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Fatah re-emerges in Gaza

While Fatah appears to have regained ground in the Gaza Strip, the revival in the fortunes of the pro-peace party in Palestinian politics is not likely to lead to a breakthrough in the multilateral discussions that are supposed to take place by the end of November in the United States. No date has been fixed for the event, which is now being dubbed a ‘meeting’ rather than a ‘conference.’ There can be no clearer indication that expectations are low. A primary reason for this is that the Israelis and Palestinians have not as yet done enough to create a conducive atmosphere for the talks. The Zionist state has not stopped the construction activities in the West Bank settlements, nor has it dismantled the settler outposts that are illegal even under its own laws. It appears to be holding back on action along these lines until the Palestinian Authority does a thorough job of dismantling the infrastructure of militant organisations such as the Al Aqsa Brigade and the Ezzedine al Kassam. This is an unjust and unreasonable approach. The Palestinian Authority has not fully recovered from the debilitating shock of ceding, in June 2007, control over the Gaza Strip to Hamas; but its security forces have taken action against the militants as well as the criminal gangs. Israel has not been helpful either since its own security forces conduct raids on militant strongholds in the West Bank, creating an impression that the Palestinian Authority is nothing more than its appendage.

Fatah has managed a comeback in the Gaza Strip despite the public disappointment with the performance of its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and other office-bearers of the Palestinian Authority. This is largely because Hamas has failed to govern effectively in the areas under its control. To an extent, the Islamist outfit’s shortcomings are attributable to the stranglehold Israel has enforced by closing all exits from this slice of territory. Only basic essentials, in limited quantities, are allowed to be taken into the Gaza Strip and unemployment is estimated to be hovering around 70 per cent. But Hamas is just as much to blame for the dismal conditions. The Islamist outfit seems to have expended most of its energies on consolidating its position by rooting out Fatah’s remnants in the territories. That it has singularly failed to achieve this objective was evident on November 12 when an estimated 250,000 Palestinians attended a rally to pay homage to Chairman Yasser Arafat. Before it attends to any other task, Fatah needs to re-build trust among the people so that it can realise the clearly evident potential for resurgence.

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