Palestine will, seemingly, have to face two types of confrontations in the near future. One, the fight between ultra Zionists and the Israeli government. The other is the fight among Palestinian factions.
The international media has already been carrying reports of daily clashes between the extremist Jews and the government forces. On the other hand, the Arab media is reticent about the impending clashes among Palestinians. It is because either the Arab media fears public criticism or is optimistic that the Palestinians would stop their internal bickering for the common good of all. The indications, however, are in the opposite direction.
In a TV talk show a few days ago a Hamas spokesman was asked if his party was the first to shatter the peaceful atmosphere in Palestine lately. The question was quite innocent and perfectly within the context of the discussion. The Hamas representative’s response, however, was an intimidating shout with the warning that the Arab media should not behave like the Israeli media and the reporter, a female, should not have asked such questions. The anchor did not ask any more questions letting the Hamas man tell what he wanted.
There are several resistance groups in Palestine. They include Al-Fatah with its offshoots, leftist and rightist organizations and the Islamist organizations, Hamas and Jihad. One may wonder why the major Islamist groups Hamas and Jihad do not merge into one organization as they both are founded on the same Islamic principles. They remain separate entities because they are political parties whose sole goal is attaining political power. The religious color is added to the political goal just to attract the public.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization and the majority of the Palestinian public have democratically chosen Mahmoud Abbas as their president. He enjoys the people’s support because they believe that he is capable of settling the Palestinian issue in a peaceful manner at this juncture of time.
The major world powers also wish to bring to an end the cycle of violence in the region. Israel is willing to negotiate because it is also under mounting international and local pressure. The meetings and negotiations for peace, apparently, need an atmosphere of truce and cease-fire between the contending parties.
The Palestinian issue is basically an Arab issue involving grave violations of human and political rights. The Palestinian suffering is unparalleled in history. The brutal treatment they receive is more painful than the Nazi savagery on the European Jews or the Serb suppression of the Bosnian Muslims. The suffering of the European Jews and Muslims ended after a specific period of time because of the intervention of great powers. But the world powers do not come forward to settle the Palestinian issue.
The situation in Palestine demands that Arabs draw a line between their emotional reaction to the suffering of fellow Arabs and recognition of the ground realities. This is the only way to achieve peace. One should also understand that putting obstacles on the road to peaceful solutions would only give excuses for Israel to perpetuate occupation and violence.
The Palestine Authority and Hamas maintain contradictory views on how to approach the issue. Mahmoud Abbas believes that it should be addressed through negotiations with strong international backing. A vast number of Palestinians share his view. He also intends to hold general elections in a few months so that the people get an opportunity to decide who should or how to solve their problems. On the other side, the Israeli government will have a tough time handling the Jewish protesters until the pullout from Gaza was completed. The suicide attacks from the Palestinians, who may not agree with the peaceful efforts of the PA, will, undoubtedly, strengthen the hands of the Israeli hard-liners and delay the Israeli pullout. This will also dissipate the international sympathy for the Palestinian cause, which began to well up as a result of the willingness of the Palestinians to agree to international demands. The positive Palestinian stand also prompted the US to withdraw its objections to G-8 countries’ offer of $3 billion aid to the Palestinians.
On the contrary the Hamas insists that the Israelis are forced to withdraw from the Palestinian territories. Neither the Hamas nor the Islamic Jihad approves a negotiated peace with Israel.
It is high time that the Hamas accepted the ground realities. It should not make any mistakes. The past mistakes of the Palestinian leaders, both in the domestic and external fronts, have proved to be very costly. It is also time to put an end to the differences among the Palestinian groups on programs to promote peace.
Any new bloody encounter in the Gaza streets and West Bank towns will only play into the hands of the Israeli hard-liners. Enough Palestinian blood has already been shed. It is time to stop anyone, Israeli or Palestinian, profiteering from this blood.
