The
Desecration Of Democracy
By Philip Rizk writing
from Gaza City
23 June, 2007
Electronic
Intifada
What
does it take to get Israel to just begin recognizing some Palestinian
human rights?
1. Carry out democratic elections
2. Determine a government according to the election outcome
3. THEN isolate this government in one part of the country
4. Set an illegal embargo on the people there
5. Freeze the government's bank accounts
6. Isolate the government internationally
The result will be:
1. The return of all stolen
taxes belonging to Palestinians
2. An easing of roadblocks and security measures
3. Lifting of the illegally imposed economic embargo
4. International funding for a new non-democratically determined government
5. Normalization of relations between international governments and
the non-democratically determined government
6. The legalizing of private American trade (the world's largest economy)
with Palestinians (previously this deed could result in incarceration)
7. The releasing of a political prisoner (with four life sentences)
to strengthen the non-democratically determined government
To try and bolster this two-faced
US foreign policy position in the Middle East, the US Secretary of State
said Monday:
"Through its actions,
Hamas sought to divide the Palestinian nation, we reject that. It is
the position of the United States that there is one Palestinian people
and there should be one Palestinian state."
In reality is it not Israel
and the US that are dividing the Palestinians by politically immobilizing
their elected leaders?
On Tuesday White House spokesman
Tony Snow was reported saying, "What's important is, you have to
have a partner who is committed to peace, and we believe that President
Abbas is. And therefore we are committed to working with this new emergency
government."
A source in the prime minister's
entourage in the US explained, "We want to make Hamas a pariah
and prevent it joining the international game."
Hamas' violent takeover of
the Gaza Strip last week resulted in two governments: the Hamas leadership
headed by deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and a new emergency
cabinet led by the Western-backed economist Salam Fayyad in the West
Bank. Both are calling the other the perpetrators of a coup.
What are the sources of this
division?
A fear overtook the Gaza
Strip after Hamas took control of institutions this past week, which
are rightfully theirs to control. The US and Israel's anticipated and
proclaimed reaction to the latest round of events (a democratically
elected government taking over government institutions) is causing fear
and uncertainty concerning Gazans' future plight. Few outside realize
that the Gaza Strip can hardly be more isolated, or sink into a worse
economic depression, save starvation, than it has in the past two years.
Many in Gaza consider the
emergency government to be legitimate, for the sole reason that the
world, not the majority of Palestinians, actually recognizes the new
political entity (in the last parliamentary elections the new prime
minister's party received 2.4 percent of vote).
The colonial tactic of conquer
and divide is being put to use on the Palestinians yet once again; initially
in the Gaza Strip between Fatah and Hamas and now between the West Bank
and Gaza.
This image, presumably developed
by Hamas (recalling the American deck of cards of their most wanted
in Iraq), paints a vivid picture of the deep seeded divisions in Palestinian
society.
Why was Hamas so determined
to wipe out this "collaborative cell in Fatah"? To just touch
on this question brings to the surface the deck's Ace, a Dahlan funded
hit man called Samih al-Madhoun, nicknamed "al-Maleoun" (the
cursed one) by many Hamas supporters. In the past weeks Hamas systematically
executed his companions and leaders and finally Samih himself after
this small group of fighters wreaked havoc in their neighborhood in
the northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians are more divided
and polarized than ever which can be seen in their reaction to last
week's events. Each side is pointing out the ultimate blame in the other.
Haaretz reported this account from a Fatah member who had fled Gaza,
"Hamas believes that
nothing will stop them from rising to power. Everything is legitimate:
to kill, burn, torture. Three people from National Security were decapitated
with a knife, the way they do in Iraq. They cut off the legs of Samih
al-Madhoun [a senior Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades figure] after they killed
him. They are animals."
My neighbor Ayman, a Hamas
supporter, was kidnapped by Samih one week before the latter was executed.
Ayman was beaten and taken to the beach to be shot. His oldest brother,
himself a Fatah activist, saved his life by calling the perpetrators
and pleading for his younger brother's life, many others were not as
fortunate.
"Civil war" has
often been uttered prematurely in the media, yet last week's kidnappings,
lootings and murders now taking place on a tit-for-tat basis between
West Bank Fatah men and Hamas activists in Gaza demonstrate this new
reality. Samih and his companions were used to sow division between
Palestinians.
Part of a conquer and divide
strategy is timing. Why did Israel wait until this moment to consider
Mahmoud Abbas a "partner committed to peace" when his positions
have hardly changed since his election over two years ago? Why is Israel
only now considering freeing Marwan al-Barghouthi, a convicted Fatah
activist? Why only now release the frozen government taxes ($570 million)
that the Palestinians have desperately needed since Israel started withholding
them in March of last year?
On Monday Haaretz's Akiva
Eldar wrote, "If Ariel Sharon were able to hear the news from the
Gaza Strip and West Bank, he would call his loyal aide, Dov Weissglas,
and say with a big laugh: 'We did it, Dubi.' Sharon is in a coma, but
his plan is alive and kicking. Everyone is now talking about the state
of Hamastan. In his house, they called it a bantustan, after the South
African protectorates designed to perpetuate apartheid."
Just as in the Palestinian
territories, blacks and colored people in South Africa were given limited
autonomy in the country's least fertile areas. Those who remained outside
these isolated enclaves, which were disconnected from each other, received
the status of foreign workers, without civil rights. A few years ago,
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema told Israeli friends that shortly
before he was elected prime minister, Sharon told him that the bantustan
plan was the most suitable solution to our conflict.
Although Mahmoud Abbas and
his new US backed government have finally received international status
and the economic blockade is being lifted on Palestinians, the Palestinian
cause seems to have been buried beneath the rubble. With internal division
more than ever in the limelight, the source of all this mess, the atrocities
carried out against Palestinians dating back to the early 20th century,
solidified in 1948 and ongoing land theft, colonial expansion and disregard
of Palestinian human rights are forgotten amidst the chaos.
The Palestinians are more
divided than ever, distracted by wrongs carried out against each other.
The plot of conquer and divide
is a great smokescreen covering up the desecration of democracy and
another attempt to lay to rest the Palestinian cause.
Philip Rizk is
an Egyptian-German who has lived in Gaza since August 2005 where he
works and writes. Philip runs a blog: tabulagaza.com.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.