The events at Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border in the past two days where first Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was stopped by the Israelis from returning home with $35 million in cash and was then caught up in a blazing gun battle between his own Hamas forces and those of his rival Fatah are profoundly shocking.
Violence between Hamas and Fatah has been ongoing ever since Hamas won the Palestinian elections in January but it has been contained. Fears that it would degenerate into civil war failed, thankfully, to materialize. But it can no longer be assumed that is not going to happen. Following the collapse of last month’s efforts to form a Palestinian unity government, the murder last Monday of the three sons of a Fatah security chief, which Fatah has blamed on Hamas and which stirred up massive Palestinian public outrage, and then Wednesday’s subsequent killing of a Hamas judge-cum-local-military-official, which Hamas accused Fatah of carrying out as a reprisal, it was frighteningly clear that tempers were on the boil and the chasm between the two wider than ever. The Rafah battle makes matters infinitely worse. Not only was Haniyeh himself involved (and his son wounded) but Hamas has effectively thrown down the gauntlet by saying it was an assassination attempt by Fatah, even claiming that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in part responsible.
This is a frightening and dangerous allegation, for which there is no evidence whatsoever. (On the contrary, reports suggest that Hamas started the affray by trying to blast their way across the border, which then triggered a response from Fatah-loyalist border guards.) It is frightening because it indicates the present extent of Hamas’ hostility to Fatah and of President Abbas himself and dangerous because it invites retaliation. The Palestinians are now faced with the reality that their president is, as a result, potentially more threatened by Hamas than by the the Israelis.
They cannot afford a conflict like this. Political infighting that has descended to the level of Mafia gang warfare will, if unstopped, have catastrophic consequences. How long before it progresses to car bombs being used to kill indiscriminately on Gaza streets, before Palestinian rockets are turned on Palestinian targets, before suicide bombers start to target Palestinian officials? What little there is of Palestine is getting as close to civil war as Iraq. Who benefits? Not the Palestinians. It is the Israelis who will be delighted — who are delighted — with the present situation that allows them to sit on their hands and make no concessions. But what use it is if the world blames Israel for triggering it all? The Palestinians will still be doing their deadly work for them, killing each other — and suffering even more.
The hope must be that the events at Rafah will shock them into a new sense of urgency and unity. A house divided cannot stand. That must not be the Palestinians’ future. The world pays scant attention to their plight as it is; they will pay even less if they are at each other’s throat. Rafah must be a wake-up call to action.
