Ah, where are those Arabs?

[barb162]

Last update - 08:20 30/04/2006

Ah, where are those Arabs?

By Zvi Bar'el

Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, was infuriated by Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas' political bureau. Last Friday, at a mass rally held at the Yarmuk refugee camp in Damascus, Meshal accused PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues of treason and surrender to Israel. That same day, all the floodgates opened and exchanges of gunfire took over the streets of Gaza. Israel celebrated: Hamas is starting to fall apart. But then there was a turning point - Hamas acted "contrary to expectations." Haniyeh said that if Meshal did not retract his statements, he and his government would resign. Meshal made some subdued remarks and relative quiet returned to the streets.

On the day of the Damascus rally, Jordan revealed that arms had been smuggled across its border from Syria, and it canceled Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar's scheduled visit. Haniyeh was facing another challenge: Hamas in exile was again tripping him up and hindering his efforts to establish proper and essential relations with the most important country - the one that controls the lifelines between Palestine and the Arab states.

The internal battle between Hamas inside and outside the territories is nothing new, but its scope is becoming more and more clear because the transition from a radical ideological movement - only a moment ago a terrorist organization - to a government that requires legitimacy has turned out to be an almost obligatory process. This is the same political logic that led Zahar on Thursday suddenly to speak about the possibility of conducting negotiations with Israel, and it is also expressed in the developing relationship between Abbas and Haniyeh. Both realize that they cannot function without the other. Abbas cannot offer a political or security alternative, and Haniyeh cannot fulfill his commitments to the public without the funds and connections Abbas can mobilize for him.


Hamas may now be experiencing the schism that the PLO and other organizations in the world underwent when they found themselves faced with the difficult choice between two types of legitimacy: that which is derived from an armed struggle and sacrifice versus that which demands responsibility and providing for needs. This dilemma, of course, does not interest decision makers in Israel, who are now beguiled by the charms of convergence: The slightest shadow of a partner threatens their pattern of thinking. It also perturbs those who "really know who those Arabs are."
snip
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/710867.html

[Burning Water]

1. Once again,

the revolution is beginning to eat its own. Regular as clockwork.

[ShalachEtAmi]

2. Thats the problem with the Hamas government...

Too many official spokes peoples, saying one thing one day only to be contradicted by some other official the very next day.

Haaretz has to change its headline daily from things like `Hamas may recognize Israel` to `We will never recognize Israel` or such... all within the same day...

Who speaks for Hamas?