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Current News |
Palestinian Split Deepens; Government
in Chaos
By ISABEL KERSHNER and STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: June 15, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/world/middleeast/15mideast.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
JERUSALEM, June 14 — The Palestinian territories
seemed headed Thursday to a turbulent political
divide. Masked Hamas gunmen took control of the Gaza
Strip and the Fatah president dissolved the
3-month-old unity government, declaring a state of
emergency and plans for elections.
An aide to President Mahmoud Abbas announced the
decrees, including the firing of Prime Minister
Ismail Haniya of Hamas, at a West Bank news
conference after Hamas militias overran Fatah
strongholds in Gaza, dragging men into the street
and shooting them.
The territories that President Bush said he wanted
to see become a state before he left office appeared
torn asunder.
With Hamas controlling Gaza, it was not clear that
Mr. Abbas had the power to carry out his decrees. A
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, dismissed
them. “Prime Minister Haniya remains the head of the
government, even if it was dissolved by the
president,” Mr. Zuhri said. “In practical terms
these decisions are worthless.”
Even Mr. Abbas’s supporters were dubious. “An
emergency government would be meaningless here,”
said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at the
Fatah-affiliated Al Azhar University in Gaza. “It
wouldn’t be able to do anything. Hamas is
everywhere. That’s the bottom line.”
The scene in Gaza was one of prayerful celebration
for Hamas mixed with revenge. Hamas fighters took
over the Fatah-run Preventive Security compound,
driving away in cars loaded with weapons, computers,
office furniture and other equipment.
Bystanders were shocked. Ghassan Hashem, 37, a civil
servant, said: “I see Iraq here. There is no mercy.
We are afraid. See how ferocious this fight was?
There is no future for us.”
Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Hamas militia,
told Hamas radio triumphantly: “The era of justice
and Islamic rule has arrived.”
The prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, said, “I
call on my friend Abu Mazen,” referring to Mr. Abbas,
who was in Ramallah, “to take the opportunity, now
that almost the entire world understands the
viciousness, the brutality of Hamas, to exercise his
authority as the leader of the Palestinian people.”
Israel will do what it can, he said in an interview
with The New York Times in Tel Aviv, to “be helpful
and supportive of the Palestinian people in every
possible way, including economic cooperation and
security cooperation.”
Mr. Olmert will travel to Washington over the
weekend for talks with President Bush, which will
focus on the collapse of Fatah in Gaza and Mr.
Abbas’s chances of success. Mr. Olmert is expected
to tell Mr. Bush that Israel favored sealing off the
Israeli-occupied West Bank from the infection of
Gaza, continuing to prevent contact between them.
In security terms, Israel would like to seal off
Gaza from the West Bank as much as possible, to
prevent the spread of Hamas military power there,
where Israeli troops still occupy the territory.
Israel would also like to confront Hamas with the
responsibility for governing Gaza — providing jobs
and food and security.
Israeli officials suggested that Israel would work
with Mr. Abbas and a Fatah government in the West
Bank, and could gradually hand over to it the
remaining Palestinian tax moneys, about $562
million, withheld since Hamas took power a year ago
in March. “To give the money to a Hamas government
would be reckless,” one senior Israeli official
said. “To give it to a Fatah government is an
opportunity.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed
support for Mr. Abbas’s decrees, saying he had
“exercised his lawful authority.” Since Fatah
conforms to the international conditions — accepting
Israel’s right to exist and all previous
Israeli-Palestinian agreements, and forswearing
violence — a government run by it without Hamas
would presumably not be subject to international
isolation and restrictions.
The United States, Israel and the European Union
consider Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, a
terrorist group. But it may be very difficult for
the United States and the European Union to stop
aiding the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, no
matter who their rulers, and divert all aid through
Mr. Abbas, who would have little influence in Gaza.
Some on the Israeli right suggest Gaza is lost and
should be treated like southern Lebanon, where
Hezbollah rules another kind of mini semi-state.
