In
Gaza: Democracy And
Its Discontents
By Ramzy Baroud
30 December, 2006
Countercurrents.org
It’s
all too convenient for the BBC website to describe the ongoing bloodshed
between Hamas and Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip as “inter-factional
rivalry”, and it’s equally fitting for the Washington Post
to narrate the same unfortunate events - which have left many Palestinians
dead and wounded - as if they are entirely detached from their adjoining
regional and international milieus.
Also puzzling are calls made
by “leading moderate Arab leaders” to fighting Palestinian
factions to convene in this Arab capital or that to settle their differences
and to achieve an increasingly elusive ceasefire, as if they, the Arabs
- who cowed to US pressure to ensure the success of the debilitating
sanctions imposed against the democratic Palestinian governments - haven’t
contributed, actively and knowingly to the unfolding crisis in Palestine.
This is all but atypical,
where Palestinians will be gently or harshly reprimanded for failing
to sort out their differences in a more civilized manner, where they
will be taught a lesson or two by some self-righteous American commentators
about the true meaning of democracy, where they will be reminded that
they are “their own worst enemies” and that they never “miss
an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Nonsense.
What is taking place in the
Occupied Territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip has much less to
do with inter-factional rivalries and a lot more with regional and international
power plays, in which some foolhardy Palestinians decided to involve
themselves for the sake of maintaining personal and factional gains.
To avoid delving into self-pity,
I wish to emphasis a point that I have made repeatedly in the past:
if it were not for the dysfunctional nature and lack of unity within
the myriad of political and societal structures that claims to represent
the Palestinian people, no political designs, be it American or Israeli
or any other, would’ve succeeded in duping the Palestinians into
such caustic behaviour and self-defeatism. (The gunning down of three
kids on December 11 and the killing of other innocent people, including
children, in addition to the attempted assassination of Prime Minister
Ismail Haniya on December 14, have indeed crossed all red lines, even
by the shabby standards of ideological gangsterism.)
Self-admonishment aside,
however, one must not be too hasty to conclude that the newest episode
of violence witnessed in Gaza – following PA President Mahmoud
Abbas’s suggestion of early polls on December 9, and then his
televised speech revealing his intention to hold early legislative and
presidential elections on December 14 – was a spur of the moment
event, incited by lack of discipline on the part of a few rouge elements.
Rather, it’s a facet of the thus-far unsuccessful, prolonged coup
d'état to topple the Palestinian government, which was declared
candidly by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, demanded by Israel,
and entrusted to President Abbas and some factions within his discredited
Fatah party, following Hamas’ advent to power in the internationally
monitored and transparent elections held January 2006.
Those who might find it justifiable
to outset a ‘theocratic’ regime by any means necessary,
even by an assassin’s bullet, fail to realize that despite Hamas’
religious posture, it has done very little so far to divert from the
dictates of democracy. To the contrary, they seem more keen on adhering
to the secular Palestinian constitution than Abbas himself, whose call
to disband the parliament is both anti-democratic and unconstitutional.
Indeed, this is not a war
between religious zealots and democratic secularists; far from it. However,
it’s a battle of many meanings, each tailored and defined to suit
the interests and manage the concerns of the many parties involved,
and indeed, they are not all Palestinians.
Hamas did not come to power
at the back of an American tank, like more or less the pro-Washington
regime in Iraq, or via an Israeli sanctioned and armed political system
of corruption and elitism, like the one concocted following the signing
of Oslo in 1993. It neither imposed nor manipulated its way to power.
It was the outcome of an overwhelming democratic process, ironically
enough, a part of America’s democratic drive in the Middle East,
itself a distraction from its horrendous failures in Iraq.
So what went wrong?
The election of Hamas sent
shock waves across the Middle East, for it offered an Islamic alternative
that didn’t defy the norms of democracy, but seemed capable of
locating a method for a lasting union between the two, unlike the Algerian
example, which inspired the most destructive civil war.
Second, it crippled the Bush
administration’s ‘vision’ of democracy in the Middle
East, one that is cemented with the assumption that pro-America’s
regional allies can possibly achieve a façade of democracy without
any major overhauling of their political systems that might endanger
US interests. The Iraqi and Egyptian presidential elections were hoped
to be the models to follow, not that of Hamas.
Third, Hamas’ win,
mostly based on its anti-corruption ticket, has threatened to destroy
and filter out an utterly corrupt political system that the Palestinian
Authority’s echelons have enjoyed, with full Israeli backing.
(It’s rather telling that the US and the EU didn’t mind
feeding that corrupt system, but withheld their funds when another system
that vowed to cleanse the corruption was elected in its place.) The
authority’s structure, as constructed by Oslo, has produced one
of the most corrupt and corruptible political regimes, with full reliance
on American and European aid, money that barely tricked down on the
oppressed multitudes (who were stricken to a much greater degree by
the Israeli occupiers and their Palestinian beneficiaries.)
Palestinians had no illusions
that electing a government under occupation doesn’t change the
status quo of their beleaguered lives, but it could, they hoped, bring
an end to the nepotistic system espoused at home, which also saw no
particular urgency in ending the Israeli occupation.
The Bush administration,
which immediately toned down its democracy rhetoric following the Palestinian
elections was hell-bent on toppling Hamas. Although for Israel no matter
who is at the Palestinian helm, Israel can never admit to having a trustworthy
peace partner (for Israel it has always been about winning time, rather
than achieving peace), the Israelis seemed to be enjoying and had actively
exasperated Palestinian chaos for it represented an historical opportunity
to consume Palestinians in endless internal strife, and even better,
a civil war. And as the Arabs followed Washington’s orders and
as the Europeans waited for further instructions (so much for the European
alternative peace broker), Palestinians fell into the trap, turning
one of the shiniest moments for democracy in the region, to one of extreme
irony, agony and possible defeat.
It is decidedly clear that
the policy planners in Washington and Tel Aviv have converged on the
need for a prolonged era of Palestinian infighting and to eventually
topple the government; it’s also clear that Abbas and his followers
have agreed to play their entrusted roles, as have many Arab rulers.
I desperately want to conclude with the claim that Palestinians will
once again withstand this harsh, cruel test, and win with their unity
and democracy unscathed; but after what I have seen in the last a few
days, and being convinced of the extent of the American experiment that
stretches far beyond the crowded streets of besieged, impoverished Gaza,
I am no longer certain that they will. But if they fail, so will true
democracy and its advocates, for the word would then be devoid of any
meaning, and would once again be demoted to resemble another usual US
charade, as it always has.
Ramzy Baroud’s latest
book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s
Struggle (Pluto Press) is available at Amazon.com and also from the
University of Michigan Press. He can be contacted via his ramzybaroud.net
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