Independent-13/06/2007

TBC, (Independent)

"Gaza spirals further into the abyss. Yet another truce between the territory's rival groupings collapsed yesterday as Hamas militias launched a seemingly co-ordinated attack on Fatah positions; Fatah forces retaliated by attempting to seize a Hamas-run television station.

At least 16 people have been killed in clashes this week, and the struggle seems to be growing less restrained. There have been reports of people executed on the streets, others thrown from rooftops. Even hospitals have become battlegrounds. Yesterday, a senior member of a Fatah-linked militia was shot 41 times while recovering in a ward in Beit Hanoun.

The political temperature is rising rapidly. The Gaza homes of the Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and his Hamas counterpart, Ismail Haniya, have been attacked in apparent assassination attempts. President Abbas has accused Hamas of attempting to mount a coup. Hamas has labelled Fatah forces "Zionist collaborators". The so-called unity government between Hamas and Fatah, formed three months ago in Mecca, now looks anything but.

While the conflict rages in this overcrowded territory, the blame is spread more widely. The outside world, too, bears a good deal of responsibility. The financial boycott imposed on the Palestinian Authority by the United States and the European Union has reduced the people of Gaza to desperation. Unemployment is through the roof and more than one-third of the population rely on United Nations food aid to survive. Israel's border closures and punitive travel restrictions have compounded this atmosphere of hopelessness.

Hundreds are leaving the territory every month, many of them skilled professionals that Gaza can ill afford to lose. The EU's External Relations Commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, merely stated the obvious yesterday when she warned of the risk of civil war in Gaza. But she omitted to acknowledge that starving the PA of funds has helped bring about this disaster.

The failure of the international community to engage with the Fatah and Hamas government has also contributed to the crisis. If the outside world had responded positively when the coalition was formed, the situation now could have been very different. This might have kicked off a new round of negotiations with Israel. Instead, the United States chose the disastrous policy of building up President Abbas's security forces in opposition to Hamas' militia. This has merely fed the flames of the deadly rivalry.

Yet what we are witnessing in Gaza is the culmination of a long-standing internal power struggle. Egyptian mediators say the rival factions appear uninterested in talks. Neither turned up to a meeting to discuss another truce yesterday. Both Fatah and Hamas must, therefore, bear the ultimate responsibility for the violence. There is a strong sense that Fatah still refuses to accept the results of last January's election, in which Hamas won a majority of parliamentary seats. And Hamas still seems to believe that it can crush opposition through violence rather than negotiation. It has not accepted the responsibilities that political power brings.

Both factions should be engaged in drumming up international support and funds for the Palestinian people. Instead, they are trying to wipe each other out. The longer this violence and instability goes on, the more damaging will be the consequences for Gazans and the wider Palestinian population. Hamas and Fatah evidently need to be reminded that they are in power to serve not their own interests but those of the Palestinian people."

 

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