But some Palestinians believe that Fatah and Hamas
may also come together again. Mr. Abbas says the
emergency government will rule until new elections
are possible — but Hamas will not accept early
elections. And it may be that another Arab
government, like Egypt or Saudi Arabia, will soon
step in to try to patch together the nascent
Palestinian state, which is in danger of collapsing.
An aide to President Mahmoud Abbas announced the
decrees, including the firing of Prime Minister
Ismail Haniya of Hamas, at a West Bank news
conference after Hamas militias overran Fatah
strongholds in Gaza, dragging men into the street
and shooting them.
The territories that President Bush said he wanted
to see become a state before he left office appeared
torn asunder.
With Hamas controlling Gaza, it was not clear that
Mr. Abbas had the power to carry out his decrees. A
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, dismissed
them. “Prime Minister Haniya remains the head of the
government, even if it was dissolved by the
president,” Mr. Zuhri said. “In practical terms
these decisions are worthless.”
Even Mr. Abbas’s supporters were dubious. “An
emergency government would be meaningless here,”
said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at the
Fatah-affiliated Al Azhar University in Gaza. “It
wouldn’t be able to do anything. Hamas is
everywhere. That’s the bottom line.”
The scene in Gaza was one of prayerful celebration
for Hamas mixed with revenge. Hamas fighters took
over the Fatah-run Preventive Security compound,
driving away in cars loaded with weapons, computers,
office furniture and other equipment.
Bystanders were shocked. Ghassan Hashem, 37, a civil
servant, said: “I see Iraq here. There is no mercy.
We are afraid. See how ferocious this fight was?
There is no future for us.”
Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for the Hamas militia,
told Hamas radio triumphantly: “The era of justice
and Islamic rule has arrived.”
The prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, said, “I
call on my friend Abu Mazen,” referring to Mr. Abbas,
who was in Ramallah, “to take the opportunity, now
that almost the entire world understands the
viciousness, the brutality of Hamas, to exercise his
authority as the leader of the Palestinian people.”
Israel will do what it can, he said in an interview
with The New York Times in Tel Aviv, to “be helpful
and supportive of the Palestinian people in every
possible way, including economic cooperation and
security cooperation.”
Mr. Olmert will travel to Washington over the
weekend for talks with President Bush, which will
focus on the collapse of Fatah in Gaza and Mr.
Abbas’s chances of success. Mr. Olmert is expected
to tell Mr. Bush that Israel favored sealing off the
Israeli-occupied West Bank from the infection of
Gaza, continuing to prevent contact between them.
In security terms, Israel would like to seal off
Gaza from the West Bank as much as possible, to
prevent the spread of Hamas military power there,
where Israeli troops still occupy the territory.
Israel would also like to confront Hamas with the
responsibility for governing Gaza — providing jobs
and food and security.
Israeli officials suggested that Israel would work
with Mr. Abbas and a Fatah government in the West
Bank, and could gradually hand over to it the
remaining Palestinian tax moneys, about $562
million, withheld since Hamas took power a year ago
in March. “To give the money to a Hamas government
would be reckless,” one senior Israeli official
said. “To give it to a Fatah government is an
opportunity.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed
support for Mr. Abbas’s decrees, saying he had
“exercised his lawful authority.” Since Fatah
conforms to the international conditions — accepting
Israel’s right to exist and all previous
Israeli-Palestinian agreements, and forswearing
violence — a government run by it without Hamas
would presumably not be subject to international
isolation and restrictions.
The United States, Israel and the European Union
consider Hamas, which seeks Israel’s destruction, a
terrorist group. But it may be very difficult for
the United States and the European Union to stop
aiding the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, no
matter who their rulers, and divert all aid through
Mr. Abbas, who would have little influence in Gaza.
Some on the Israeli right suggest Gaza is lost and
should be treated like southern Lebanon, where
Hezbollah rules another kind of mini semi-state.
