Six o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, October 31, in the central square of Ramallah. Night has already fallen over the administrative capital of the West Bank and the center of power of the Palestinian Authority (PNA). Like every day, there is a demonstration of solidarity with the victims of Gaza. Amid chants and slogans, the light breeze causes several yellow flags of Fatah, the ANP-led party that rules the West Bank, to flutter; others are green by Hamas, an Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, and some Palestinians. Suddenly there is a little excitement. Several of those present tried to prevent Hamas supporters, a minority outside the Gaza Strip, from attracting attention. The incident does not go beyond a fight. The green flags continue to wave. What happened, however, explains well the pressure pot Palestinian politics finds itself in. The ANP was already questioned before the current war situation. Now, after the attack by the Islamist fundamentalist militia on Israeli territory on October 7th, even more so.
More information
Only one person in this report criticized Hamas for killing civilians. He is Aarab Barguti, 33 years old and one of the sons of the most famous Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barguti. A fundamental figure in Fatah and a perennial presidential candidate, he is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison. “I personally do not support the killing of civilians. It’s a mistake, but when people lose their minds, they see civilians and children dying… (…) I do believe that soldiers can be killed and kidnapped,” says Aarab in his home in Ramallah, by where he criticizes the current leadership of the ANP for not fighting for the “dream of independence”.
In the West Bank capital, according to all sources consulted, the general opinion is that this massacre caused the popularity of Hamas (Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement) to skyrocket. In any case, in the face of a possible Islamist tsunami triggered by Israel’s indiscriminate bombings in the Palestinian enclave, the idea is being conveyed that the various factions and political groups in the West Bank and Gaza must close ranks and unite. Fatah emerged in the mid-20th century and Hamas in 1987 with the start of the first Intifada. The Islamists, who support the armed struggle against Israel, won elections in 2006 and ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip government, which they had controlled since 2007. In the surprise invasion from this enclave four weeks ago, they killed 1,400 people in Israeli territory and kidnapped another 240. Israel’s response with aviation, artillery and military ground invasion has already killed more than 9,000 Gazans, according to local health sources.
Green Hamas flags (yellow Fatah flags in the background) during a demonstration October 31 in Ramallah against Israel’s bombings in Gaza. Alvaro Garcia
Ghassan Khatib, a professor at Bir Zeit University and a former labor minister and former development minister in the Palestinian government, explains by telephone: “There is an increase in public support for Hamas and a parallel decrease.” Fatah and the ANP. I think that recent events have led to a greater marginalization of the ANP compared to the more moderate part of Palestinian society. So the effect is a greater radicalization of public opinion.” This, he adds, coincides with an executive in Israel like that of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who intends to expand the Palestinian territories, particularly the West Bank, through a policy of “expansion of settlements and granting more power to the settlers. “, which are already around half a million.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
Subscribe to
The Western media sees the Hamas attack as “a massacre,” but that is not how it is understood by the Palestinians on the street, who say they “feel a kind of liberation and see that Hamas has managed to hit Israel like never before.” a Palestinian analyst. He is very familiar with current events in the West Bank and would prefer not to be mentioned. He believes that today’s elections would give the Islamist movement victory over the secular Fatah.
The role of 87-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas was already in question before the current war. The Fatah leader faces two decades without having to face the polls. Now “it’s under pressure on two fronts. On the one hand, the international community and Israel. On the other side is the Palestinian road that pushes him in the opposite direction,” says Ghassan Khatib. The president “could do more. “Be more active in the diplomatic field and also at the international level to achieve a ceasefire and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” he says. “I and my generation, those of us who grew up in the second intifada, suffered from a lack of leadership and feel betrayed,” says Aarab Barghouti. On Israel’s side, he emphasizes, “the big mistake is to believe that we Palestinians have something to lose”; by that of the West, the “double standard” by which Israel is measured in relation to Russia.
There are open cracks in the institutional framework of the Palestinian government. Some of those who attended a meeting this week attended by Mahmoud Abbas did not want to greet the president, EL PAÍS has learned from senior members of the ANP who did not wish to be named. Ghassan Khatib does not believe there has been a rift within the Palestinian government following the Hamas attack, although there may be “minor differences.” A prominent Fatah Central Committee member, Abbas Zaki, applauded the Hamas attack during a televised intervention. His words were denied by the official Palestinian agency Wafa. For former minister Khatib, Zaki represents nothing other than his own opinion.
