Ramallah's silence on Israel's campaign of slaughter in Gaza is turning back on Fatah with a vengeance, writes Khaled Amayreh The Fatah movement in the West Bank is increasingly facing a political and moral predicament stemming for its perceived lackadaisical stance vis-à-vis the Israeli onslaught against the Gaza Strip described by some as genocidal. The movement, which is the backbone of the US-backed Palestinian Authority (PA), condemned the massive Israeli blitzkrieg from the beginning. However, a number of prominent Fatah leaders in Ramallah have also been blaming Hamas and gloating over its ordeal. Some Fatah leaders openly voiced readiness to "receive Gaza at any time" if and when Hamas was defeated. This tone has apparently boomeranged on Fatah, prompting many ordinary Palestinians and Arabs to accuse the PA of effectively conniving with Israel against Hamas and preparing plans to re-conquer the Gaza Strip by force if the ongoing Israeli blitz succeeds in toppling the Hamas regime. Widespread but unconfirmed reports quoting "reliable sources" pointed out that hundreds of Fatah militiamen under the command of former Gaza strongman Mohamed Dahlan were preparing to enter Gaza to re-establish PA rule if and when the Hamas regime was vanquished by the Israeli army. Dahlan himself in an interview with a German magazine this week denounced Hamas for provoking Israel to carry out its offensive against the Strip. Earlier, a number of Fatah leaders, including Al-Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, a prominent aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, openly voiced their eagerness to return to Gaza in the first 48 hours of the Israeli offensive. However, the ferocious resistance to the Israeli invasion put up by Hamas and other Palestinian factions seems to have dampened Fatah's initial enthusiasm to reclaim Gaza in the short term. This is not to say that Fatah has lost the hope that the devastation and havoc wreaked on Gaza by the Israeli army will make the group's task of "liberating" the coastal enclave from Hamas drastically more achievable. Earlier this week, the right-wing Israeli daily, The Jerusalem Post, quoted an unnamed Fatah official in Ramallah as warning that "failure to crush Hamas completely would undermine Fatah and pave the way for the collapse of moderate Arab regimes." The official voiced the hope that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would revolt against Hamas when the Israeli army ended its blitz. So far, there have been no signs that Gazans are about to turn against Hamas despite intensive Israeli efforts to affect and expedite such an outcome. Absolving Israel from responsibility for the Gaza "holocaust", as most Palestinians have come to call the Israeli onslaught, the Fatah leader was quoted as saying that he hoped Hamas leaders would be tried as "war criminals" for causing the deaths of hundreds of innocent Palestinians. It is remarks such as this that seriously damage Fatah's public image and embarrass its leadership. This week, a number of Palestinian intellectuals both at home and abroad called on Fatah to take a clear stand regarding the Israeli onslaught. "We want Fatah to tell us where it is standing," said one Palestinian writer based in Cairo. Hani Al-Masri, a prominent Palestinian writer and columnist, spoke in a similar tone: "There is no doubt the Palestinian Authority and its legitimacy are being put to the test. Is the PA going to take part in protecting the Palestinian people in Gaza against this criminal assault? Or will it wait to see the outcome of the war to decide?" asked Al-Masri. Al-Masri warned the PA-Fatah leadership that if they wanted to remain "relevant" after the Gaza war, they would have to "prove their patriotic credentials" by releasing all political prisoners, terminating security coordination with Israel, putting an end to futile peace talks and spearheading political and diplomatic efforts to stop the Israeli aggression in Gaza. Furthermore, Al-Masri castigated some Fatah and PA leaders for blaming Hamas for the Israeli campaign, saying: "This is not the time for scoring points against Hamas and reigniting internal differences... we all know that Israel doesn't need pretexts to murder Palestinians." In fact, the Palestinian public's disillusionment with the PA and Fatah has probably reached an all-time high due to a widely held belief that the PA has conspired against Hamas. Suspicions have been reinforced by the heavy-handed suppression of solidarity protests in the West Bank by PA security forces. In Hebron, PA policemen violently suppressed pro-Gaza demonstrations, beating protesters and arresting a number of them. Similarly, PA security personnel prevented protesters from raising Hamas's green Islamic banners and suppressed those shouting pro-Hamas slogans. Indeed, contrary to what had been expected, PA reactions to the carnage in Gaza have been minimal and nearly all symbolic. Some Palestinian writers have pointed out that distant and even non-Arab countries adopted stances far more principled than those taken by the PA. One Fatah official intimated to Al-Ahram Weekly that the increasingly disharmonious group was finding itself between the hammer of Palestinian public opinion and the anvil of cool political calculations. "If we allow the masses to take to the street, Hamas would be able to re-establish itself very fast here. On the other hand, if we suppress protests, we will be accused of being agents of Israel. We have to hold the stick in the middle," he said. Such justifications didn't stop Palestinian intellectual, Bashir Nafie, this week from calling on Fatah to save itself and its history of struggle by severing ties with the Fayyad government. Embarrassed by the suggestion that Fatah is not standing where it should, some Fatah leaders called on the group to "correct its compass" and prepare for resuming direct struggle against the Israeli occupation. Abbas Zaki, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative in Lebanon, told reporters last week that it was time Fatah returned to the trenches. "Fatah must be prepared to joint the battle anytime," he said. Fatah's ambivalence towards the Israeli blitz on Gaza is further complicated by the growing realisation on the part of most Palestinians that the peace process with Israel is fraudulent, under whose rubric the Palestinian cause is being liquidated, with or without the knowledge of the Palestinian leadership. Meanwhile, it is uncertain how the PA will deal with the expiration of Mahmoud Abbas's term in office, which occurred 9 January. Hamas has already stopped referring to Abbas as "President Abbas", with Hamas spokespersons and media referring to him as simply "Mr Abbas". The PA leader is also facing a problem with regard to legislative elections. Hamas is likely to have earned considerable popularity as a result of the Israeli onslaught in Gaza, although it is premature to draw definitive conclusions. Aside from Hamas, with the peace process with Israel having proven bankrupt, Abbas and his followers face an uphill struggle.
