Abbas who ruins Palestine

I almost cried with joy when Hamas-Fatah accord was finally signed in Mecca. I still remember watching jubilant Palestinians on the streets shown on TV after the announcement of the Mecca Accord.

“Palestinians have never been this happy…”, remarked a journalist reporting from Gaza streets.

The accord gave birth to the Unity Government, which was the best achievement ever produced by the long occupied Palestinians.

Imagine this, a Palestinian Unity Government formed after an agreement signed in the holiest Islamic city collapsed after three months of its inception. Could there be any other accords among Palestinians more honored in the future? Logically no. Practically it has to be one, though.

Did Hamas stage a coup in Gaza against legitimacy last two weeks?

“How could we stage a coup against our ownselves?,” Ismail Haniyyah asked back in his landmark speech last weekend. Ismail Haniyyah is still functioning as the PM for “caretaker government” in Gaza despite Abbas’s decree to sack his government.

Abbas has since form an emergency government in West Bank, where Fatah still largely in control. Palestine Basic Law (Constitution) gives power to the President to sack government, but he could not form a government without consent from the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) in which Hamas won control in the last election.

Thus, to win credibility for his newly formed emergency government, Abbas has also decreed to suspend the Palestine Basic Law. In other words, Abbas’s decree created two “governments” for Palestine, an emergency government in West Bank and a caretaker government in Gaza. Since, the Palestine Authorities is now run by the President’s decrees, and not by the Basic Law, the Palestinians end up having two governments, both with disputed legitimacy.

Now, where do both “governments” go from here? Without a national dialogue, both could only go to the unknown. While Hamas insists on having dialogue to resolve the issue, Fatah announced it had severed all contacts with Hamas. Abbas even banned Fatah officials from having any contact with Hamas.

“We don’t talk to murderers,” said Abbas. Ironically he talks to Israelis who imprisoned and murdered tens of thousands of Palestinians.

When Hosni Mubarak called for inter-Palestine dialogue during recent summit in Egypt, both Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas were caught off-guard. The summit was supposed to drum up international support for Abbas and to further isolate Hamas. What has changed Hosni Mubarak, the very host of the summit?

Officials closed to the event pointing out at Ehud Olmert refusal to put Mid-East Peace Talk, stalled since the year 2000, back to its track. The best Ehud Olmert could offer to Abbas was to releasing the frozen tax money amounting to USD600 million, withheld by Israeli regime since Hamas won election in 2005, and freeing 260 Fatah prisoners out of 11,000 overall Palestinian prisoners, including 600 women and children, currently in Israel prisons. Olmert refusal to revive Peace Talk angered Arab leaders, which prompted Hosni Mubarak to make such remark.

Olmert’s refusal gave credit to Ismail Haniyyah, who said in a speech made two days earlier that Abbas was wrong in working with Israel, at the expense of inter Palestine dialogue.

“The Israelis will not give you anything! You will get nothing from the Israelis!,” Haniyyah scorned at Abbas in his speech before the summit. In the summit, Olmert, unfortunately, proved that Haniyyah was correct. Even Haniyyah could have hoped that he was wrong.

Fatah has lost Gaza. Today, Gazans enjoy internal security against crimes and gangs. Internal fightings had become past things in Gaza. Hamas proved it by freeing Alan Johnston, a BBC journalist abducted by a known criminal gang in Gaza.

But, thousands other Gazans are deprived from enjoying this rare tranquility in Gaza as they are stranded in Egypt when Rafah Crossing, the only gateaway for Gazans to the outside world, was closed since Hamas took control of Gaza. The crossing was previously operated by joined Egypt and PA security office under EU observations. But, the crossing is strictly under Israel control. It could operate without Israel permission or without EU observers presence.

While waiting the rafah crossing opened, some had died under such harsh condition at the border.

Abbas whose popularity comes to its lowest after the unpopular decree relies heavily on Israel and American support for its political survival. Instead of working to open the Rafah crossing, Abbas told the stranded Gazans to reroute their entrance through Karm Abu Salim, a crossing fully under Israeli Force control. There, Gazans who cross at Karm Abu Salim would be subjected to harsh interrogation by the Israeli forces and possibly abducted under arbitrary suspicions. One could be abducted and sent to jail simply because his or her relatives are known to be affiliating with any armed resistance factions.

Forcing Gazans to enter through Karm Abu Salim, Haniyyah charged, would harm Palestinians and strengten the symbol of Israeli occupation. Hamas rejected the arrangement.

One event after another brought Palestinians deeper into crisis. Abbas, after the end of emergency government period, was granted support from PLO Central Committe to call for early election. This time, not only would Hamas be barred from running in the election, the election laws would also be amended to suit Fatah’s need.

I could write a book on Palestine. But, one things is quite clear. Without internal national dialogue among Palestinians, all political works from any faction could be of no use at all. Elections, peace talks, reforms, cabinets, all would go nowhere without national consensus. By refusing dialogue, Abbas is going all the way to the wrong direction.