RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories, Jan 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The decade-long
Palestinian split looks set to deepen in the coming months, with president
Mahmud Abbas poised to take multiple measures against Gaza to squeeze its
Islamist rulers Hamas.
The moves raise concerns of more suffering for Gaza’s two million
residents, already under an Israeli blockade and facing severe electricity
shortages, while a cornered Hamas could renew violence against Israel.
Analysts say the measures will also widen the gap between Hamas-run Gaza
and the occupied West Bank, where Abbas’s government has limited self-rule.
Hamas and Abbas’s secular Fatah party have been at loggerheads since the
Islamists seized control of Gaza from Abbas’s forces in a near civil war in
2007, a year after sweepinging parliamentary elections.
Hamas has since fought three bloody wars with Israel and fears of a fourth
remain.
Multiple reconciliation attempts between the Palestinian factions have
failed but Egypt thought it had made a breakthrough in late 2017 when the two
sides agreed to eventually share power.
As part of that agreement Hamas withdrew from border crossings between Gaza
and Egypt and Israel, allowing the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority to
return and the Egyptian border to be reopened regularly.
The reconciliation agreement has since collapsed acrimoniously.
On Sunday, the PA announced it would withdraw from the Egyptian border
crossing, creating a dilemma for Cairo about whether to leave it open with
Hamas in control.
So far they have indicated they will.
Senior officials close to Abbas say he is looking for other measures to
punish Hamas.
– ‘Very important decisions’ –
Among these could be removing staff from the crossings between Israel and
Gaza — making it hard for the Jewish state to allow anything into the
territory without dealing directly with Hamas, which it and many other
countries label a terrorist organisation.
They could also include cutting salaries to families of Hamas prisoners or
rescinding Palestinian passports for Hamas employees.
Abbas has also pledged to dissolve the Hamas-dominated Palestinian
parliament, which though it hasn’t met since the 2007 split is still
nominally the basis for new laws.
“Very important decisions against Hamas are being discussed,” a senior
official said on condition of anonymity.
It follows a series of arrests of those affiliated with Fatah in Gaza,
according to Abbas allies.
The official said the PA spent around $100 million per month in Gaza,
including for electricity subsidies, and was looking to cut back
significantly.
“Those that want to rule Gaza must bear the responsibility of governing
it,” the official said.
Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior Abbas ally and negotiator of the 2017
reconciliation agreement, told AFP “the leadership is considering a number of
measures”.
Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim said the Islamists had seen similar
threats before.
“Any type of sanctions such as electricity, preventing medicine, closing
the border or cutting the salaries are intended to blackmail residents into
rising against Hamas and they fail,” he told AFP.
“This is the most that Abbas can do.”
– ‘Short-term thinking’ –
The Palestinians have faced stark challenges over the past two years, with
US President Donald Trump leading what he has called the most pro-Israel
administration in the country’s history.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government has
meanwhile continued to expand settlements in the West Bank.
Abbas’s government froze contacts with the Trump administration after it
recognised the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December
2017.
The deepening split between the two factions weakens their ability to
respond to such pressure, said Hugh Lovatt of the European Council on Foreign
Relations think-tank.
He said the PA withdrawal from the border crossings was part of a “package
of measures designed to try and squeeze Hamas.”
“It is not irreversible but it is certainly a very negative step. This is
short-term thinking triumphing longer-term strategy.”
Nadia Hijab, president of the Al-Shabaka Palestinian think-tank, said the
infighting prevented a united front against Israeli policies.
“Palestinians fear that this latest move will cement the division and lead
to a complete break between Gaza and the West Bank, something Israel has been
pushing,” she said.
Both sides were “playing politics with people’s lives instead of taking on
Israel’s 50-year-plus occupation,” she said.
At least 241 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since
mass protests along the border began in March 2018. Two Israeli soldiers have
been killed.
The protests had calmed in recent months after Hamas and Israel struck an
agreement that saw Qatari aid allowed into the territory.
This week, it was reported that Israel had blocked a third tranche of
Qatari funding, which could lead to increased tensions.
“If the Israelis do block the money, then I think it is almost a certainty
you will see Hamas increasing the tension on the border,” Lovatt said.