Hamas and Fatah, a lull before a new storm

The Palestinian factions did it again in the last days. The political factions were short of money because of the boycott of Hamas government by the West. But they weren’t short of ammunition. They had no money to spend on economic projects for the hard-hit Palestinian population. They seem to have just a surplus of ammunition, which they couldn’t use, in any manners but as a pastime to show strength. They were good at destruction when the Palestinian territories are in great need of more constructions.

The death toll in the past days will enter Palestinian history. The 40th anniversary of the Six Day War was celebrated with killings. If only there had been just forty deaths to make it symbolic. That exceeded 100. This must be considered as the Palestinian version of the Battle of Jenin . In this battle, Israel killed many Palestinians. In the latest round of fights between Hamas and Fatah, at least 100 Palestinians were killed. So Palestinian factions have now their big share in the deaths of the Palestinians, not Israel alone.

It’s ironic that these factions express outcry when one Palestinian is killed by the Israelis and Hamas expresses victory because it outdid Fatah in the number of Palestinians it killed and imprisoned. There may be a lull after heavy fighting. But there is no assurance that the hatchets are buried. It has become common that Fatah and Hamas are sworn enemies. The good news for Israel must be that Hamas is now busy trying to destroy Fatah. Destroying the state of Israel is not its priority. It can depend on Iran to do the job for it. May be this is a tactic by Hamas and Iran as in political gamble or game. A faction must destroy a faction. A state must destroy a state. It’s possible that Fatah can be weakened by Hamas because it is just an organisation. It’s virtually impossible for Iran to wipe out Israel off the face of the Earth for the reasons everybody knows.