Modus Vivendi Between Hamas And Fatah Is Good
21 December 2013
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
In recent days, Hamas, the main Palestinian Islamic
liberation movement, and Fatah, the mainstream PLO
faction, made a joint effort to deal with the huge
damage wreaked by the recent winter storm in the Gaza
Strip.
Thanks to this highly lauded effort, it was possible
to restore power to much of the Strip which remained
without electricity for weeks, due to the Israeli
siege.
Egypt, too, played an additional negative role by
refusing to allow fuel and electricity supplies from
reaching Gaza for political reasons. The criminal Sisi
junta simply wants to punish Palestinian Islamists,
e.g. Hamas, for identifying with the democratically
elected President Muhammad Mursi.
Unfortunately, some influential Fatah leaders in
Ramallah have been doing all they could in order to
increase hardship and misery for Gazans.
They hoped that as a result, Gazans would rise up
against Hamas, overthrow the Islamist movement and
invite Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) back
to the coastal enclave.
This brazen treachery included, inter alia, inciting
the bloody military coup authorities in Cairo to
tighten the noose on Gaza, close the Rafah border
crossing and sever fuel and power supplies to the
estimated 1.8 million tormented Gazans.
The traitors must be exposed and isolated, without
alienating the large movement, because not every
member of Fatah is a traitor.
Special thanks must go for the state of Qatar whose
rulers have donated $10 million for purchasing fuel
for operating Gaza's main power station. Indeed, if a
single state deserves a badge of honor for identifying
and supporting Gaza during its hard and harsh times,
it is the State of Qatar.
Interestingly, Fatah's propaganda organs never stopped
their venomous attacks on Qatar, often accusing the
gallant emirate of coordinating with Israel against
the PA and the Palestinian cause as whole.
Coming from a movement whose political regime
coordinates security with Israel 24 hours a day; such
accusations go beyond the pale.
The modicum of goodwill shown by the PA leadership in
Ramallah was apparently followed by an amicable
conversation between Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas
politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal. The two leaders
reportedly discussed a whole set of issues, including
American-Israeli pressure on the PA to deviate from
long-standing Palestinian national constants.
Abbas reportedly assured Mashaal that the PA wouldn't
budge to Israeli pressure even if the price was the
collapse of the entire peace process.
Needless to say, Mashaal was smart and successful in
his asking the PA leader not to give in to the
Americans and Israel. We all know that Israel is
always eager to negotiate with Palestinian leaders who
are not answerable to their people. Such leaders are
easier to blackmail and easier to cajole to give
concessions and compromise their people's rights.
Most Palestinians know that Israel would love to see
Abbas and his aides, such as Saeb Aurikat and others,
retreat on such cardinal issues as the right of return
for millions of Palestinian refugees to their
ancestral homeland, the subject of Jerusalem and the
borders of the contemplated Palestinian state.
Hence, it is always vital that Palestinian masses and
factions, including Hamas, exert unending and
unrelenting pressure on the PA leadership to stick to
our national constants.
Yasser Arafat died without giving up or giving in.
Abbas, too, should walk in Arafat's footsteps, without
any deviation.
I know that Hamas and Fatah have two different
strategies for ending the Zionist occupation. However,
this doesn't and shouldn't mean that the two movements
cannot cooperate and coordinate for the common good of
the Palestinian national cause.
Differences exist even within the same household.
However, it is always imperative to manage differences
in a way that would serve, not undermine, our common
cause.
We must emulate our enemies who don't allow their
differences to undermine their united front against
our people and our struggle.
Khaled Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist living
in the West Bank-Occupied Palestine.
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