The victory of the Hamas way
DANNY RUBINSTEIN
Ha'aretz, 19 April 2004
The liquidation of Abdel Aziz Rantisi put an end, in one fell swoop, to the Palestinians' feverish occupation with what they term "the Bush declaration" (likened in all publications in the territories to the Balfour Declaration). Palestinian reaction to the killing of Rantisi was, of course, consistent - condemnation and rage, and popular demand for revenge. The reactions to Bush's declaration were also almost all uniform - anger at what the Palestinians view as an Israeli-American consensus on three issues that belong to the permanent-status settlement: the borders, the settlements and the refugees.
Lately, Palestinian society and its leadership in the West Bank and Gaza have been feeling persecuted and beaten, and facing the danger of slipping into a state of chaos. On this backdrop, Palestinian society today looks like a defensive society striving for unity.
Such was the situation in the summer of 2002 too, following Operation Defensive Shield. Then, the threats concerned Yasser Arafat, the destruction of the Muqata and the eradication of the security mechanisms in the West Bank. That summer, under the patronage of Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, together with the smaller factions, managed to come to an agreement on a memorandum of understanding that offered a general outline of the Palestinian national aspirations and the ways to achieve them. It was agreed at the time, for example, to remove civilians from the cycle of violence, and this was interpreted as a decision to refrain from carrying out terror attacks within Israel (the settlers, in Palestinian terms, are not considered civilians, but a part of the occupying force).
The current dialogue among the Palestinian factions on cooperation and unity began a few weeks ago, on the backdrop of the publication of the disengagement plan. There arose an immediate need to plan the division of the assets (the lands and buildings) of the settlements. To head off accusations with regard to possible corruption, Mohammed Dahlan announced, following his talk last week with Abdel Aziz Rantisi, that the homes of the settlers would not be divided as gifts among the PA officials.
Nevertheless, Palestinian reports on the goings-on in Gaza showed that public opinion there was demanding a lot more than a mere orderly distribution of the spoils from the settlements. The demand is to reorganize the administration in Gaza and adapt it to the new political situation. The killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his heir to the Hamas throne in Gaza, Rantisi, dealt a hard blow, of course, to the movement's leadership. Senior Hamas members in Gaza have been killed in the past, but these last two hits were harsher from the movement's point of view because they targeted individuals at the very top. Nevertheless, from the viewpoint of the public support some 1.25 million Gaza residents bestow on Hamas, not only has the movement not suffered any damage, but, to the contrary, support for it has grown.
The Hamas activists feel they have very strong public backing and therefore they are now demanding a partnership in the Gaza administration. They don't want to be exclusive rulers in the Strip (and perhaps they don't have the strength to be such either) because governmental responsibility requires links with the enemy, such as the regulating of the conveyance of merchandise and services and the supply of electricity from Israel.
Hence, Hamas is very comfortable with Ariel Sharon's vehement announcement that there will be no negotiations with the Palestinians over the evacuation of the Strip. "We are partners in blood and want to be partners in the decision-making too," Hamas spokesmen are declaring; and this declaration is bolstered when the blood of the movement's leaders is spilled.
The Gaza Strip appears therefore to be heading toward a new regime, which won't exactly be a continuation of the Palestinian Authority, but rather "an action committee under the auspices of the PA," as Mohammed Dahlan has suggested. If in previous years there was talk of Hamas joining Arafat's regime, it appears now in Gaza that the talk is more to do with the PA joining Hamas.
In any event, the Hamas way has emerged victorious: There is no political process; the armed struggle has returned; the fight is against "the Zionist entity;" and the issue of the right of return has once again been brought to the fore.