Monday April 24, 2006

Column:

IMPLOSION coupled with INTERNICIDE.

That is the best way I can describe the situation in the Palestinian Authority with Hamas at the head and with Abbas and the remains of his Fatah party nipping at their heels.

When Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, the walls came tumbling down. Now that Hamas is waging the battle - a battle for the hearts of the Palestinians, for Jericho, and Nablus and the West Bank and of course Gaza, more than walls are about to tumble down.

We are beginning to see cracks in the very thick walls of self-aggrandizement that Hamas erected to boost their image as civilized political leadership. One of the cracks is opening up to reveal a very strong possibility of civil war that will tear through the PA in the next two months. If civil war does erupt, it will begin in that hotbed of constant unrest called Gaza. Gaza, that spot on the map where real power struggle is played out nearly every minute of every day on almost every street corner.

Money. Weapons. Most of all, honor. The power struggle in Gaza is classic, only in this case "weapons" are to be understood in the literal and definitely not in the figurative sense. It is a struggle for the honor of Hamas versus the honor of Fatah. Hamas has taken their campaign to the Gaza streets to convince the masses that the leaders of Fatah are both corrupt and collaborators with Israel. Hamas is saying that Fatah has given up on the fight. They are saying that Fatah followers are defeatists. Fatah needs might, not diplomacy, to prove Hamas wrong. And the fight will go on 'til the last man falls down.

The struggle in Gaza will be the beginning not the end of the power struggle cum civil war in the Palestinian Authority. The streets of other Palestinian cities and villages will be called in to the fray. Honor everywhere must be defended. The end results will be the same. Internicide.

Another peek through the cracks in the Hamas-built wall reveals the Hamas of old. Damn diplomacy. Gone is any facade of political correctness. Hamas, strong and powerful. Hamas the defiant. Hamas the unbending and uncompromising.

Now is the time to make clear demands, Hamas is saying. We will not collapse under international pressure. We will not come to a peace agreement with Israel. We, Hamas, are in charge, not weak Fatah. Peace with Israel, in any form and for any reason, is against all we stand for. And we will not let it happen. To Fatah, those are fighting words.

Following the recent suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas condemned the terror and said that this action did not help the Palestinian cause. His condemnation was met with real revulsion by Hamas. Khaled Mashal, the political head of Hamas, countered saying that the statement by Abbas was contemptible. Mashal said that Fatah leaders were corrupt crooks and that Fatah security people were hooligans and hoods.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Jamal abu Samhadana, the new director general of the Hamas-led Interior Ministry practically laid out Hamas' plans. He said that the resistance must continue. He said: "We have only one enemy. They are Jews. We have no other enemy. I will continue to carry the rifle and pull the trigger whenever required to defend my people."

Samhadana, incidentally, is wanted by Israel for his involvement in numerous bombings and for organizing the rocket launchings from Gaza. Samhadana is also the mastermind behind the attack that killed two United States consular employees as they traveled by convoy in Gaza on the way to interveiw potential Palestinian Fulbright scholars.

Riots and fighting and lawlessness overwhelm many Palestinian cities right now. Army, militia, street gangs, they are all busy warding each other off. And Fatah, Fatah evolved a platform of concessions, recognizing Israel, Palestinian-style. Fatah cannot possibly allow Hamas to throw their orientation by the wayside. Not if they can help it - but that, once again, is in question.

What should Israel do? Should there be intervention by Western nation? Israel and the West should do nothing. Israel and the West should stand silently by and listen to the sounds of walls cracking. And wait. And watch. Implosion.

The entire Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Fatah, is on the verge of implosion. The only thing stopping this form of destruction is another form of destruction, internicide. One way or another, Palestinians are on the way to killing each other.

And then Israel and the West will pick up the pieces.