Did the leaderships of Fatah and Hamas ask the Palestinian people for forgiveness for what they committed against them over seven years??!!
After more than seven years of Palestinian division between Hamas and Fatah, which led to internal fighting between the militias of both sides, resulting in 'one thousand four hundred and thirty-one victims' (1431) from our Palestinian people, in addition to the verbal war that was and still is used in speeches filled with hatred and betrayal, and after all this severe damage in political, economic, and social fields caused by this division to our Palestinian people and their just cause, the conflicting parties agreed after years of negotiations, maneuvers, and efforts to hold a so-called 'National Unity Government' wedding.
After signing the agreement and appointing the new government in mid-last year, the fog cleared and it quickly became clear that the trust between the two parties was fragile and nonexistent. We hear and observe from time to time how the two sides exchange accusations and violate agreements, deepening the abyss and increasing the rift in the Palestinian street. This rift deepens with superficial analyses by some 'political experts' from both sides, despite the spokespeople of both movements hastening to avoid worsening the situation and calming tensions. Suddenly, both Fatah and Hamas sing praises of reconciliation and praise its architects. Despite their attempts to hide the truth behind verbal simulations, the entire Palestinian people fully realize that both sides harbor hatred for each other and set traps at every corner. The people see deceit and flattery in the eyes of both parties, which has become their only distinguishing feature.
What was called a national reconciliation was nothing but a quota-sharing between Hamas and Fatah. The results of this crippled quota-sharing on our people and their national cause are evident to all day by day. Yes, both Fatah and Hamas work with all their might to preserve the largest amount of privileges for their followers, disregarding the voice of the struggling street and the demands of the stage.
Despite months passing since signing the lame spoils-sharing agreement between Hamas and Fatah, we see no unity on the ground or in the sky of Palestine. No militant unity, no political rhetorical unity, and no strategic unity for struggle. What we follow is that the Hamas government in Gaza and the Fatah leadership in Ramallah remain in the same position and category they were in before signing the quota-sharing agreement! Each is entrenched on a fragile throne surrounded by settlements and the Israeli occupation army, while our Palestinian people alone pay the price.
As for the puppet called the 'National Unity Government,' it is still captive to the Hamas-Fatah simulations and has not yet been able to take a noticeable step to take control in Gaza. The shy visit of the Palestinian Prime Minister to the Gaza Strip after the brutal Zionist aggression is proof that this government is nothing but a decoration to hide the Hamas-Fatah quota-sharing!!
And so as not to create the impression among some that I am generally pessimistic about the Palestinian situation, I want to clarify briefly that I firmly believe in the victory of our proud people in their war against occupation and Zionist colonialism, but I doubt—and this doubt grows day by day—that this victory will be achieved under the leadership of such men (unfortunately no women among them!) who occupy positions of power in Ramallah and Gaza. We must fully acknowledge the harsh truth and this bitter reality that those who need more than seven years to take a feeble step to end the suffering of the Palestinian people from the division they planted with their own hands and will among us, and who watch from afar how Gaza was bombed with rockets and its neighborhoods destroyed, and how tens of thousands of our people live months after the Zionist aggression in transitional housing or under the open sky without moving a finger... these people are not even fit to be employees in a small municipality, let alone entrusted with the cause of a people whose land was stolen and continues to be stolen daily, a people striving for self-determination and refusing to become beggars living off donor scraps.
In conclusion, I invoke the words of Jesus Christ: 'It is not fitting to put a new patch on an old garment'—to reach the main point of the article and the essence of the matter: if the Palestinian people want to make serious progress in their struggle for self-determination, they must take a bold step to rid themselves of the weight of the old past and its leaderships who fulfilled their national duty in the past but are now incapable and unfit to meet the demands of the era and lack the tools for renewal and the will for change. The time has come—not only within Hamas and Fatah but in all Palestinian political frameworks—to allow the creative young generation to continue the struggle with enthusiasm and new programs suitable for the stage's requirements, producing thought and struggle tools that meet the era's conditions and expose the true nature of the conflict with the Zionist occupier.
