Ramallah: Amid the ongoing violence in Palestine, the country’s political factions appear to have little control over events on the ground.
Palestinian commentators and analysts say that political leaders are finding themselves in the position of just being bystanders as Palestinians acting on their own launch attacks against Israelis in protest of the occupation regime’s policies. Factional leaders have effectively “gone into hiding,” they say.
“The factions have totally failed to set up either a leadership or a political framework for the wave of violence,” said Samih Shabib, a Palestinian political analyst. “It is surely for the good of the Palestinian people that the Palestinian factions did not intervene at all... The results would have been very different had the factions got involved.”
Israel has in the past blamed the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah and Gaza for violence against its soldiers or colonists. This time, however, it has struggled to produce links, causing concern among its public that a leaderless uprising may be impossible to quash.
Shabib said Israel may be forced to change the rules of the game within a month or two. “We are waiting for this change or else further escalation appears in the horizon,” he warned.
He said the ongoing wave of violence cannot be stopped by any Palestinian politician, including President Mahmoud Abbas, who finds himself and his ruling Fatah party in an extremely difficult situation. “Palestinian options are very limited and any action can easily determine the future of Abbas and Fatah as a whole,” he told Gulf News. “Fatah’s has not gained in popularity so far from the wave of violence ... although several Fatah leaders have praised the ‘lone-wolf’attacks.”
“Unless the Palestinian people see real accomplishments on the ground, there will be no chance for any call to restore calm,” he said.
Dr Abdul Sattar Qasem, who heads the Political Science Department at Al Najah National University in Nablus, said that the leaders of the Palestinian political parties have set themselves up in a cage from which they cannot escape. “Taking actions that put you at risk of failure, criticism and rejection would take the Palestinian factions’ leaders to a position where their statements land on deaf ears,” he told Gulf News. “The factions have committed themselves to Israel’s security and adjusted to the Israeli occupation and are tasked with calming the Palestinian street [on Israel’s behalf],” he said. “We do not expect anything good for the benefit of the Palestinian cause from the various parties and call them to stay aside.”
Gaza based Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have called for an escalation in the West Bank only, largely refraining from attacking Israel from the Gaza Strip.
“It is a vital interest for both of the Islamic movements to call for escalation and incite violence outside the Gaza Strip,” he said, adding that the coastal strip could not stand a new Israeli offensive.
While Abbas calls for peaceful resistance, the Palestinian leader has refrained from calling for an end to violence. “Abbas surely knows that such a call will not be well received by the Palestinian public,” he said. Abbas blamed the recent bloodshed on the Israeli military forces whose behaviour could trigger a religious conflict that could have devastating effects.
Qasem said the Palestinian security apparatus, which Abbas controls, is a tool in his hands that can be used at any moment. “Palestinian-Israel security coordination is a win-win for both, and the attitude of those forces is still ‘watch but do not intervene’,” he said.
“When [he wants], Abbas will recruit his security forces to contain the violence, reduce the tension and attempt to break the public awakening from within.”
