Squeezing Gaza

Arab countries are sceptical about President Bushs call for a new West Asia peace conference.

At the EREZ

EVER since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June, there has been hectic diplomatic activity in the region. Tony Blair, immediately after he stepped down as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was parachuted into the region by the George W. Bush administration as a special envoy of the Quartet, which comprises the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. The Quartet has been seeking to bring about peace in the region for a long time, without any success. It is well known that the Russians were lukewarm about the appointment of a man who wholeheartedly supported the occupation and destruction of Iraq.

In July, the Bush administration launched yet another of its highly publicised peace initiatives to bring about a settlement of the Palestinian problem. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a recent visit to the region, proposed a grand summit involving key Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia along with Israel. In an obvious attempt to win over a sceptical Saudi leadership, the Bush administration offered to sell to the kingdom arms worth $20 billion. Israel has for the first time not raised any objections to the prospect of huge amounts of sophisticated armaments being given to an Arab country that has not yet formally recognised the Jewish state.

During the recent visit of the U.S. Secretaries of State and Defence to Jeddah, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal made it clear that his country would only attend the proposed peace conference if the four important final status issues on Palestinian statehood were put on the agenda. These relate to the borders a Palestinian state will inherit, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, the dismantlement of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. We are interested in a peace conference that deals with the substance of peace, not just the form, he stated.

Other Arab countries have also been sceptical about Bushs call for a new West Asia peace conference. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was dismissive of the U.S. proposals, saying that peace talks could only be successful if there was an honest broker. Hamas, which controls Gaza, also rejected the initiative, describing it as a crusade against the Palestinian people and adding that only gullible people would give Bush the benefit of the doubt. It will be difficult for the average Palestinian to trust the U.S. President, especially after he assured former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2003 that the U.S. would allow Israel to keep all its major settlements on the West Bank following any peace agreement with the Palestinians. As there are more than 200 Jewish settlements on the West Bank, it would make a mockery of the proposed Palestinian state if Israel were allowed to retain them.

Before Condoleezza Rices visit to the region, the Foreign Ministers of Egypt and Jordan, Ahmed Abul-Gheit and Abdul Ilah Al Khatib respectively, went to Tel Aviv to meet with the Israeli leadership. They claimed at the time that their visit was part of an initiative by the Arab League to reach out to Israel. During their visit, the Israeli leadership did not show any willingness to make any meaningful concessions in order to reach a just settlement to the long-running Arab-Israeli dispute. The Arab countries had after the 2002 Beirut summit offered to resume full diplomatic relations with Israel in return for an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Arab League chief Amr Moussa, himself a former Egyptian Foreign Minister, was quick to distance himself from the exertions of the two Ministers, stating that their visit did not have the approval of the Arab League.

The whole purpose of the recent diplomatic manoeuvres seems to be to isolate Hamas, domestically as well as on the international stage. The Egyptian paper Al-Ahram quoted a senior Arab official as saying that because of the Bush adm inistrations desire to isolate Hamas and bolster Palestine President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S. might be willing to pressure Israel to demonstrate some political commitment. The Israeli establishment has no such illusions.

Ephraim Sneh, until recently the countrys Deputy Defence Minister, wrote in a leading Israeli newspaper that the most important and urgent mission for Israel at this time is preventing a Hamas takeover of the West Bank. It is possible to do this by weakening Hamas through visible diplomatic progress; helping the effective and successful functioning of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayads government; and the creation of conditions for the total failure of the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip. He added that it was imperative to bring about the political-public defeat of Hamas via another Palestinian element. Soon after the Gaza Strip came under the Hamas control, Israel announced the restoration of financial and security ties with the Fatah-controlled West Bank. Two hundred and fifty-five Palestinian prisoners, most of them members of the Fatah, were released from Israeli prisons. Amnesty was granted to 178 most wanted militants, most of them from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. In the Gaza Strip, the Israelis routinely target Hamas activists for assassination. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Abbas that any rapprochement with Hamas would mean the end of negotiations.