Abbas Zaki, member of Fatah’s Central Committee, in his office in Ramallah.Álvaro García
The 81-year-old Zaki receives EL PAÍS in his office in Ramallah and makes no secret of the fact that for him what happened on October 7th was a “normal reaction” to the occupation, which served to “extend Israel’s weakness, His army and his people. “Intelligence information and showed the path of the Palestinian struggle.” For this reason, his “popularity is now greater”, although in his opinion this does not mean that the Islamists will be able to take the reins of the to take over government in the West Bank. In any case, the veteran politician, in Fatah since 1962, insists that “the future lies in the unity of the various Palestinian forces.”
Three weeks before the Hamas attack, a poll conducted in the West Bank and Gaza by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that the leader of that movement, Ismail Haniya, emerged victorious (58%) in a hypothetical election against Mahmoud Abbas (37). %). ). However, the same poll put Marwan Barguti as Fatah’s winner (60%) ahead of Haniya (37%). For Ghassen Khatib, “Marwan Barghouti is the most popular leader of Fatah and the ANP” and “his release would represent a challenge to Abbas and the traditional leadership of Fatah and the ANP, because it is no secret that Barghouti represents positions and ideas.” not “They are very accepted by the current leadership.” He explains that these differences are largely due to his commitment to maintaining the armed struggle and his commitment to national unity, including Hamas.
Israel announced this week through far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who denies the existence of the Palestinian state, that it would freeze the transfer of customs duties to the ANP in support of Hamas. Israel, which is at war with Hamas, does not choose the ANP as an alternative to take the reins in the Gaza Strip. However, it is the least bad solution advocated by its main ally, the United States. “So who will take responsibility for Gaza? “I don’t think the ANP is looking forward to returning to Gaza with Israeli tanks,” explains Professor Khatib metaphorically. “And I am sure that no Arab country will accept the order either. Therefore, Israel faces an important problem for the future,” he adds.
Tuesday’s protests in Ramallah Square are not numerous, but calls for armed struggle outweigh those defending unity between factions. Some of those present, like Niveen Shihada, a 44-year-old hairdresser, are ashamed of the lack of support from the population. He prefers not to make a decision, although he fears that Hamas has gained ground in the West Bank and is defending its unity with Fatah.
Aarab Barguti, son of Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barguti (pictured), at his home in Ramallah on October 31. Alvaro Garcia
Aarab Barguti remembers that he only lived with his father, who had been imprisoned for 22 years, until he was eleven. They were not allowed to visit him for a year. He is not active in any political force, but does not shy away from the question of whether he sees his father as a candidate for the presidency. “I definitely see that in democratic presidential elections. We have been waiting for a presidential election for a long time. My father is ready. But personally I wouldn’t like it. [Si lo liberan] “I wish we could live a normal life.” Aarab Barguti defends unity as an attempt to strengthen Palestine’s institutional role, even though ending the state of Israel is implicit in Hamas’ ideology. He is convinced that “Hamas would agree to a return to the 1967 borders and a two-state solution” if Israel allowed this.
“I don’t believe Israel can put an end to Hamas. It may weaken them, but Hamas is an idea that will emerge from this war stronger,” predicts Professor Khatib, pointing to the religious component but also to the movement’s resistance to the occupation. “Its military capacity can be rebuilt,” he believes, while emphasizing that it will be of no use for Israel to focus on security without understanding the roots of the problem, such as the occupation or the failed peace process. Aarab Barguti agrees with the “idea” that ending the militia is virtually impossible. He explains: “Even in Ramallah, the most liberal of Palestine, people support Hamas. They feel defended with October 7th. They are even waiting for Abu Obeida’s speeches,” said a spokesman for the Ezedín Al-Qasam Brigades, the movement’s armed wing.
“We live with the eternal feeling that our lives are less valuable than those of the Israelis,” complains the prisoner’s son. “We have nothing but violence, it was the only thing we had left. What did they expect from us? “Of course oppression leads to extremism,” he reasons. “If you corner a cat, it turns into a lion,” says Abbas Zaki.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_