GAZA, 18 June 2007 — “Who is my prime minister?” The stark question posed by one despairing Gaza policeman faces all Palestinians in the coastal strip after their president swore in a new premier yesterday and his Hamas rivals still backed the old one.
President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Salam Fayyad, a Western-trained economist, to head a new Cabinet after dismissing a Hamas-led government following the Islamist group’s violent takeover of Gaza last week. Hamas, which trounced Abbas’ Fatah in elections last year and called his formation of a new government a coup, insists Ismail Haniyeh remains premier.
But the Gaza Strip’s 1.5 million residents face more than just a political dilemma since whatever choice they make, they could lose their jobs.
“Hamas wants me to go to work. Fatah says if you do you are fired. I am fired whatever I do, so what should I do?” Gaza policeman Majed asked. Majed, who gave only his first name, and tens of thousands of employees have received conflicting orders. Kamal Al-Sheikh, the Abbas loyalist police chief, issued orders from his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah for policemen in Gaza to disobey Hamas and to stay indoors.
But a Hamas-appointed Fatah police chief in Gaza ordered men to return to work. Khaled Abu Hilal, a spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior, called on security personnel “either to attend to jobs or be dismissed.”
“The homeland wants the honest people to serve its security, we call on all brave men to comeback. Whoever does not want to will be fired,” he said. Some employees in civil ministries said they have been assured payment if they stayed indoors.
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have endless questions over the creation of two authorities in Gaza and the West Bank. Many wonder how Hamas can run the affairs of Palestinians who need to go to Israel and Egypt to work, study or seek medical treatment. “Just like all Gazans I feel we are standing in the middle between Hamas and Fatah and each side is pulling us to its side,” Majed said. “The rope of Fatah and Hamas will in the end hang and kill the people of Gaza,” he added.
Israel, which Hamas does not recognize, has stopped dealings with the Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing, the Palestinians’ only window to the world through Egypt, remains closed. With Karni commercial crossing, the biggest between Gaza and Israel, still closed, Palestinians queued for bread and groceries to stockpile food bracing for long-term closures.
Taxi drivers and ordinary Palestinians queued for fuel. “Gaza is damned,” said taxi driver Ali Saleh, 37. “The Americans, the Israelis, Europeans, Arabs and some Palestinians want Gazans to be slaves or collaborators.”
Saleh said Abbas’ sacking of the Hamas-led government gave the world a green light to “starve our people here to death.” But Marwan Ahmed, a government employee, pointed the finger at Hamas after its violent takeover of Gaza.
“You do not take over security headquarters alone, you take responsibility for feeding the people too,” he said. Over 100 Palestinians were killed in six days of factional fighting in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza streets were empty of any Fatah security forces, including those who usually organize traffic police. Instead, members of a Hamas-led force were seen on traffic duty.
Most of the regular police remained indoors, apparently fearing for their jobs. “Hopefully within a week, the police force will be ready,” the newly Hamas-appointed Fatah police chief, Tawfiq Jaber, told reporters. “We need to maintain the security of this place.”
Jaber said hundreds of Fatah-loyalist policemen had started to return to work Police officer Hisham Omar, 32, said he returned to his job aware of the threats to cut his salary. “If they cut my salary, I am sure Hamas will find a way to pay us,” he said.
Many Palestinians questioned the wisdom of actions by both Hamas and Fatah. “I think we would be better off without both of them in office,” said a taxi driver, who gave his name as Mohammad.
