Abu Mazen on Hamas’ Tightrope

In the midst of the war in Gaza and the growing aggression of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and North Jerusalem, the recent resignation of Prime Minister Mohammad Staiyeh and the Palestinian Authority government has stirred the stagnant political waters in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. With the eventual consolidation of a truce ahead of Ramadan, its interpretation is mainly twofold: communicative and operational.

Communicatively, as it came just a few twenty-four hours after the almost unanimous decision of the Knesset against the prospect of establishing an independent Palestinian state, it is perceived as a response and a communicative effort by Mahmoud Abbas to remove Fatah and the rest of the secular political organizations from the disrepute they have fallen into before the Palestinian public opinion as a result of the flagrant, in the eyes of the Palestinians, inaction by the toothless Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip war, an inaction which constitutes indirect, if not direct, support of Israel against the struggling Islamic Palestinian resistance in Gaza.

Operationally and with an eye on the post-war political scene, Abbas is trying to get out of the political impasse, to survive politically and to send the political message in two directions: on the one hand, internally he aims to create a climate of unity by creating the conditions for mutual understanding and cooperation with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. On the other hand, it appears to be partially yielding to American pressure for a “government of technocrats” without the participation of Hamas.

The post-war stake for the Palestinians is the reconstruction of Gaza and the creation of a common political front between the Islamists of Hamas and the secularists of Fatah.

Although the US and Israel are systematically undermining Palestinian unity by rejecting Hamas’ participation in any future political scheme, the factor that will dictate political developments in Palestine will not be the Americans or Tel Aviv, not even Abbas. It will be the outcome on the battlefield where Hamas is, so far, winning the war. Abbas is well aware of this as he tries to survive politically.