The Hamas leadership has been calling for talks with the Fatah, reminding it that Hamas had the Palestinian peoples mandate. Hamas has not recognised the new illegal government put in place by Abbas. Many states in the region as well as Russia have issued calls for talks between the two main Palestinian groups. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the media in early August that his government had made a mistake by not recognising the Hamas-led government. He emphasised that Russia considered Hamas an important player in any final status talks on Palestinian statehood.

Tony Blair (centre)

Many Palestinians have described the new government in Ramallah as a Vichy-style government. Veteran leaders of the Fatah, such as Farrouq Qadddumi and Hani al-Hassan, have opposed the actions of Abbas, specifically rejecting his order that Palestinian fighters should disarm while the Israeli occupation continues. Other Fatah leaders, such as Marwan Barghouti and Jebril Rajoub, have been critical of the decision by Abbas to put all of Fatahs eggs in the American-Israeli basket. Many articles in the Arab media have portrayed the current intra-Palestinian struggle as one between the minority that has cast its lot with the occupiers and those who uphold the right and duty to resist.

Abbas has been resorting to vitriolic language against Hamas. Speaking at a meeting of the central council of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, he referred to Hamas as criminal and bloody coup-mongers who rose up against Palestinian legitimacy. He also used insulting terminology while talking about Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Meshaal. The Hamas leadership continues to adopt a conciliatory tone. Haniyeh and Meshaal have admitted that some despicable acts did happen in the heat of the fighting in Gaza, involving both sides. The Fatah leaders are especially upset about the sacking of Abbas official residence in Gaza and the killing of the Fatah militiamen identified with the former strongman of Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan. In July, Dahlan, who had close links with Israeli and U.S. Intelligence, resigned as security adviser to Abbas, citing health reasons. Fatah rank and file have held him responsible for the comprehensive military defeat they suffered at the hands of Hamas.

Israel has further tightened its blockade of the hapless people of Gaza while releasing a part of frozen Palestinian funds exclusively for the Fatah administration. The Israeli newspaper Haretz has reported that it was on the secret request of Abbas that Israel closed the Rafah border crossing in Gaza, stranding thousands of Palestinians on the Egyptian side of the border. Abbas has also been echoing the U.S. demand that international forces be deployed in Gaza, conveniently forgetting that Hamas decisively won the elections in 2006. Abbas accused Hamas of collaborating with Syria and Iran and destroying the national project. This is precisely what the U.S. President has been saying. Bush, in a speech in late July, said that Hamas was more devoted to extremism and murder than to serving the Palestinian people. Israeli newspapers reported that the Israeli secret service, Shin Bet, was using information it was receiving from the Palestinian authorities in the West Bank to target Hamas activists.

The Bush administrations announcement that it was resuming aid to the Palestinian Authority is part of ongoing efforts by the West to prop up Abbas and his faction in the Fatah. This money was promised to the Palestinians many years ago but withheld under Israeli pressure. The U.S. Secretary of State, during her recent visit to the West Bank, signed an agreement giving the Palestinian Authority $80 million to upgrade Palestinian security services in the West Bank. Bush has promised $270 million in aid in his efforts to boost Abbas.

Abbas game plan is to hold a new election to legitimise the interim government he has put in place on the West Bank. Under the Palestinian Constitution, for new elections to be held ahead of schedule, approval by the legislature is a must. More than half of Hamas parliamentarians are in Israeli jails. Hamas is anyway against new elections at this juncture. Around half of Palestinian voters live in Gaza. On the West Bank, the Fatah has clamped down on Hamas activists. Abbas has signed a decree giving wide-ranging powers to the Interior Ministry and the military courts to clamp down on the opposition.

The problems in Gaza have become more intractable with the government there being starved of virtually all funding. The international community has been tightening the screws on Gaza. Virtually no aid is getting in. The people cannot find work as Israel has closed the borders. Agricultural produce has no market. Hospitals are running out of essential medicines and spare parts for equipment. The Abbas-led government has told civil servants in Gaza not to report for work. The Fatah-led government in Ramallah, which holds all the purse strings, has already announced that it is withholding all funds earmarked for Gaza, including salaries.

One tangible benefit for ordinary Gazans after the Hamas takeover is the dramatic improvement in the law and order situation. The criminal gangs and extortionists who had made Gaza a lawless place have all disappeared.