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MIDEAST: Gaza Resistance Destroys Fatah Faction
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa Al-Omrani
CAIRO, Apr 24 (IPS) - The recent onslaught against the Gaza Strip - and Israel's failure to achieve its
military objectives there - left Palestinian resistance group Hamas politically
stronger than ever. Concurrently, it dealt a possible death blow to the faction
within Fatah led by strongman Mohamed Dahlan, long known for its closeness to
Israel.
Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since it seized power in July 2007 after
winning Palestinian legislative elections in 2006. The West Bank Palestinian
territory is ruled by Fatah.
"Since the Dahlan faction failed to destroy Hamas in 2007, its influence on
Palestinian affairs has diminished significantly," Abdelhalim Kandil, political
analyst and prominent opposition journalist, told IPS. "And Israel's recent
failure to topple Hamas in Gaza served to marginalise Dahlan's group even
further."
Israel's three-week assault on the Gaza Strip (Dec. 27 to Jan. 17) failed to
achieve its initial aim of extirpating Hamas. Despite the ferocity of the
onslaught, during which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed and vast
swathes of infrastructure destroyed, the Hamas-led resistance suffered
limited casualties while retaining its capacity to launch short-range rockets
into Israel.
"Hamas's steadfastness in the face of massively superior Israeli firepower paid
political dividends; it confirmed that Hamas is in Gaza to stay," said Kandil. "If
the Israelis want to talk about (captured Israeli soldier Gilaad) Shalit, or the
Egyptians want to talk about the Gaza border, they have to talk to Hamas."
While bolstering Hamas, say analysts, Israel's Gaza debacle also weakened the
U.S.-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority (PA) President
Mahmoud Abbas.
Unlike Hamas, Fatah is committed to negotiating with Israel - even though
Abbas's earlier peace talks with Israeli counterparts, mandated by the 2007
U.S.-sponsored Annapolis Summit, failed to realise any longstanding
Palestinian demands. These demands include the creation of a viable
Palestinian state, a halt to Israeli settlement building on occupied Arab land,
and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to what is now Israel.
"Abbas, whose term as PA president officially ended in January, was already
suffering from a serious crisis of legitimacy because his policy of negotiation
has completely failed to deliver," said Kandil. "Israel's recent assault on Gaza
effectively destroyed Fatah's position, which has been even further
undermined by members of Israel's new government, who bluntly state their
opposition to peace talks.
"Hamas, meanwhile, and its strategy of armed resistance, has taken on new
life in the wake of the onslaught," Kandil added.
According to analysts, Israel's failure to topple Hamas in Gaza came as a
particularly stinging disappointment to Fatah's 'Dahlan faction'.
Mohamed Dahlan began his political career as a Fatah leader during the first
Palestinian Intifadah (uprising) in the late 1980s. After being arrested and
released by the Israeli occupation authorities, he joined Yasser Arafat's Tunis-
based Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
Dahlan quickly became a key player within the PLO, and was closely involved
in the covert talks with Israel that eventually led to the 1993 Oslo peace
accords, that created the Palestinian Authority and called for withdrawal of
Israel from parts of Gaza and the West Bank. The accords were meant to pave
the way for resolution of outstanding disputes, but have not delivered on that
promise.
In 1994, Dahlan returned to Gaza with Arafat, who put him in charge of the
PA's preventive security services. During the second Intifadah in 2000,
Dahlan's security forces began zealously persecuting resistance groups -
especially Hamas - that opposed ongoing negotiations with Israel. In the
following years, PA security agencies under Dahlan became known both for
arresting resistance activists and providing Israel with intelligence on
suspected resistance activity.
"The U.S. and Israel worked closely with Dahlan, whose chief task was the
persecution of Hamas," said Kandil.
Most recently, Dahlan has become known for his role in a failed coup plot
against Hamas that led directly to the resistance group's seizure of Gaza in
the summer of 2007.
Shortly after Hamas's 2006 electoral victory, the U.S. cooperated with Israel to
arm and train Fatah elements in preparation for a violent coup against the
Hamas leadership in Gaza, which then ruled Gaza jointly with Fatah. The
scheme, later known as the Dayton Plan, was reportedly managed by Dahlan
in coordination with U.S. Lieutenant-General Keith Dayton.
After learning of the plot in June 2007, Hamas pre-emptively routed its Fatah
adversaries and seized control of the entire Gaza Strip. In an indication of
Hamas's animosity towards Dahlan and his followers, Dahlan's villa on the
Gaza coast was demolished shortly after the takeover.
Hamas has maintained control of the territory ever since, which, as a result,
has been subject to an internationally sanctioned embargo that has brought
its 1.5 million inhabitants to humanitarian ruin.
Dahlan's failure to finish off Hamas in 2007 quickly served to erode his
influence within Fatah. In February of last year, the movement's powerful
executive committee issued a statement blasting Dahlan's "recklessness", to
which it directly attributed the loss of Gaza.
"Dahlan hasn't held a single important Fatah post ever since," Diaa Rashwan,
senior analyst at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic
studies told IPS. "He completely disappeared from the public eye after the
loss of Gaza, and didn't reappear until the recent Israeli assault on the
Hamas-run territory."
On Jan. 3 - days after the launch of Israel's assault - Lebanese daily Al-Safir
reported that Dahlan had arrived in Egypt in hope of reasserting Fatah control
of Gaza.
"Only 36 hours after the launch of Israel's air war, officials swarmed to Cairo
from Ramallah, Amman, Washington and Tel Aviv," the newspaper reported.
"The engine driving the activity was Palestinian leader Mohamed Dahlan, who
had just arrived from the West Bank.
"Some 400 Palestinian police followed Dahlan to Egypt, where they
concentrated in Al-Arish (close to the Egypt-Gaza border) to await orders to
enter the strip in the event that the Hamas leadership was destroyed or if it
surrendered," Al-Safir reported.
The paper went on to note that, while in Cairo, Dahlan also "supplied detailed
information about Hamas targets in Gaza to Israeli officers."
Commentators also note that the recent departure of the Bush administration
- known for its rabidly pro-Israel position - represented a further blow to
Dahlan and his followers. "The Bush administration wholeheartedly supported
the Dahlan faction against the resistance," said Kandil. "So its departure will
no doubt adversely affect the group's capabilities."
"After two failures to dislodge Hamas from Gaza, the departure of Bush was
the last nail in Dahlan's coffin," Essam Al-Arian, leading member of Egypt's
Muslim Brotherhood told IPS. The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest
opposition movement, is closely affiliated to Hamas ideologically.
But commentators also note that the controversial faction's influence extends
beyond the mere person of Dahlan.
"This faction includes several of the advisors around Abbas," said Al-Arian.
"And its influence can also be found in other Palestinian political movements
besides Fatah." Kandil went so far as to say that Abbas himself represents a
leading element of the "Israeli faction" currently operating within the PA.
"Under Abbas, PA security agencies in the West Bank still receive direct U.S.
training," Kandil said. "And it is these agencies' primary task to persecute
resistance elements and provide Israel with intelligence with which to arrest
or assassinate resistance leaders." (END/2009)
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