Palestine: attempt to destroy Hamas government backfires

Ever since Hamas won the elections in the Palestinian Authority in early 2006 the imperialist powers led by the US have set out to destroy it. The current conflict in Gaza is a direct result of this, writes Stuart King.

Over a 100 people have died in a week of fighting between Hamas and Fatah, largely in the Gaza strip. The news media like to portray this as a fratricidal struggle, as yet another tragedy brought on the Palestinians by themselves.

The truth is that it is the culmination of a struggle where the democratically elected government of the Palestinian Authority (PA), formed by Hamas, has attempted to defend itself, against:

*    an economic blockade imposed by the EU, US and UN;

*    constant attacks, arrests and assassinations of its leaders and representatives by the Israeli state;

*    the systematic arming and training by the imperialists of its defeated rival Fatah with the aim of overthrowing it.

Is it little wonder that in the last week Hamas has launched an all out assault on the Fatah? In May 500 Fatah militia members returned from Egypt, trained under a US programme, to step up their effort to take control the streets. The ease with which Hamas has now defeated these forces shows how little support they really have amongst the population of Gaza.

Thrown out of power in the early 2006 elections by a population sick of years of corruption and abuse of power, Fatah has sought US support and assistance to regain its position by force of arms. This has only confirmed in the eyes of Palestinians that these corrupt leaders are just in the pay of imperialism.

This has left the President Mahmoud Abbas, elected in early 2005 in an election boycotted by Hamas, completely isolated – except for his continued support by the imperialists. Abbas was their favoured candidate in 2005. His job was to control the militias and try to broker a ceasefire with Israel and a peace deal based on “two states”. Israel made sure that such a peace deal was never on the table – a Palestinian state is the last thing they want – their aim is a crushed and fragmented Palestinian “bantustan”.

The imperialist blockade has had a devastating effect on the people of Palestine. GDP has collapsed by nearly a third in the last 18 months. Israel has withheld taxes and customs duties amounting to 50% of the Authority’s income, while the EU, UN, Russia and the US have ended support for the PA amounting to 25% of its income. Nearly 70% of the workforce is now without pay, and malnutrition has reached sub-Saharan African proportions. All this to bring down a democratically elected government – so much for the ‘great powers’ mission to bring democracy to the middle east!

A desperate Abbas has now declared a state of emergency and “dismissed” the prime minister. His Fatah forces on the West Bank are attempting to crush Hamas, doing the Israeli’s job for them by dividing up the PA into pieces. There is even talk of calling in an “international peace force” which would only be another occupying force doing the bidding of the US and Israel.

All democrats and socialists should denounce the blockade imposed by the EU and its allies on the Palestinian Authority and the attempt by Abbas and the imperialists to annul the 2006 elections – the Palestinians have the right to elect a government of their own choosing.

As socialists we have nothing in common with the Islamic fundamentalism of Hamas. The imposition of an “Islamic state-let” on the people of Gaza will not take forward the Palestinian struggle one iota. For that we need a revolutionary socialist movement and perspective for the whole of Palestine, one that fights for a bi-national socialist republic of Jews and Palestinians – a Palestinian workers state.

 

Fri 15, June 2007 @ 01:02