That Hamas has declared its determination to double its armed forces to 12,000 men, just hours after President Mahmoud Abbas declared such a move illegal, shows the polarization between the two groups. The polarization is also holding up any significant progress in inter-Palestinian relations and in the overall peace process. The essence of the dispute is in the desire for control of the Palestinian security forces. Whoever controls them has that much more power over all other Palestinian institutions. And this particular dispute is just one more between Fatah and Hamas in what has become a long list of differences.
Apparently, Hamas seeks to catch up with Fatah forces which are already three times its size; the Fatah forces will probably increase even more following the US administration’s announcement of over $86 million to provide security forces loyal to Abbas. Washington has said the money would go to establish law and order but with Hamas increasing its numbers, the aid could result in a conflagration instead.
Previous attempts by Abbas to disband the Hamas militia or integrate it into existing security units have failed; nonetheless, he must continue to demand that they integrate into existing security structures. Even though Hamas is the current ruling Palestinian authority, there would be bedlam if its forces were allowed to run amok. Similarly, it is increasingly clear that Ismail Haniyeh, although prime minister, does not always have operational control over all the Hamas militias just as Abbas cannot always control Fatah security forces. It is frightening that armed militias cannot be controlled by the factions with which they are affiliated. It is also terrifying that those fully armed militias are allowed to roam the streets; they obey orders from no commander, take potshots at each other. kidnap officials, raid houses and shoot entire families. This last occurred recently when Hamas gunmen stormed the house of a senior pro-Fatah security commander.
Haniyeh has called for Palestinian guns to be aimed at Israelis, not other Palestinians. Well said since the fight is not internal but against the occupiers. All Palestinian resources should be aimed, not at each other but at the struggle to regain stolen land. The Peace Now movement recently stated that 40 percent of Jewish settlements in the West Bank are built on that stolen land. Peace Now accuses the government of building settlements on privately owned Palestinian land that has been “effectively stolen”.
It is always comforting to see Haniyeh and Abbas seated next to each other as they were last week. Such encounters mean that, at the very least, the two men who had previously not met for two months are talking. But their policy positions and those of their groups are becoming so inflexible that all the talking in the world will not resolve them. Their differences on the recognition of Israel, a unity government, early parliamentary and presidential elections and now armed Palestinian forces, are pushing the two further and further apart.
