.Palestinians See No Way Out in Standoff
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - With Hamas and the West locked in a standoff, the Palestinians are hurtling toward an abyss of poverty and chaos, and there seems to be no way to pull back.
On the eve of a meeting of top Mideast mediators, the World Bank warned Monday that a humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza is rapidly approaching, and deadly street clashes erupted in Gaza.
Still, Hamas refuses to moderate its violent ideology, and the world is not calling off its crippling economic boycott. President Mahmoud Abbas is caught in the middle, trying to keep Hamas in check, but not powerful enough to force the militants out of office or call new elections.
There's little time to find a solution. The Hamas-led government is broke because of the international aid cutoff, increasingly unable to provide basic services. Some 165,000 government workers, who provide for one-third of the Palestinians, have not been paid for the past two months, and savings are dwindling quickly.
"We are expecting the situation to explode at any time," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.
Yet Hamas dismisses Western demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence.
Hamas fears an about-face would hurt it politically by making it look weak, said pollster Nader Said of Bir Zeit University. The militant group's exiled leaders, beholden to hard-line states Iran and Syria, have also crushed any compromise ideas floated by Hamas leaders in the West Bank and Gaza.
For now, most Palestinians blame the West and Abbas for the crisis, and believe the new democratically elected government is being treated unfairly by the international community, said the pollster.
With public opinion on its side, Hamas is standing tough. "Even if we fail (as a government), we have nothing to lose," said Abu Zuhri. He said pressure on Hamas would only intensify the Arab world's anger against the West.
In this climate, the moderate Abbas has to tread carefully.
Even though he is the leader of the Fatah Party, Hamas' main political rival, Abbas has also tried to portray himself as being above the political fray.
In this dual role as party chief and president, he has stripped the Hamas government of some powers, particularly over the security forces, but has also traveled the world with an appeal to donor nations to restore aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Under the Palestinians' presidential system, Abbas could fire the Hamas government, but a replacement team would require approval of the Hamas-controlled parliament. Hamas has rejected the idea of forming a "technocrat" government devoid of Hamas politicians, and it's unlikely the West would fall for such a charade.
Abbas' other option - early elections - would be a huge gamble.
Many Palestinians would likely balk at returning to the polls so soon after the January vote. They have been upset with what they consider the hypocrisy of the West, which they say preached democracy to them, then refused to accept the results.
There's a good chance Hamas would simply be re-elected, said Moheeb al-Nawaty, author of a book on Hamas. Fatah, the longtime ruling party, is in disarray and still unpopular; many voters backed Hamas to punish Fatah for arrogance and corruption.
Hamas would not step aside easily, al-Nawaty added. "The scenario that Hamas is going to give up, that's not going to happen," he said.
The survival of the Hamas government depends largely on how much foreign aid, if any, it is able to funnel into the Palestinian areas.
Hamas leaders have collected tens of millions of dollars in the Arab and Muslim world to counter the Western sanctions. However, the money can't be transferred to Gaza because of U.S. pressure on banks afraid of running afoul of Washington's anti-terrorism regulations.
On Tuesday, the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia - is to meet in New York to discuss policy toward Hamas, and there are signs of a rift between Washington and its three Quartet partners.
The European Union has proposed sending money directly to Abbas to be spent on hospitals, schools and humanitarian needs. While the U.S. says it wants to keep sending humanitarian assistance, it has been cool to the European proposal.
"We'll be talking about a plan to provide substantial, new in-kind, rapid intervention into the health care situation so that Palestinians can have health care," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press on Monday. "But I think will also want to send a very clear message to Hamas that it is now Hamas' responsibility to govern."
The World Bank, which will attend Tuesday's meeting, warned the economic crisis is much more alarming than it initially predicted. In March, the bank forecast poverty in the Palestinian areas would rise to 67 percent by the end of 2006, up from 44 percent last year. "These projections now appear too rosy," the bank said in a report Monday.
Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, alleged that Washington's ultimate goal is to bring down the Hamas government. If that happens, he warned, the entire region will plunge into turmoil.
Fatah leaders said Hamas has been stirring up confrontations to deflect attention from the economic crisis. On Monday, a Hamas gunman and two armed Fatah loyalists were killed in Gaza gun battles, the deadliest internal fighting since Hamas took office in late March.
Ghassan Khatib, a planning minister in the previous Fatah-led government, said the West needs to be more patient. Pragmatists in Hamas could win the upper hand if aid is restored and Hamas is given a chance to run the government. Deepening poverty, in turn, would make Palestinians more militant, he said.
"If the Hamas government fails, it's not good for Abu Mazen (Abbas), and the public will blame the president," he said.
MyWay
Well at least now the people on the ground know exactly where their "services" come from and who really has been paying the bill. I mean Hamas has prides itself with delivering those "services" and we were told that that's how they got themselves elected. Well I guess we must have been flipping the bill the whole time. Yet all the "Muslim" countries get all the credit, like if the west gave noting... Now we know, don't we.
