In Focus: Gaza disaster Regardless of the pressures bearing down upon them, there can be no excuse for violent Palestinian infighting, writes Galal Nassar Exactly when one thought that things couldn't get worse, they did. Once again, Hamas and Fatah are locked in battle in Gaza's streets. Once again, they are unable to share or rotate power. President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh seem incapable of coordinating or formulating a common policy. And the schism is just as wide between those Palestinians living at home and those living abroad. Some factions seem close to Iran, others to Syria, and others again to Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Jordan. As the siege continues on the Palestinians, financial corruption and administrative ineptitude are making things worse for a people who can no longer find food, housing and medical care. As if this wasn't enough, Israel is still building its separation wall, digging tunnels under Al-Aqsa Mosque, and manning roadblocks everywhere. US double-dealing, Arab duplicity, European wavering and international apathy are as horrifying as ever. So what do the Palestinians do? They squabble. Some officials within Fatah have become radical in their approach to the problem, coordinating in broad daylight with Israel and the West. The Islamists, not to be outdone, are desperately bullying everyone to stay in power. For a while, Hamas tried to stand up to domestic and foreign threats. For a while, it tried to implement some of its election promises. But eventually, it gave up. The ray of hope that came with the Mecca Agreement has suddenly dimmed. The government of national unity is unlikely to survive the resignation of the interior minister. One cannot help but wonder if it is already too late. The first thing the Palestinians should do is to place all the security services under one command, that of the interior minister. Gunmen should be pulled off the streets and weapons must be brought under control. Once this is done, independent public figures should form a higher political council and begin coordinating among various factions. A similar measure was tried, successfully, during the Intifada. The financial and administrative blockade on the Palestinians is making things worse and it must end. Arab regimes and the international community should start helping the Palestinians. And international civil society should provide food and medicine to the besieged nation. All interference in the domestic affairs of the Palestinians should end. In the long term, the Palestinian people, not the factions, should decide what is best for the nation. The Palestinian people finance the factions and provide them with men and materiel. So who gave the factions the right to turn against the people? There was a time when Yasser Arafat said that the Palestinians should be masters of their destiny. Arafat said that to get Gamal Abdel-Nasser out of Palestinian affairs. That same slogan is valid today, but it should apply to all those who want to manipulate the Palestinian issue: the Americans and Israelis, the Gulf states and Iran, to mention just a few. Things have become so messy in Palestine that one finds it hard to tell who's supporting whom. One finds it hard to tell the difference between the Palestinian agenda and the American one. Everyone has something to tell the Palestinians. And everyone has a friend who is somebody else's foe. The moderate Arabs, Gulf states, the Israelis, the Iranians, everyone has friends in Palestine today. The most immediate task is to reconstruct the Palestine Liberation Organisation on a democratic basis. The Palestinians need a platform for everyone to speak their mind and contribute to policymaking on an equal footing. But before getting into that, the rival factions should rethink their ways, and perhaps show some contrition. At this point, reconciliation assumes a measure of remorse on the part of everyone involved. Without reconciliation, the Palestinians have no hope of putting anything right, neither their institutions nor their policies. Without reconciliation, liberation and development will remain distant goals. The Palestinians, especially Hamas, should rethink their ways. Before coming to power, Hamas had made achievements in social work and education. This is the kind of thing Hamas can boast of, not its days in power. The Palestinians should renounce infighting, for all guns should be directed towards the common enemy. Meanwhile, the secularists must tone down their rhetoric and spend more time listening to their people. Fatah and Hamas must acknowledge that what they have in common exceeds that which links them to any other party. It is time that we see the Palestinians united in action, rather than in a mock government. It is time that we see the Palestinians fly their national flag higher than factional banners.
