It has been five months since employees of the Palestinian Authority (PA) have received their salaries. However, the Western financial siege on Palestinian areas is barely affecting Hamas employees, but it is hitting mostly Fatah and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) workers since they make up the majority of PA employees.
Hamas members, including those in the Legislative Council, receive their salaries through their own institutions. Just a few weeks ago, Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Al Zahar, a Hamas leader, returned to Gaza from a trip with $20 million given to him by Iran to finance the movement's activities.
The PLO is under duress economically and politically. The kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit by Hamas and the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza have created a dilemma for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He wants to resume negotiations with the Israelis, but finds no counterpart on the other side.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not consider him a partner. During a conference of Nobel laureates in Petra, Jordan, a week before the kidnapping, Olmert declared that he would meet Abbas within two weeks. But now everything has changed.
The fact is that the idea of strengthening Abbas or the PLO vis-à-vis Hamas never seemed to be a serious option for the Israeli government. In Petra, Olmert did not even refer to Abbas as the "Palestinian president," but only as the "PA chairman." Furthermore, he stressed that Abbas was not the Palestinian prime minister, reminding everyone that as long as the Palestinian government consisted of Hamas members, Israel would not have a partner for negotiations.
Olmert also explained his reasons for pursuing a unilateral withdrawal policy in the occupied territories: the United States, France, and the United Kingdom supported his position of not holding official bilateral meetings with the Palestinians until Hamas recognized Israel and the PA disarmed terrorist groups as required by the road map peace plan. Olmert also reiterated his objection to Israel's withdrawing to the 1967 borders.
Without support on the Israeli side, Abbas faces a dilemma. Even PLO members are now saying that, thanks to Israel's offensive in Gaza, all Palestinian factions support Hamas' resistance. Indeed, press reports early this week affirmed such a change in mood, with the popularity of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya reportedly on the rise.
PLO members argue that Israel's attacks on Gaza are not the right strategy for preventing terrorist attacks and the launching of Qassem rockets, and that, by failing to support Abbas, Israel and the West have deprived themselves of a partner for negotiations. Abba Eban's witticism, "Arabs never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity [for peace]," repeatedly used to describe the Palestinians, now seems to apply more accurately to Israel.
During the Petra conference, Abbas showed his willingness to compromise. The portrayal of Abbas as a non-charismatic, weak leader was belied by his self-assurance. Sitting next to Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, he answered the latter's pointed questions on his position regarding terrorism, the Holocaust, negotiations with Israel, and the Hamas government. Abbas stated that he considered attacks against civilians to be a crime against humanity. He said that he felt empathy with Jews over the Holocaust, explaining that was why he looked forward to a two-state solution that would provide safety and hope for both Jews and Arabs.
Abbas said that he was ready to negotiate on all issues, including Jerusalem. Abbas also stressed that he was fighting terrorism in Gaza every day and trying to stop armed groups from launching Qassem rockets against Israel. Despite his newly acquired self-assurance, however, Abbas still does not seem to be well understood by the international community.
Abbas' trip to Tunis at the end of May, where he sought to reunite the PLO by reconciling with Fatah general secretary Farouk Qaddoumi, did not capture much attention. His desire to establish a valid political alternative to Hamas among the Palestinians, and Qaddoumi's consent to become the PLO foreign minister under Abbas, was not regarded by observers as particularly important. Yet the PLO has shown willingness to move toward peace, if Abbas can only be given an opportunity to do so.
The future now seems uncertain for both the Palestinians and Israelis. Iran is now inciting the Muslim world against Israel, so an escalation by the Lebanese Hizbullah should not be ruled out. According to PLO members in Tunis, a new generation of Palestinians is unhappy with the PLO leadership's policy of negotiating with Israel, since this seems to lead nowhere. Therefore, while Abbas is now willing to make territorial compromises, younger PLO members may be unwilling to accept this.
There is much frustration and pressure inside the PLO. Members do not know which measures to adopt in order to stabilize the PA. If prior to the Israeli invasion of Gaza Palestinians were on the verge of civil war, now they are united. The PLO therefore feels that it cannot afford to confront Hamas and has no real chance of resuming talks with Israel, since the population will not support such a policy.
During a visit to Malaysia, Zahar asked the PLO ambassador there what he has done for the Palestinian people in the last 40 years. The ambassador answered that the question was indeed appropriate, since, if the Palestinians ended up with someone like Zahar in a position of responsibility, the PLO must have been utterly incompetent.
Anna Mahjar-Barducci is a Tunis-based Moroccan-Italian journalist. She was correspondent in the Occupied territories during the second intifada. Her commentaries are regularly published in the Italian daily Il Foglio. She wrote this commentary for The Daily Star
Viewpoint: Turning Abbas into a missed opportunity
TOOLBAR
To add a comment,
Please log in:
Don't have an account?
Register now to comment on stories and stay up to date on important events and issues in the Middle East with our newsletter.