November 1, 2007
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Fatah is the Only Hope…
 

LONDON: Recently I engaged in an email exchange with a Palestinian friend of mine from Gaza who identified herself as a non-partisan secular Palestinian. She took a strict position against Fatah accusing them of being “the most repugnant gang of thugs and thieves” and went on to arguing that among the only two “real” options offered to Palestinians Hamas was the better alternative. Her arguments were basically that Fatah was no more than a bunch of corrupt politicians looking for nothing else but their own personal interest, who were also unable to deliver any of the Palestinian national aspirations. She even ventures further into accusing Fatah to be “in collusion with the occupation.” This is what I had to say…

In 1948 the Palestinian fight was taken over by the then ruling Arab leaders, the war was lost. In 1967, under the patronage of Abed Al Nasser and the Saudis what remained of Palestine was lost. It was not until the rise of Fatah and the PLO that the Palestinians had a voice from among their midst that represented their voice. In 1992 the Palestinian struggle eventually was able to regain its place by the official recognition of the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people instead of the plethora of parties and Arab leaders who vied to deal the Palestinian people for the least bidder.

The Palestinians were fed promises of return and recognition for decades since the beginning of their plight, it was only because of the political leadership of the PLO and the struggle of the Palestinians themselves that got them anywhere. My Palestinian friend said: “Politics is about real choices.” I cannot but agree more the PLO under Yasser Arafat did exactly that and for the first time since the beginning of the Palestinian tragedy there was light on a possible way forward, the vociferous slogans followed by defeat were no longer there. This latter method of slogans only came back with the advent of Hamas. I do not give Fatah a clean slate of health on their corruption and criminal violations against the interests and assets of the Palestinian people, but I firmly believe the political line of the Palestinian Authority under Fatah remains the only viable option towards any progress on the Palestinian cause.

In 1948 we as Arabs, did not understand the balance of power that faced us. The world fresh out of WWII with the two super-powers aligned together to grant Israel the right to exist. We decided to wage a war for all or nothing and we got nothing but grand slogans of ultimate victory. In 1967, the same scenario replayed itself we were preparing to wage the war that will end all wars and wake us from the nightmare called Israel only to find ourselves sedated with further grand slogans of imminent victory. The PLO did not fall into that trap and for the first time since the loss of Palestine a realistic view was taken and ‘something’ was won, recognition, authority, elections, parliament, security forces, municipal elections and the list goes on and on. The Palestinians were no longer nomads of every state on the face of the earth they had somewhere to call theirs.

Hamas by its re-adoption of the same amateurish stances of understanding the political situation of the Palestinians and by undermining the single most important achievement of the Palestinian cause since the beginning of the struggle, the Authority, is driving the Palestinians back to being the faceless nomads. Qassams and militias do not create countries, nor do they represent a cause. They are merely illusions by a politically illiterate party from proposing relevant answers to real questions. The easiest answer is to say we will fight to the end, and consider every loss a victory and blame it on outside forces and internal disagreement, or in this case corruption. But the cause looses and retreats until there is nothing more left.

As a final note, in 1967 what remained of Palestine was incorporated into Egyptian and Jordanian sovereignty only to be lost in the six-day war. Egypt and Jordan are both relatively stable countries with peace treaties with Israel, thus viable entities to assume a similar role as they did back in 1967 if the Palestinian Authority fragments further and if the PLO the sole official representative of the Palestinians is further undermined by political parties such as Hamas (who is not a member of the PLO). What Fatah and the PLO have achieved since the defeat of 1967 till today will all be lost if the ridiculous charade of Hamas is not reigned in and the Palestinian Authority regains its Authority and stature. That is why the only way forward is the reuniting of the Palestinians under the umbrella of the PLO and supporting the Palestinian Authority in developing realistic options that would get the Palestinians moving forward on firm ground and not pipedreams such as the ones my friend has been caught up in.