Fatah assault on Hamas soon

There are strong indications that what we are watching concerning reconciliations and talks between Fatah and Hamas refer to something else other than agreement. Egyptian newspapers are filled with news about meetings that discuss reconciliation between the two factions. However, in the same time, news coming from Israel refer to something that is completely different. The Jpost has a piecethat assures that there are signs in the West bank that Fatah is preparing a major operation against Hamas in coming weeks before PA president Abbas’s term expires in January 9.

Logically a step like that requires cooperation and coordination between 3 countries: Egypt, Jordan and Israel. Operation like this requires different kind of weaponry and massive forces. According to Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, 15 thousand solider are being trainedin Ariha in Jordan with the help and supervision from the Americans. On the other hand, the IDF started assisting Fatah ahead from the expected violence, and the army agreed to deploy a platoon in Hebron, a Hamas stronghold. Moreover, the IDF pledged to assist Fatah in training and planning.

The problem is that this rally ignores 3 main problems that face Fatah and threaten its assault: first, the political failure of Fatah, which did not achieve any of the Palestinian demands. Second, the readiness of some Fatah leaders to give up some of the basic Palestinian principles like the right of return, Thirdly, centralizing the authority in handful members of the Palestinian authority and thus disregarding legal frames like PLO. According to leading Egyptian columnist Fahmi Howedi the cracks among the members of the Palestinian authority are far more greater than the ones between Fatah and Hamas. Howedi believes that its illogical to put the destiny of the Palestinian people in the hands of an authority that is worried by war between Ramallah and Gaza, especially as its authority has no international recognition, and that authority is a product of an agreement between the occupying country and the occupied people, such an agreement is based on many references none of them includes the rights of the Palestinian people.