Last nail in the coffin?

Some say the seeds of rivalry between Hamas and Fatah were planted a decade ago when the latter used a prison block at the back of the Gaza City headquarters of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service on fellow Palestinians who belonged to Hamas. Ex-prisoners refer to it as their Abu Ghraib.

Last month, Hamas sealed its military victory at that same block where Hamas men were taken, interrogated and humiliated. The prison was then overseen by none other than Mohammad Dahlan, the young Fatah leader who is charged with building the security system from scratch.

The man does not come without a history. It was the US and some European countries, including Britain that chose to finance and arm the security apparatus led by Dahlan. Thus it is safe to say that the origins of Hamas' action in the Gaza Strip are linked to the reaction of the international community to Hamas's victory. Many in Fatah could not accept such an enormous defeat. The international Quartet reassured Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas that he would be given the needed support. Hamas was immediately considered the outcast and talks between the Islamist organisation and the West never took place.

And now, we have the last report by former UN Special Co-coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Alvaro de Soto to confirm this. He says, "The US clearly pushed for a confrontation between Fatah and Hamas..."

Weakening movement

Dr Azzam Tamimi, director of the London-based Institute of Islamic Political Thought argues that given the recent events, Fatah no longer behaves as a homogeneous integral organisation or speaks in one voice. "Fatah has been weakening since Oslo ... Had it not been for this rapid decline it would not have been possible for the United States, Europe and Israel to turn a small group of Fatah claimants into a mafia intent on derailing the Palestinian cause." He is adamant that the post-Fatah era has already begun due to the "failure of the 'good guys' with Fatah to take charge and isolate the 'bad guys'".

And the West sure caused harm to Fatah with its over the top support for Dahlan's militia. Arab Media Watch chairman Sharif Nashashibi says Dahlan is a hate figure who is vastly unpopular. "He personifies the reason Fatah lost the [parliamentary] election exemplifying self-interest, corruption, and thuggery … To have any support for him is a real shot in the foot because Palestinians don't accept him". But not everyone is critical of Dahlan and his Western support. Leading Lebanese thinker Hani Fahs finds that Dahlan is merely a product of the first intifada and accusations aimed at him need to be verified first.

What has been the real outcome of the military confrontation that saw the two main Palestinian parties fighting each other on the streets of Gaza? To begin with, Dahlan's militia has certainly been weakened and that is considered a good thing by Palestinians.

More importantly though, recent events will undoubtedly factor in any future attempts by regional or international players to try to get the two factions to partner again.

Through Hamas, the Palestinian people sought representation that would reflect their daily conditions embedded in Israeli occupation. But the US and Britain refused to acknowledge the results of the free and fair Palestinian election and applied sanctions against the Hamas government, denying them aid and a chance to govern.

One thing is clear should a peace process with Israel ever come to life, it can never sustain itself with Palestinian infighting and long-seated divisions.

The fate of "Palestine" is sadly not in the hands of the Palestinian people but rather, in the hands of the West and Israel. In the short term, Hamas will continue to enjoy popularity and maybe even strengthen its credibility. Perhaps as Tamimi says, enemies of Hamas "will be further undermined by their own choices". Time will only tell but one point must be made: the wider stability of the Middle East rests on the Palestinian question. Fahs contends: "Our region's stability can only start in Palestine" — a point the West always fails to comprehend.