The deterioration of the security situation in the Gaza Strip, which has reached the brink of civil war, has so far not caused direct damage to Israel. There may even be many Israeli politicians, particularly those who support a unilateral withdrawal, who will say: Here we are, it appears that the Palestinians are not capable of maintaining a regime of law and order and this is yet another proof that we have no partner on the other side. In other words, there is no chance for an agreement with them, and we must continue with a policy of disengagement, or convergence, on a unilateral basis.
It is not always possible to know what exactly is happening in Gaza because most of the reports from the Strip via Palestinian and Arab media tend to favor the Fatah movement. For example, the big Palestinian newspapers are run by people who are close to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah, and Hamas spokesmen claim that they distort their reports to the detriment of the Hamas government. Incidentally, it is interesting to note that Hamas' sole organ, the weekly Al-Rasalah, has not reached the newspaper stands in Jerusalem and the West Bank over the past few weeks.
The editor of Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Hafez Barghouti, gave a particularly lively description of what is happening in Gaza in a radio broadcast. He said, last weekend: 'Nothing has been liberated in liberated Gaza. The opposite is true - Gaza has been reconquered: It has been conquered by anarchy and Israeli shellings; by daily attacks on men, women and children; by the destruction of property and government institutions; by damage to municipalities, water pipes and electricity supplies; and even by attacks on mosques. Is this what we have achieved out of the desire to build Gaza as a model of growth and development? The [Hamas] government in Gaza has become another side in the campaign.'
What is interesting in this description is that there is barely any blatant condemnation of Israel other than for the shellings in the northern Gaza Strip. When one examines the flood of accusations and mutual recriminations between Hamas and Fatah spokesmen, one finds that there is hardly a mention of Israel. Most of the Fatah spokesmen, for example, joined in the Jordanian attacks on Hamas after the Jordanian authorities discovered the stockpile of weapons that Hamas had collected in order to carry out terror attacks in Jordan. And the Hamas spokesmen who responded to their charges said that they were a total fabrication, without adding a word about Israel.
If Israel comes across clear of blame for the severe crisis in the Palestinian Authority with the Palestinians, how much more so with the other Arab regimes and the international community. There is hardly a complaint voiced against Israel with regard to what is happening in Gaza and the PA. All the charges are aimed at the Palestinians. They decided to elect a Hamas government, and they must now take responsibility for that choice. One of the headlines in a Jordanian paper last week read: 'The Hamas movement must change its position swiftly, otherwise it will go down in history as causing more harm to the Palestinian nation than Israel did in the past.' Similar statements can be heard almost all over the world.
The situation in which Israel is not obliged to take responsibility, and the assumption that anarchy in Gaza creates a convenient political reality for Israel, are in fact short-term illusions. Nothing good for us can come out of what is now happening in the Gaza Strip, and it could easily spill over into the West Bank. Anarchy among our neighbors, turmoil in the security situation, economic crisis, fear of civil war and perhaps famine, anger and bitterness - all of these will eventually affect not only the Palestinians but us also, directly or in a roundabout way. No walls or separation fences will stop missiles and attacks that will cause us security and economic damage. The truth, therefore, remains as always: what is good for, and needed by, Israel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from all points of view are quiet and stability, a flourishing economy and a regime with which we can reach an agreement - and not the opposite of these.