Fatah has revived its youth, and clung to armed resistance as a tool of struggle to establish the Palestinian State, akin to the tool of diplomacy and negotiations. But this is not enough, as Hamas has appointed itself as sole custodian over the issue of the conflict with Israel. Thus, it is waiting for a new test for the "patriotism" of Fatah after its sixth conference.
Perhaps the strangest thing Hamas said during the conference in Bethlehem was its announcement that it "does not interfere" in choosing the leaders of Fatah, while the former prevented some figures from leaving the Gaza Strip to participate in the central committee elections of Fatah and the Revolutionary Council.
It is true that the elections’ toppling of the "old guard" - which stands for the party of the Palestinian Authority - is the second achievement that will give a new momentum to the role of Mahmoud Abbas, after the first achievement that was represented by the success in convening the Fatah conference that has been suspended for twenty years. However, expanding the conflict of the two authorities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip will dwarf what has been achieved in Bethlehem and restrict it to a mere ceremonial occasion, by moving the "functions" and powerful positions from the "elders of Fatah" or its old-age figures to the youths of 2009.
The conference, which has been a necessity for some eighteen or twenty years, has curbed the hopes of the Palestinians about ending the Israeli occupation, either due to the self-centered Fatah officials, or with the aim of reaping the bitter results to slide into Arab quagmires that made Palestine's rifles drown in the mazes of the policies of some Arabs… But the dilemma faced by the two authorities in the West Bank and Gaza is to meet halfway amidst the political programs. Otherwise, Israel would go forward and liquidate what has remained of the cause, after the conflict of the brothers-enemies in Fatah and Hamas undermined its inviolability and left them miserable in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Some Arabs had dragged the "elders" of Fatah in their youths to the mire of their local calculations and Arab liquidations. Hamas did not learn the lesson. Rather, with Hamas, the quagmires have expanded to become regional calculations, and the force of the movement was heightened, benefiting from the popularity brought about by the elections. But after the brutal Israeli war on Gaza, Hamas will continue to exist along with the rubbles and tents of the refugees on their land. The ember of the struggle will continue, so why doesn’t the movement revive its youth too, and increase the chances of inter-Palestinian reconciliation? Or is it a crisis of rivalry between a liberalism that has been accused of a rightwing approach since the era of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and an "Islamist" trend that continues to fight the enemy until the latter acknowledges it as difficult and succumbs and hands over the Palestinian State.
Despite everything and the tragic destruction of people who are displaced from their land in Gaza, Hamas cannot be held responsible for all the sins committed. The corruption within Fatah and the hidden quota-system were not a mere myth. But if some in the West Bank expect Hamas to feel regret, then this is a myth in itself.
Each of the two parties has its own program and "emergency" youths. But is it acceptable for them to face the project of the Jewish State with two Palestines: a "liberal" and an "Islamist" one?
The wound has deepened. While Fatah has made one step forward towards Hamas in the reconciliation by adopting the resistance in all its forms as a legitimate right to restore the Palestinian land, will the "Islamic Resistance Movement" have some mercy on the distressed in Gaza and make half a step on the way of restoring the unity in the Cairo dialogue?
While Fatah has chosen "Palestine first" without investing the tragedies of the distressed in the stocks of "the superpowers" in the game of nations, will Hamas be harmed if it reconsiders the cause of the homeland as a top priority, before any regime or political program? It cannot indeed deny its endeavor to obtain a western recognition of it, and open a dialogue with it. But does the closed eye in the West Bank or Gaza view the fact that the west, be it Europe or the United States, does not give anything with its right hand without taking another thing in the left hand in favor of Israel alone?
The ancient Fatah members deserve to be excluded. They have monopolized Palestine for the sake of their power, interests, and desires, and contributed alongside the Gaza authority in fragmenting the dream of the state-nation. Will Hamas learn the lesson and close its eyes to anything farther than the border of Palestine, and turn a deaf ear to any advice other than that calling for urgent unity, in order to atone for what all other factions have caused for people who are fed up with despair and the bitterness of the daggers of brothers that have become more fatal than the Israeli rockets?
When some in Hamas wait for testing the intentions of the “rival” Fatah, the test of patriotism is lengthy, while the Netanyahu Government devotes itself to Judaization projects and for swallowing up all the districts of Jerusalem… However, the districts in Gaza are filled with more despair whenever the reconciliation rounds of the Byzantine dialogue increase, for the sake of a homeland that is defeated by failed policies.
… And they shall remain failed as long as the fate of Palestine is in the hands of Israel.
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