But some Palestinians believe that Fatah and Hamas
may also come together again. Mr. Abbas says the
emergency government will rule until new elections
are possible — but Hamas will not accept early
elections. And it may be that another Arab
government, like Egypt or Saudi Arabia, will soon
step in to try to patch together the nascent
Palestinian state, which is in danger of collapsing.
Hamas argues that it has purged the security forces
of “corrupted elements” who were in league with
Israel and the United States to harm Hamas. Hamas
wants a restored unity government where the security
forces would all report to the Interior Minister,
effectively meaning Fatah would give up much of its
remaining power.
In Gaza, Hamas began to settle scores. Its men
killed a senior Fatah commander in the north, Samih
al-Madhoun, who had vowed on the radio to kill
scores of Hamas members. He was captured in an
exchange of fire, brought to the house of a Hamas
fighter who died in the exchange and killed, Hamas
said.
More evident was the lack of Fatah leaders or
commanders on the ground. The Gaza strongman
Muhammad Dahlan, the former chief of Gaza’s
Preventive Security who is now Mr. Abbas’s national
security adviser, has been abroad for weeks for
medical treatment. He returned to Ramallah on
Thursday. His close ally, Gen. Rashid Abu Shbak,
another former Preventive Security chief, is also
outside the Gaza Strip, and the current Preventive
Security head, Yussef Issa, was nowhere to be seen
as the compound fell.
Of the few prominent Fatah figures left in Gaza,
said to be on a Hamas hit list, some were escaping
by boat to the Egyptian border.
Preventive Security cracked down on Hamas in 1996,
led by Mr. Dahlan. Many of those who were imprisoned
remember the treatment they received as cruel and
humiliating.
“The Preventive Security has a special meaning for
Hamas,” said Mr. Zuhri. “Our fighters were tortured
and killed inside.”
He told reporters that the fall of the compound was
“the second liberation of the Gaza Strip.” The first
time, he said, “It was liberated from the herds of
the settlers,” referring to Israel’s withdrawal of
all troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005. “This
time it was liberated from the herds of the
collaborators,” he said of Fatah.
The battle for the Preventive Security compound
lasted 24 hours, and neighbors said they saw members
of the force who surrendered being shot in the legs.
Others reported having witnessed killings.
According to Dr. Muawiya Hassanein, head of the
emergency medical service in Gaza, 27 Palestinians
were killed in the violence on Thursday.
Gaza has become increasingly cut off from the world
and from key supplies.
All crossings from Israel and Egypt were closed
because of the fighting, said Shlomo Dror, speaking
for the Coordinator of Activities in the
Territories, the Israeli agency that deals with the
Palestinians.
Palestinians are not working on their side of the
crossings, he said, and the Palestinian in charge of
the Karni crossing, the main goods terminal to and
from Israel, has been kidnapped. Karni has been
closed since June 9.
Electricity and water continue to flow into Gaza
from Israel and Egypt, but he said that fuel oil was
running low and could disrupt electricity generation
in two days.
The International Committee of the Red Cross managed
to bring in a small convoy of vehicles with blood
supplies, Mr. Dror said, and nearly 150 Gaza
businessmen left the territory on Thursday morning,
“But we don’t know if they’ll be allowed to come
back,” he said.
Concern was mounting both inside and outside the
Gaza Strip over the welfare of its 1.5 million
residents, many of whom are already impoverished.
The European Union announced it was suspending its
aid projects there, and the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency, which helps the 70 percent of
Gazans who are refugees or their descendants, said
Wednesday that it was curtailing its operations
until the fighting stopped.
“I don’t know if Hamas has a strategy for the day
after,” said Mr. Abusada, the political scientist,
adding, “There are more questions than answers.”
There was talk both in Mr. Abbas’s headquarters and
among worried Palestinians in Gaza about requesting
an international force to come to Gaza.
“This is the beginning of the separation of the Gaza
Strip and the West Bank,” said Mr. Abusada,
referring to the two Palestinian territories that
were eventually supposed to make up an independent
Palestinian state.
“This is the lowest point in our struggle. We
Palestinians are writing the final chapters of our
national enterprise,” he said. |
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