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MAKING LOVE NOT WAR, PALESTINIAN-STYLE
By Micah Halpern

Monday February 5, 2007

Column:

Everyone in the Arab world is calling for Fatah and Hamas to unite - to make love not war, Palestinian style.

The Jordanian foreign minister is bemoaning the fact that there is violence and internal fighting between Palestinians. The Arab League is lamenting the shame the Palestinians are bringing upon themselves by fighting amongst themselves when they could be uniting and fighting their common enemy, Israel. The powers that be in Egypt have called for the Palestinians to stop their feuding and begin work on solving the bigger problems that they confront.

But it will not happen, it cannot happen - at least, not now. There is no such thing as Palestinian unity. It is one of those huge myths like the myth of Arab unity, like the myth that all Jews are smart. And Arab leaders know that it is all a myth, but they are afraid to say so out loud, so they go through the motions. They push, they prod, they make proclamations - knowing that they are making empty gestures, that their words are spoken into the four winds.

Was Palestinian unity ever a reality? It was. But Arab unity died with Yasser Arafat. When Arafat was around he spoke for every Palestinian and intimidated, arrested or forced into poverty any Palestinian who dared to disagree. In their hearts, they might have disagreed with the first Palestinian leader, but no words were ever uttered, no actions ever carried out. If it wasn't unity under Arafat, it was, at least, a single Palestinian voice. Tyrants can do that.

Even after the first Palestinian Authority elections, when Arafat was duly elected, he did not let the voice of Hamas emerge. Arafat kept Hamas in check, he kept Hamas compliant, he made them fearful of raising their voice. And fear, as Arafat knew, is a very powerful political tool. Abbas never learned that lesson in Palestinian leadership.

Mahmoud Abbas, heir to the kingdom of Palestine, purposely refused to mimic Arafat's style of leadership, pointedly refusing to continue with some of Arafat's tactics. Abbas refused to rule by force. And he refused to keep Hamas in check. He thought that by limiting Hamas he would be instigating a civil war between Palestinians. He calculated that by allowing Hamas not only free speech but also free reign he would be deemed an enlightened ruler and the Palestinian people would flourish. It was a major miscalculation. And in the next election Hamas was democratically placed in power and civil war ensued.

Power and politics, however, are not the only sparks that ignite the Palestinian civil war. Hamas and Fatah have locked horns over their respective visions for the future of the Palestinian people. Vision, more than power, fuels this war.

Hamas sees a world without Israel. Hamas believes that they can create that world. Fatah, in the person of Abbas, understands that Israel is here to stay - at least for the short term. And Abbas believes that before he can accomplish anything productive or positive for the Palestinian people he must recognize Israel, and recognize Israel openly and diplomatically. Arafat knew what Abbas has only lately come to understand.

The Palestinians are at an impasse. They continue to fight. The gulf that divides them continues to grow. The people continue to suffer. The Palestinian people are strangling themselves. And the groups most interested in solving the inner Palestinian conflict are not the Palestinian leadership. The groups most interested in solving the inner Palestinian conflict are Egypt, Jordan and Israel. Each country has much to lose as this discord continues and each has much to gain if calm should fall over the Palestinian Authority.

Egypt and Jordan are investing huge amounts of time, money and diplomacy trying to oust Hamas from the Palestinian Authority. They see Hamas as irresponsible. They see Hamas as a threat - to their own countries, to their individual rule, to the region. Egypt and Jordan, respectively, are fearful that Hamas extremism will spill over into their societies.

Egypt is a powder keg of insurrection, the lid being held tight by the sheer force of will of Hosni Mubarak, but ready to erupt at any point. Egypt must make certain that the Palestinians stay in Gaza, that they do not leave. That they do not cross over the border into Egypt.

Jordan is a country composed of a majority of Palestinians. There are more Palestinians in refuge camps in Jordan than there are in any other country. And those refugee camps are hotbeds of anti-Jordanian sentiment. The Jordanian Hashemite Monarchy is walking a very thin tightrope and needs to make certain that the extremism exhibited on the other side of the border does not seep into their soil.

Israel is hoping that Hamas will step aside, that Abbas will take over and that the Palestinians and Israeli can move ahead towards normalization - or some semblance of normalization.

Everyone is starting to ask for moderation. Moderation is a euphemism for ousting extremists. Finally, according to internal Palestinian surveys, average Palestinians are also asking for moderation. The average Palestinian citizen is asking for an end to their internal conflict and for a resolution of the conflict with Israel.

The people want it to happen, but I am not convinced that Palestinian leadership is capable of making it happen. I think, unfortunately, that things will have to get worse within the Palestinian Authority, before anyone is capable of making anything better. War, not love, will win out in the Palestinian Authority. At least, for now.

4 June 2017 12:14 PM in Columns


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