A Secular-Democratic State Solution

By OMAR BARGHOUTI

When I saw some of the images coming out of the infighting in Gaza last week, I suppressed my anguish and steaming anger, recalling the wise, almost prophetic, words of the great Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, who wrote:

"The central problem is this: How can the oppressed, as divided, unauthentic beings, participate in developing the pedagogy of their liberation? Only as they discover themselves to be 'hosts' of the oppressor can they contribute to the midwifery of their liberating pedagogy. As long as they live in the duality in which to be is to be like, and to be like is to be like the oppressor, this contribution is impossible. The pedagogy of the oppressed is an instrument for their critical discovery that both they and their oppressors are manifestations of dehumanization."

Apparently, neither of the two warring factions succeeded in transcending the being "like the oppressor" part.

The lightening success of Hamas in forcefully taking over the supposed symbols of Palestinian power in Gaza cannot and ought not obscure the fact that, given the overbearing presence of Israel's military occupation, the bloody clash between the Islamist group and its secular counterpart, Fatah, and irrespective of motives, has descended into a feud between two slaves fighting over the crumbs thrown to them, whenever they behave, by their common colonial master.

There is no doubt that a faction within Fatah -- overtly funded, trained and steered by the US and Israel -- is the primary suspect behind the flare-up of this bloody internecine strife, which many observers view as a thinly veiled attempt to destabilize Hamas's democratically-elected government, coercing it into accepting Israeli dictates that it had so far balked from. Furthermore, any decent legal expert will readily admit that the so-called "emergency government," declared by the Palestinian Authority chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, in response to Hamas's take-over in Gaza, violates several articles in the Basic Law, the equivalent of the PA's constitution.
More at link

From calamity to full-blown catastrophe in Palestine
By Rami G. Khouri

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Daily Star - [...] The Palestinian people are now divided into six distinct communities, located in Gaza, the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem (under varying degrees of Israeli occupation and control), refugee camps throughout the Arab world, in Palestinian communities in the Middle East outside the camps, and in the global diaspora. This worsening fragmentation of the Palestinians is certain to lead to greater radicalization and more proficient resistance, which will spill over into other societies in the region, and perhaps globally. This trend has been consistent since 1948.

On its northern and southern Arab borders Israel today is flanked by two militant Arab movements - Hizbullah and Hamas - that combine powerful ideologies of religion, nationalism, resistance and self-assertion. Neither existed 25 years ago, but both have achieved power and prominence today. They are the natural consequences of Israel's perpetuating decades of attacks, dehumanizing occupations and brutal colonization against Palestinians, while the US and Europe fiddled and the Arabs napped.
[...]
The world erred when it refused to engage Hamas after its election victory last year, and again after the Hamas-Fatah unity government was formed earlier this year. One must be truly stupid, or brutally malicious, to repeat the same mistake a third time.

we read this:

Former Hamas prisoners remember Fatah torture
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — They called it "The Bus" and it marked the beginning of days, weeks, even months of brutal interrogation at the hands of the nascent Palestinian government.

After being rounded up by Fatah forces, Hamas men were blindfolded and shackled to a line of uncomfortable, low chairs while their captors blasted "dirty" music to soften their psychological defenses.

Then, one by one, they were beaten, questioned and thrown in cells.

"Torture by the Israelis was less than what they did here," said Hassan, a 46-year-old high school physics teacher who would give only his first name. He said he was held by Fatah for 59 days in 1996.

For Hamas members, the gutted prison bloc in the back of the Gaza City headquarters of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service was their Abu Ghraib.

It was here that the seeds of the rivalry with Fatah were planted a decade ago. And it was here last week that Hamas broke the spirit of Fatah forces and sealed its military victory.
(much more)

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/17166.html

Condi's "moderates" in action.

I'm so cynical about this situation I don't pay much attention to it - not as much as say, Iraq, where my country is directly involved and it's obvious we'll have to leave there soon (even though the new permanent military base is just the latest Saddam palace). So, from a tactical standpoint, what is the best solution for Israel - ethnic cleansing or giving the Palestinians a state now? Obviously the humane thing to do is to give them a state, but what option has the best chance of putting a foot down on the neck of this violence so it wouldn't break out again? Renegades can undermine peace deals.

...sounds like in a Palestinian political context:

Dahlan warns West Bank at risk of being overrun by Hamas

Avi Issacharoff | June 21

Ha`aretz - Fatah strongman Mohammad Dahlan on Tuesday warned that the West Bank was in danger of being overrun by Hamas, as his party decided to sever all ties with the Islamic group, a member of the group's central committee said.

In an interview with Reuters, Dahlan lashed out at Israel and the U.S. Earlier in the day, Dahlan branded Hamas' seizure of the Gaza Strip last week an "occupation."

"If serious reforms are not undertaken in the security forces it would be easy for Hamas to take over the West Bank," he said.

Now cut off from his base in Gaza and speaking to Reuters at an apartment in the West Bank city of Ramallah, he said, however, that the strength of Hamas and over Fatah's fighters was no surprise, despite Fatah's apparently greater numbers.

"Palestinian Authority Chariman Mahmoud Abbas' men lacked the Islamists' aggressive dedication to a clear goal," he said. He also accused the United States of failing to make good on pledges of support, and Israel of deliberately blocking arms supplies to help divide Palestinians into a Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Fatah-controlled West Bank.

Of the West Bank, he said: "It would be very easy for a few people who have a goal to succeed over a large army that does not have a goal and does not have proper weaponry."

[Comment: I don't buy this assessment - sounds a lot like an opportunistic plea for more toys. They got rolled over in Gaza because their people cut and ran, and they cut and ran because they had somewhere to run to. Not the case in the West Bank - they'd stand and fight, or they'd lose it all. Personally I tend to think that Hamas'd be real wise to sit and digest for a bit. More at the link, BTW. ~ JPD]

"Political Islam is a dream or a nightmare, but not a sociological reality." - Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah