Hamas, with its fundamentalist Islamist agenda, has seized control of the Gaza Strip and split it from Fatah-controlled West Bank, writes Michael Jansen
As Hamas fighters consolidated their grip on the Gaza Strip yesterday, Islam Shahawan, spokesman for the movement's military wing told Hamas radio that "the past era has ended and will not return. The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived."
Hamas hardliners intend to reign irrespective of what happens in the West Bank, which is under control of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah.
Islam's reference to "justice" was significant. After the establishment of the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority in 1994, its preventive security agency, led by Muhammad Dahlan, brutally crushed Hamas. The seizure of the agency's headquarters in Gaza City and execution of captured officers was harsh retribution for past treatment of Hamas.
Hamas refers to Dahlan and his agencies as a "treacherous stream in the Fatah movement", accusing it of collaborating with Israel and the US to subvert the Palestinian struggle.
Fatah claims that equally "subversive" hardliners in Hamas are trying to take over Gaza and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the umbrella grouping created by Fatah and other secular groups.
As the fighting in Gaza escalated, Mr Dahlan, the president's security adviser, was in Cairo receiving medical treatment rather than in the Strip, where he normally resides. He travelled to Ramallah yesterday, too late to be of use. Fatah units based in Gaza complain that their leaders are not in the strip, are detached from events there and offer no support.
Fatah, in spite of numerical superiority, is up against better-armed, better-trained, better-disciplined and more highly motivated Hamas fighters whose political leaders and military commanders are in Gaza.
They have prepared for a clash ever since Fatah refused to share power with Hamas, undermining the Hamas government formed in March 2006 and the national unity government set up this March. Fatah has been bolstered by the Quartet - comprised of the US, UN, EU and Russia - which led an economic boycott. This policy was castigated by Alvaro De Soto, the former UN regional envoy, who said sanctions have had "devastating con- sequences" for the Palestinians.
Gaza has felt the effect of sanctions far more than the West Bank. In Gaza, 800,000 of 1.4 million residents depend on food aid. Unemployment is soaring. Trade has been stifled because farmers and manufacturers cannot import material they need or export produce and goods because Israel has besieged the strip. While Fatah and Hamas have tried to mitigate the effect of sanctions by employing young men in their militias, Fatah has gone for quantity, recruiting thousands in rabble units, while Hamas has opted for quality, establishing an effective force of 9,000.
Gaza has always been quite different from the West Bank. It is more conservative, devout, poor and more likely to accept an "Islamic" government. The strip's traditional ties have been with Egypt, which ruled Gaza from 1948 until 1967. Gazans speak Arabic with an Egyptian lilt. Gazan men wear the Egyptian caftan and most women cover their heads. Most Hamas leaders are either doctors or engineers educated at Egyptian universities where they became associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The West Bank, ruled by Jordan from 1948-1967, is more secular and open to western influences.
Located in the Palestinian heartland and with a population of 2.4 million, the West Bank is also the senior partner in the Palestinian Authority. During the brief period when there was freedom of movement between the two territories, many Gazan men travelled to the West Bank in search of jobs and found they were not welcome.
If Gaza and the West Bank come under separate governments, the Palestinian Authority is certain to collapse, depriving the Palestinians of the vehicle for achieving statehood.
A Hamas-run Gaza is likely to remain under sanctions, plunging its citizens even deeper into poverty, while a West Bank Fatah government could not claim to represent the Palestinian people or conduct negotiations with Israel.
Division is the worst option for the Palestinians.