Palestinian Brotherhood
Over the weekend, bloody fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah supporters killed at least 11 people, and 188 Fatah-related Gazans, mainly from the Hilles clan (including 22 injured), fled to the Israel-Gaza border and were rescued by Israel. Israel treated the injured and planned to give everyone safe passage to the West Bank. But Abu Mazen denied them asylum and ordered them returned to Gaza as if they were someone else’s people. Hamas arrested the first group returned and Israel has stopped sending them back. They are, for the moment, under detention in Jericho.
Over the weekend, bloody fighting in Gaza between Hamas and Fatah supporters killed at least 11 people, and 188 Fatah-related Gazans, mainly from the Hilles clan (including 22 injured), fled to the Israel-Gaza border and were rescued by Israel. Israel treated the injured and planned to give everyone safe passage to the West Bank. But Abu Mazen denied them asylum and ordered them returned to Gaza as if they were someone else’s people. Hamas arrested the first group returned and Israel has stopped sending them back. They are, for the moment, under detention in Jericho.
For a variety of legitimate and other reasons, the Palestinians are truly disliked in the Arab world. But it is an irony, or a horror of a different order to find Palestinians expelling Palestinians from what they call “Palestine” and Palestinians in other parts of “Palestine” refusing them entry. It is one thing for other countries to reject them; it is another if they reject themselves – and it has implications beyond the current fighting.
There are ethnic, cultural, familial and tribal differences between Palestinians from the West Bank and those from Gaza. Those on the West Bank had/have strong familial and economic ties to Jordan, and are better settled in towns, cities and villages. A greater percentage is living on land that belongs in their families; fewer live as refugees. West Bankers are more “moderate” (a relative term) and less religious (also relative). When Hamas threw Fatah out of Gaza in 2006, more than 250 Fatah-related Gazans fled to the West Bank. They have not been well integrated and Abu Mazen doesn’t want more.
According to The Jerusalem Post, “The (Hilles) clan, which has long been affiliated with Fatah, had a military training base and a number of small factories for manufacturing various types of weapons.” So its loyalties to Abu Mazen and Fatah are clear. But it also is said to have had a “mini state” in Gaza, and members were engaged in kidnapping and extortion. They were good enough to fight for Abu Mazen, but not good enough to live next door.
Abu Mazen fears a Hamas takeover on the West Bank – which Israeli intelligence estimates would happen very rapidly if the IDF left the area, and Fatah just fired more than 1,000 police in the West Bank for their Hamas affiliation. But there is also a fear and dislike of Palestinians from Gaza – whether Fatah or Hamas affiliated.
A cautionary word for Americans: American politicians and aspirants for political office routinely support a “two state solution,” meaning Israel and a split Palestinian entity on the West Bank and in Gaza. Some people even propose contiguity for the two parts, running right through Israel. Those who would support such a “solution” should urgently investigate not only the split between Hamas and Fatah, but larger divisions as well. There are now three “states” wedged between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, any two of which may find themselves at war with each other or the third.
The Administration should revisit its determination to support Palestinian independence both because the Palestinians have been unwilling to meet American conditions for independence, and because prudence requires that the two Palestinian-dominated regions be treated separately. This is a matter of security both for Israel and for Jordan, America’s two best allies in the region.