaza-centered, Palestinian brethren desperate for assistance. To which generosity of spirit and intent, Fatah militias respond with an emphatic 'not on their watch', shutting down these charitable impulses. Clearly, no love lost on either side.
Yet the separation of Palestinians book-ending Israel represents a state-aspirational unhealthy division of people, even arguing that residents of the West Bank are marginally more temperate than those of Gaza. They are still representatives of a fairly homogeneous people, severed politically by secularism versus religion.
Worse, accommodation with the West Bank may seem feasible toward achieving peace, but leaving Gaza out of the equation results in a festering wound which, left untended, may yet kill the nascent state. Any agreements reflect temporary measures without the inclusion of Gaza, impossible as it seems at the moment.
And the reality of the situation is however much Fatah and Hamas positively loathe one another, their ingrained distrust and hatred for the Jewish presence in what once was their perceived territory (irrespective of the fact that they were never recognized as a people deserving of a state by their-then territory-administating Arab neighbours) remains the single tie that binds.
As much as Fatah swears to the U.S. and Israeli government suppliers of potently-updated weaponry that they have no intention of re-uniting with Hamas, the real world of urgent events proves otherwise. Hamas has inherited an arsenal of weaponry beyond their wildest dreams in acquiring Gaza for itself, deposing Fatah and disposing of its militia, while adopting its weapons caches so generously provided by American and Israeli 'allies'.
Furthermore, Hamas remains a bargaining trump card for Fatah negotiators with Israel. Who hint darkly of re-uniting with Hamas, should their peace and nation-building negotiations not proceed in accordance with Palestinian Authority demands. The undercurrent of threat is there; that should Israel not sufficiently concede to PA demands, Fatah reserves for itself the option of reconciling with Hamas.
It's inevitable, in any event. Since 1993 a multitude of aid packages including arms, training and funding has enriched Fatah through agreements with Israel and the United States. Sophisticated surveillance equipment and up-to-date training facilities, along with the weapons once handed over with assurances they would remain with Fatah now embolden Hamas. And the process repeats itself yet again.
So is it a phantom pledge that shimmers with promise that is currently engaging Israel in negotiations with Fatah? When, in the past, has any PLO representative ever kept his word, let alone dealt with Israel frankly and honestly, to begin with?
What other options reveal themselves other than to partner in the negotiation of hope to forestall further and ongoing violent upheavals between Israel and the PA?
You dance with the partner you came with, but there are no guarantees your partner won't dance off into the future reflective of the past with another, more attractive partner.
Back to square one. Again, again, yet again.
Labels: Middle East, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, September 23, 2007
<< Home