On the eve of a meeting of top Mideast mediators, the World Bank warned Monday that a humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza is rapidly approaching, and deadly street clashes erupted in Gaza.
Still, Hamas refuses to moderate its violent ideology, and the world is not calling off its crippling economic boycott. President Mahmoud Abbas is caught in the middle, trying to keep Hamas in check, but not powerful enough to force the militants out of office or call new elections.
There's little time to find a solution. The Hamas-led government is broke because of the international aid cutoff, increasingly unable to provide basic services. Some 165,000 government workers, who provide for one-third of the Palestinians, have not been paid for the past two months, and savings are dwindling quickly.
"We are expecting the situation to explode at any time," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.
Yet Hamas dismisses Western demands that it recognize Israel and renounce violence.
Hamas fears an about-face would hurt it politically by making it look weak, said pollster Nader Said of Bir Zeit University. The militant group's exiled leaders, beholden to hard-line states Iran and Syria, have also crushed any compromise ideas floated by Hamas leaders in the West Bank and Gaza.
For now, most Palestinians blame the West and Abbas for the crisis, and believe the new democratically elected government is being treated unfairly by the international community, said the pollster.
With public opinion on its side, Hamas is standing tough. "Even if we fail (as a government), we have nothing to lose," said Abu Zuhri. He said pressure on Hamas would only intensify the Arab world's anger against the West.
In this climate, the moderate Abbas has to tread carefully.
Even though he is the leader of the Fatah Party, Hamas' main political rival, Abbas has also tried to portray himself as being above the political fray.
In this dual role as party chief and president, he has stripped the Hamas government of some powers, particularly over the security forces, but has also traveled the world with an appeal to donor nations to restore aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Under the Palestinians' presidential system, Abbas could fire the Hamas government, but a replacement team would require approval of the Hamas-controlled parliament. Hamas has rejected the idea of forming a "technocrat" government devoid of Hamas politicians, and it's unlikely the West would fall for such a charade.
Abbas' other option - early elections - would be a huge gamble.
Many Palestinians would likely balk at returning to the polls so soon after the January vote. They have been upset with what they consider the hypocrisy of the West, which they say preached democracy to them, then refused to accept the results.
There's a good chance Hamas would simply be re-elected, said Moheeb al-Nawaty, author of a book on Hamas. Fatah, the longtime ruling party, is in disarray and still unpopular; many voters backed Hamas to punish Fatah for arrogance and corruption.
Hamas would not step aside easily, al-Nawaty added. "The scenario that Hamas is going to give up, that's not going to happen," he said.
The survival of the Hamas government depends largely on how much foreign aid, if any, it is able to funnel into the Palestinian areas.
Hamas leaders have collected tens of millions of dollars in the Arab and Muslim world to counter the Western sanctions. However, the money can't be transferred to Gaza because of U.S. pressure on banks afraid of running afoul of Washington's anti-terrorism regulations.
On Tuesday, the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators - the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia - is to meet in New York to discuss policy toward Hamas, and there are signs of a rift between Washington and its three Quartet partners.
The European Union has proposed sending money directly to Abbas to be spent on hospitals, schools and humanitarian needs. While the U.S. says it wants to keep sending humanitarian assistance, it has been cool to the European proposal.
"We'll be talking about a plan to provide substantial, new in-kind, rapid intervention into the health care situation so that Palestinians can have health care," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told The Associated Press on Monday. "But I think will also want to send a very clear message to Hamas that it is now Hamas' responsibility to govern."
The World Bank, which will attend Tuesday's meeting, warned the economic crisis is much more alarming than it initially predicted. In March, the bank forecast poverty in the Palestinian areas would rise to 67 percent by the end of 2006, up from 44 percent last year. "These projections now appear too rosy," the bank said in a report Monday.
Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman, alleged that Washington's ultimate goal is to bring down the Hamas government. If that happens, he warned, the entire region will plunge into turmoil.
Fatah leaders said Hamas has been stirring up confrontations to deflect attention from the economic crisis. On Monday, a Hamas gunman and two armed Fatah loyalists were killed in Gaza gun battles, the deadliest internal fighting since Hamas took office in late March.
Ghassan Khatib, a planning minister in the previous Fatah-led government, said the West needs to be more patient. Pragmatists in Hamas could win the upper hand if aid is restored and Hamas is given a chance to run the government. Deepening poverty, in turn, would make Palestinians more militant, he said.
"If the Hamas government fails, it's not good for Abu Mazen (Abbas), and the public will blame the president," he said.
MyWay
Well at least now the people on the ground know exactly where their "services" come from and who really has been paying the bill. I mean Hamas has prides itself with delivering those "services" and we were told that that's how they got themselves elected. Well I guess we must have been flipping the bill the whole time. Yet all the "Muslim" countries get all the credit, like if the west gave noting... Now we know, don't we.
posted by madtom at 6:38 PM
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