The Palestinian disunity government
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AT LEAST 40 people have been killed, so far, in this week’s fighting between Fatah and Hamas gunmen in Gaza. It is the worst violence since the two parties formed a unity government in March, and it seems to prove that their coalition’s chief goal—to stop such fighting—is unattainable.
That was pretty much expected. The last sticking-point in the two parties’ talks was whom to put in charge of the bloated security forces. Over the years these have acted as an employment sponge for veterans of the “resistance” against the Israeli occupation. Fatah, which ran the Palestinian Authority for its first 13 years, dominates the forces in the West Bank, but in Gaza Hamas has added several thousand of its own men since taking over the PA in elections last year. On top of that, Gaza’s large clans and criminal gangs have their own powerful militias.
Hani Qawasmeh, the man eventually chosen as interior minister, drew up a plan for co-ordination between security chiefs as well as clan leaders. But as a bureaucrat with no power base of his own he had little clout. In particular, he complained that he was being undermined by his underling, Rashid Abu Shbak, who in practice is loyal to Mohammed Dahlan, a Fatah strongman in Gaza who has been quietly restoring his political influence after a period out in the cold. Last week Mr Abu Shbak ordered Fatah forces on to the streets of Gaza without Mr Qawasmeh’s say-so. Some of Hamas’s men, seeing themselves sidelined, opened fire on them. That quickly escalated into this week’s carnage. On the morning of Wednesday 16th May Hamas gunmen attacked Mr Abu Shbak's home, killing several of his bodyguards.
Mr Qawasmeh, who had tried to resign three weeks before, has now quit for good. Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister, took over. But he can, at best, cool things down for a while. Fatah is divided over whether to support the unity government, with Mr Dahlan in the “no” camp, biding his time until Fatah is strong enough to challenge Hamas in Gaza; Mr Abu Shbak’s provocation could have been a test of force. A similar split bedevils Hamas; its anti-unity hardliners were left out of the coalition and, like Mr Dahlan, are suspected of sometimes stoking the violence.
But as well as ducking bullets from Hamas-Fatah battles and clan feuds, in the past few months Gazans have suffered a rise in attacks of a more mysterious nature. Dozens of internet cafes, video shops and other establishments have been bombed. Often the perpetrators claim to espouse fundamentalist Islam or al-Qaeda-style jihadism, things hitherto mostly alien to the Palestinians. One such group, the Army of Islam, recently claimed to be holding the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped in March. Most think it is just a front for a criminal gang, and that may be true with many of the bombings too. But it all adds to the climate of fear and the sense that Gaza is beyond any mere politician’s control.
