Factional and other intrigues stand in the way of Gaza's recovery, assesses Saleh Al-Naami Only a week after commencing its war on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Israel stated clearly that one of the most significant standards for measuring its success would be barring the Hamas government from playing any role in the reconstruction process. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni stated at the time that should Israel allow Hamas to play such a role, the war would end in political failure, the continuation of Hamas rule would be ensured, and the tie between Gazans and Hamas rule would be strengthened for a long time to come. Yet Israeli officials did not suffice with such media statements -- as the studied destruction of the war was being wrought, officials were contacting Arab, Palestinian, and international parties to sell the Israeli position. Livni and top government officials acted on the basis of a study prepared by the planning department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry one year earlier, and which concluded that war on the Gaza Strip would cause severe damage to the Palestinian infrastructure and that the next stage would be to prevent Hamas from playing a role in its reconstruction. This report stated that Tel Aviv had to learn from the experience of the second war on Lebanon, when Hizbullah led the reconstruction process in Lebanon with Iranian support and the result was that its role in the Lebanese political system was firmly established, rather than being weakened as Israel had planned. The report concluded that Tel Aviv must mobilise all its power to prevent Hamas from playing a role in reconstruction. Hamas leader Mushir Al-Masri told Al-Ahram Weekly that ironically the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas and many other Arab parties have been drafted to aid Israel in preventing Hamas from participating in reconstruction efforts. He added that they, as well as the Quartet, have not limited themselves to just preventing a Hamas role in reconstruction, but are actually trying to turn reconstruction efforts into a means of removing Hamas's presence and returning power to Abbas and Dahlan in Ramallah. "Through reconstruction projects, these parties are trying to succeed in what the Israeli war machine failed to do," he said. Al-Masri disapproves of Egypt using mediation between Hamas and Israel to reach a ceasefire agreement as a means of pressuring Hamas to accept the Egyptian proposal for a national reconciliation previously rejected by Hamas. Al-Masri holds that the statement of Quartet representative Tony Blair, in which he stressed that reconstruction would not begin until a national unity government was formed, "is evidence of an overarching plan to exploit reconstruction efforts to pressure Hamas". Al-Masri says that Hamas proposed an appropriate mechanism for organising reconstruction efforts when it suggested the formation of an Arab-Palestinian committee to oversee reconstruction projects. It also announced that it would not interfere with the reconstruction projects undertaken by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Yet Al-Masri also says that this proposal was rejected by Arab parties "in collusion" with Israel "because they simply are not looking to rebuild the homes of Palestinians destroyed as a result of their collusion with the occupation, but rather they have found in this new challenge an opportunity to oust Hamas and reinstate the party that pleases Israel and its allies." From another perspective, Fatah spokesperson Fahmi Al-Zaarir holds that the Ismail Haniyeh government is illegitimate because it was dismissed by President Mahmoud Abbas following the military overthrow it orchestrated in the Gaza Strip. In statements to the Weekly, Al-Zaarir said that from the constitutional and legal perspectives, the Haniyeh government cannot exercise any powers. He accuses the Haniyeh government of controlling aid that reaches Gaza and distributing it among Hamas supporters. He also says Fatah's only concern is that aid reach Gaza and reconstruction be carried out. Naji Sharab, professor of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, says that President Abbas has called for reconstruction projects to be tied to the issue of political legitimacy. Abbas holds the Haniyeh government to have lost its legitimacy when he dismissed it, whereas Hamas believes that the party attacked by Israel, and which remained defiant, must be the one responsible for reconstruction. Hamas also argues that as it ruled the Gaza Strip at the time of the Israeli attacks, it alone must undertake its reconstruction. "From a logical perspective, the party that remained steadfast in the face of aggression must also be the one to oversee reconstruction projects. Yet it is also clear that Hamas must facilitate the formation of a national unity government since donors refuse to have Hamas be the party responsible for reconstruction projects," Sharab told the Weekly. He holds that following the war Hamas secured a significant achievement in that European states and the Quartet have shown readiness to cooperate with a national unity government that includes Hamas. Such an accomplishment is unprecedented, and shows that Israel has failed in its attempt to marginalise the role of Hamas. Sharab stresses the importance of tying reconstruction to national dialogue. He says that reconstruction projects do not just involve the handing over of funds to the parties overseeing projects, but that effective monitoring is also required, and that that requires reviving the role of the Palestinian Legislative Council. Sharab adds that there is a real need to form a national unity government that is concerned more with overseeing reconstruction than with political issues, and says that this seems possible given the Palestinian factions' inclination towards reaching a truce with Israel. With regard to the recent war's effect on the chances of national dialogue being a success, Sharab says that the war should have strengthened chances for success but that it didn't, for an accusatory tone has dominated media debate on both sides, indicating that neither have learned a lesson from what has taken place. Sharab also stresses the dire need for legislative and presidential elections, as they would grant an opportunity for changing the personal configuration of rule, and, as a result, the overall nature of the ruling regime. He says that Hamas could support a presidential candidate whose election would oust Mahmoud Abbas and the political programme he represents. Political scientist Nehad Al-Sheikh Khalil says that Israel, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and Arab, European, and American parties are all trying to pressure Hamas with the reconstruction file and place it in confrontation with the Palestinian public by showing it as an obstacle to reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, including the building of Gazans' homes. Khalil expects for Israel to exploit the fact that reconstruction efforts require the reopening of border crossings between the Gaza Strip and Israel and Egypt to tighten its grip on Hamas and place it in a compromising position. "Hamas and the Haniyeh government don't object to aid entering the Gaza Strip on condition that it enters under a trustworthy umbrella and is removed from hands polluted by corruption," he says. "The Ramallah government insists on aid coming through it so as to use it as a card in the Palestinian national dialogue with the aim of politically exploiting Hamas's positions." Numerous parties are trying to use reconstruction to redraw the Palestinian political map from scratch, and many Palestinians see this as a continuation of the Israeli war on Gaza.
