Mirror, mirror on the wall

Saleh Al-Naami, Al-Ahram Weekly, 04-10/10/07. Fatah confronts itself in Gaza, and it's not a pretty picture. Hassan Zarqi, a 29-year-old officer in the Gaza security forces and supporter of Fatah, had previously participated in all protest actions against Hamas, but last Wednesday could not avoid participating in a demonstration against the Fayyad government itself after the government stopped paying his salary and that of 10,000 other members of the security forces, most of whom belong to Fatah. The sudden decision of the Fayyad government to stop paying the salaries of thousands of those in the security agencies caused embarrassment for its collective leadership in the Gaza Strip. Ahmed Halas, a prominent leader, says that he and his colleagues submitted a mass resignation to Abu Mazen in his capacity as the head of Fatah.

What has made matters even more critical for Fatah leaders in Gaza is the fact that oppression of the Hamas movement in the West Bank by the security agencies of Abu Mazen takes place in full coordination with the Israeli security agencies. Fatah leaders in Gaza have been stunned by the response of their allies in Palestinian leftist movements that used to line up behind them to confront Hamas and who are now demanding an explanation for the organised oppression of Hamas in the West Bank and the cooperation of Prime Minister Fayyad with Israeli security forces.

Al-Sheikh Khalil stressed that they realise the movement's leadership in Ramallah has decided to move to bloody confrontation with Hamas through a plan based on bombings and other disruptions of the Hamas regime in Gaza. As such, the movement's leadership has decided to disappear from the arena before this plan is carried out so that it is not held responsible by Hamas and subjected to legal questioning.

Yehia Moussa, deputy head of the Hamas parliamentary bloc in the Palestinian Legislative Council, holds that the Fatah leadership in Gaza was "forced" to present its resignation and that this "confirms the absence of a democratic process within the movement". He accuses the Fatah leadership in Ramallah of "appealing to personal considerations and abandoning Gaza in all of its political components."

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