Attempted assassination of the Palestinian Prime Minister and the reconciliation file
Since the failed attempt to harm the Palestinian Prime Minister Hamdallah during his recent visit to Gaza, the search machine for the perpetrator or perpetrators of the terrorist operation has been working with all its might and capacity to uncover the truth... So far, many names have been circulated and responsibility for the operation attributed to various parties... Promoters claim that they stand behind the failed assassination attempt... and we have been inundated with a flood of scrutiny and analysis based on the conspiracy theory, which unfortunately has become the sole dominant driver of Palestinian thinking.
Before entering into an analysis of the dimensions of this terrorist operation and its implications for the Palestinian reconciliation file, I must record some points that I consider axiomatic but are a solid foundation for calmly understanding the equation of what is happening in Palestine and to avoid falling into the trap of speculation and suspicion and forgetting the supreme national interest:
First, this is not the first assassination attempt on a central figure in the Palestinian political arena... Months ago, terrorists tried to harm Major General Tawfiq Abu Naim in Gaza, and from time to time we hear about killings and deaths for strange and bizarre reasons among elements from both sides of the conflict, Fatah and Hamas.
Second, this will not be the last attempt to assassinate a national figure in occupied Palestine... I am fully convinced that similar terrorist acts will be heard about in the coming months, and the brutality and frequency of these operations will increase as we advance steps toward ending the division.
Third, in previous articles I pointed out that Palestinian reconciliation and ending the division are two very different matters in terms of content, strategy, and timing... It is not necessarily the case that reconciliation comes after ending the division! I warned against inflated optimism, that we are close to reconciliation and not just to overcoming and ending the division. This optimism was spread by many colleagues after the Prime Minister's first visit to Gaza... I said that we have now started the path of ending the division, which is complex and long, and we will experience many failures that sometimes force us to slow down or even stop, not just slow the process... And we have not yet started reconciliation (see article on pages 60 and 61)... We all must take seriously the difference between reconciliation and ending the division so as not to create false impressions about reality in Palestine and not to plant false hope in people's minds and hearts.
Fourth, I am certain that the frontline political leadership of both Fatah and Hamas has no connection whatsoever to these terrorist acts and the speculations some tried to spread about the involvement of some known names in this act are merely attempts to spread chaos, create an atmosphere of fear in the street, and sow doubt in everything political and national...
It is mistaken to believe that ending the Palestinian division is a purely Palestinian matter governed only by the will and desire of political leaders in the Palestinian arena... Unfortunately, this prevalent belief among our Palestinian people and its elite stems only from wishful thinking and is far from being a realistic reading of the situation and political components in Palestine. Even before the division, the political independence of the Palestinian elite was limited and linked, in most decisive decisions, to external decision centers far from the narrow Palestinian sphere... After the division, the capacity for independent political action, already limited, of the Palestinian elite, especially those affiliated with the two dominant movements, Fatah and Hamas, has shrunk. Yes, for a long time we have not been masters of ourselves, decision-makers, or followers of only our national interests... The Palestinian situation has become a ball tossed by players in the regional and international arena, and the Palestinian fate has become a subject of bargaining among political and security interests in the region... This dialectic leads us to a realistic view of the situation and pushes us away from wishful thinking and spreading false hope, bringing us closer to a realistic view of our situation in the hope that this view will lead to thinking about other strategies to get out of the impasse caused by both Fatah and Hamas... Blaming the leaderships of these two movements repeatedly and holding them solely responsible for ending the division, without considering that their decision is not theirs alone... This is primitive populism and debate that will not lead us to the goal.
The attempted assassination of the Prime Minister is undoubtedly an attempt by certain parties to obstruct the completion of the division-ending file. These parties could be Palestinian, purely external, or internal with external agendas... All possibilities are open. In my opinion, the party concerned with the terrorist operation is not as important as the goal of the operation... which is clear to all and requires no analytical conjectures... The unity of the Palestinian people and their potential strength to confront the occupation is the primary target of this terrorist operation, not the person of the Prime Minister.
Ending the Palestinian division is a complex political process despite everyone's awareness that the division is harmful... As in every political process, there are two parties: a winner and a loser... The losing party from ending the division, as a first step toward moving to the national reconciliation path, is complex and has extensions within the Palestinian political, military, and economic elite as well as foreign and Arab extensions, all of whom will lose if the division ends... This long-arm losing party has significant influence and capabilities to obstruct Palestinian unity, and assassination attempts on national figures are just one of several possibilities this party will use to hinder the process or at least prolong the division.
The impression that prevailed for long periods that one party to the conflict benefited from the division has faded, and now we witness that everyone has become targeted... The distancing of the Palestinian masses from political work and their loss of trust in all Palestinian factions, as recent polls have shown, is a clear indication that everyone is losing and everyone is paying the price of this division, both people and factions.
The two parties to the division, Fatah and Hamas, have not yet realized the magnitude of the national loss and the price the Palestinian people pay daily, although I am certain that the majority of them desire to end this destructive situation... However, their own capabilities are insufficient to cross the critical point in the path of ending the division... What to do?
A legitimate and urgent question for all of us to work hand in hand, each according to his capabilities, to answer...
The Tunisian poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabi was right when he said:
If the people one day desire life, destiny must respond
It is the fate of the Palestinian people to go through this difficult phase and live under a deteriorating political system led by political leaders who no longer believe in the power and capabilities of the people... But it is never the fate of the Palestinian people, this people who have challenged for over two centuries and still challenge the most dangerous and fiercest types of organized war and political crimes against them, to surrender to the status quo and wait for their extinction... Now we stand at a major and dangerous crossroads, and as the rural proverb says: 'Only your fingernail can scratch your skin,' we must not surrender to fate... We must challenge obstacles and take the words of the Tunisian poet:
And whoever does not love climbing mountains will live forever among the pits
The pit prepared for us by the division must be closed by us, individuals, factions, elders, youth, women, and men... Wishing that an Arab or foreign party will help us overcome this fate is nothing but mirage and illusion...
The experiences of peoples teach us that relief comes from within and from self-conviction in one's abilities and capabilities... A quick look at the people of Vietnam, Yemen, Syria, and the peoples of southern Africa teaches us that change is possible and victory is the ally of struggling peoples, not the ally of peoples waiting for relief from the sky or from outside...
Only a broad, ongoing Palestinian popular movement spread throughout all places where the Palestinian people exist can pressure its leadership to help these leaders cross the decisive point, despite the great difficulties, in the path of ending the division and blocking the way for mercenaries, Palestinian, Arab, foreign, and Zionist, who try through political assassinations and hypocrisy to corrupt the path of national unity in Palestine.
