Gaza residents frustrated over Fatah and Hamas bickering

Gaza Strip: For many Gazans who are refugees, returning to their homeland was a dream. But now, getting out of Gaza has replaced that dream. Many Gazans feel that Palestinian factional bickering has added insult to injury.

The Gaza Strip has suffered tremendously before, during and after Israel's three-week onslaught. But Palestinians today seem more distraught than ever over the level of disunity displayed by their leaders.

Almost as soon as Hamas and Israel declared unilateral ceasefires in mid-January, Fatah and Hamas went straight back to the bickering and accusations.

"I wish I could travel abroad," one Palestinian in Gaza said. "Why are they fighting? Why the hell can't they just stop?"

"They are fighting over money. We don't need any money from the world. We just want this fighting to come to an end," the distraught Gazan insisted.

The distress of seeing one's homeland decimated, as is the case in Gaza, still pales in comparison to what the average Palestinian in Gaza says is the real problem: factional bickering, seemingly the least cause of concern when residents are living in tents in the year 2009.

The latest declarations about the Palestine Liberation Organisation by President Mahmoud Abbas have opened "a new rift that will be followed by greater repercussions in the Gaza Strip", another Palestinian said.

With that possibility in mind, Gaza's youth are seeking emigration in record numbers, as travel agencies in Gaza say they are filling up with registered, would-be emigres.

But just Norway, Australia and Sweden have agreed to accept Gazan refugees. In one alarming case during the assault, Norwegian consular officials had to all but force their dual citizens from Gaza through the Rafah crossing, demanding in person that a man and his two daughters be permitted to leave.

In another case, Palestinian Authority (PA) security services officer Abu Ahmad decided to leave his home in central Gaza under pressure from relatives living abroad. He has already begun immigration procedures and is awaiting permission to pass through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, his only possible exit from the war-torn Strip.

"I filled out an immigration application to Norway yesterday, and I hope it will be approved because I can no longer live in this country," Ahmad said, himself a lieutenant in the PA security services. Married and the father of one child, Ahmad is thrilled at the prospect of forever leaving his Gaza City home.

Some Palestinians have considered staying in Gaza just for their paychecks, while others say they are now irrelevant compared with the chaos in the region. One Palestinian said he would prefer living "on the moon", where surely it is safer.

"We heard talk of an upcoming Israeli offensive called 'Scattered Flesh'. Could there be an uglier and more terrible outcome of a war than what we saw happening to our neighbours?" asked Abu Ali, an elderly Palestinian from Gaza City's Zaytoun neighbourhood.

Countless Gazans don't plan on sticking around to find out.

Bilal Badwan is a journalist based in Gaza.