Hamas’ braggadocio, coupled with its ruthless willingness to eliminate Palestinian rivals, may finally have sealed the movement’s fate. Though the Islamist party now wields sole authority over the impoverished Gaza Strip, its brazen disregard of the law and the sanctity of human life may well bring down catastrophe upon the heads of Ismail Haniyeh and his cohorts. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ hand will no longer be stayed by some quaint desire to maintain Palestinian unity. That unity has been shattered – courtesy of Hamas – and all bets are off.
Cleverly – some would say opportunistically – Abbas has seized upon the schism to effect a final break with Hamas and reassert the primacy of Palestinian moderation. This was evident in his speech before the Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council recently. He did not restrict himself to condemning Hamas for its violent takeover of Gaza, but pointedly lambasted its ideology. Abbas used catchwords to describe Hamas that portray Islamist groups as forces of darkness bent on excommunicating those with whom they disagree. This very real aspect of Hamas’ ideology has nothing to do with its recent clashes with Fatah. Abbas sought to move in for the kill by discrediting a major feature of Hamas’ raison d’etre: the Islamization of Palestinian society.
Abbas has long been uncomfortable with his country’s main Islamist party. In addition to its fervid attempts to alter the Palestinian cultural landscape, Hamas obstinately refuses to recognize Israel, even if the latter were to withdraw to the 1967 borders. While Abbas envisages full diplomatic relations between an independent Palestine and its neighbor, all Hamas is willing to offer Israel is a truce that can be renewed indefinitely. Yet Hamas’ popularity has soared in recent years, with Fatah and other nationalist factions steadily losing ground. When Hamas swept legislative elections last year, a chastened Abbas duly allowed democracy to take its course and did not stand in the way of Hamas’ ascension to power. The results – Islamization at home, isolation abroad, and the evaporation of prospects for renewed negotiations with Israel – only exacerbated Palestine’s myriad social and political problems.
The collapse of the Hamas-Fatah unity government and the subsequent decision by Hamas to seize control of Gaza proved to be the last straw. Rather than merely trying to recover lost ground – only to return to the stalemate that has characterized the Hamas-Fatah balance of power – Abbas has made a strategic decision to reclaim Palestine for moderate Palestinians. Having tired of playing catch-up to the Islamists, traditional PLO factions, together with civil society groups, might now take the initiative and redirect nascent Palestine toward a more liberal future.
Of course, reorienting Palestinian society will be difficult, especially as the increased influence of Islam has been a widespread cultural and political phenomenon. Though not nearly as dogmatic as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, PLO factions like Fatah have themselves undergone a process of Islamization since the Oslo Accords. Yet there remain many Palestinians who conceive of their country in liberal – even secular – terms, and have been chafing under Hamas’ Islamization program. Jarring changes enacted to make the Palestinian educational curriculum fall in line with Hamas’ Islamic standards have, justly, received local and foreign press coverage, as has the more insidious practice of pressuring girls to wear headscarves and urging youths to pray. Additionally, internet cafes have been attacked and concerts broken up in the name of “morality. Many such outrages may now be suspended – at least in the West Bank.
In his speech – remarkable for its comprehensiveness – Abbas spoke of Hamas’ increasing control of schools and mosques. Significantly, he also addressed fears concerning the future of Palestinian Christians, accusing Hamas of being behind the ransacking of a Roman Catholic convent and school in Gaza. The latter charge remains unproven and was denied by Hamas officials, though Monsignor Manuel Musallam, the head of Gaza’s Roman Catholic community, had initially speculated that the perpetrators were members of Hamas.
It is imperative that the ideological differences between Hamas and Abbas’ Palestine Authority remain at the forefront of the debate. Abbas’ societal vision includes a place for Islamists – so long as they do not resort to violence and coercion – while Hamas’ conception of Palestinian society includes increased restrictions on women, Christians, secularists, advocates of normalization with Israel, and anyone with un-Islamic views.
It remains to be seen which vision will triumph, though all indications are that the West Bank is headed for reintegration into the international community while Gaza is poised to sink deeper into isolation. Abbas wants to alleviate the woes of poverty-stricken Gazans – who should not become pawns in this struggle – but opposes any dialogue with the “murderers and “putschists of Hamas, who seek to establish an “emirate of darkness and backwardness in Gaza, as Abbas put it.
Indeed, a reinvigorated Abbas has deliberately emphasized the ideological content of his conflict with Hamas, and seems determined to roll back Islamist gains in the West Bank and eventually Gaza as well. In its attempt to rid itself of all rivals and snatch power, Hamas appears to have miscalculated. It has unintentionally imbued the moderate but hitherto lackadaisical Mahmoud Abbas with a profound sense of mission, and may even have given liberal and secular Palestinians a new lease on life. Rayyan al-Shawafis a freelance writer and reviewer based in Beirut. He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.
