Win the battle, lose the war?
Over the last week, the Islamist terror organization Hamas completed its conquest of the Gaza strip, seizing power and driving out the secular terrorist organization, al-Fatah (the major faction of the PLO). Claiming to represent the legitimate government of the Palestinian Authority (they did win the election, after all), the Hamas government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh rejected the dissolution decree of President (and Fatah member) Mahmoud Abbas and raised the possibility of imposing Islamic law.
For the moment, Hamas stands victorious. Their Islamist patrons in Iran, Syria, and Lebanon must be grinning with delight. But, if one thinks about it, this tactical victory may signal a strategic defeat. While Hamas celebrates this "great victory for true Islam," they still have to provide basic services to the people of Gaza, something they've not shown much skill at, nor that they even care. (After all, when one has an obsessive focus on the afterlife, what does this life matter?) Well, they may start caring soon, when their cars and ambulances run out of gas:
But [foreign aid] is unlikely to reach Gaza, where panicked residents stocked up, fearing growing shortages of food, fuel and other staples as the crossings of the fenced-in strip with Israel and Egypt remained closed.
The Israeli fuel company Dor Alon said Sunday it was cutting of fuel supplies immediately to Gaza's gas stations. The company is the sole provider of gasoline to Gaza.
Dor Alon will continue to ship fuel to Gaza's electricity power plant, the company said, but about 30 percent of Gazans have been cut off from the electric grid because of infrastructure damage caused by the fighting and they rely upon generators for power.
Palestinian Health Ministry officials said they hoped that hospitals currently running on generators would be reconnected to the grid before their fuel reserves run out, but even if they do, a gasoline shortage would immobilize ambulances and prevent deliveries of blood, medicine and food to medical facilities.
Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said he had appealed to Israel and the international community not to cut off supplies to Gaza. "Residents must not be punished for the bloody coup staged by Hamas," he said.
These same residents also voted to put Hamas in power. Elections have consequences, and the Israelis are under no obligation to supply gas, electricity, and hospital services to a government dedicated to their destruction.
Not that Fatah was much better, but Hamas' coup has presented Abbas with the opportunity to remake his government as the "reasonable alternative." He's already outlawed Hamas' militias -- a move more for show than anything else, since he now has no control over Gaza. He's also appointed a new cabinet comprising mostly non-Fatah technocrats, a move sure to please Western donors anxious for a Palestinian alternative to Hamas. And Israel was quick to say they could work with Abbas.
So, as Israel and the West rush to give the (relatively) moderate West Bank government help and isolate Hamas, and as basic services collapse in Gaza (assuming Israel and the West remain firm, sadly an open question), the people of Gaza may finally come to realize that electing a terrorist government dedicated to religious fascism and genocide just might not have been in their best interests.
But, I don't think it's likely. As the late Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban famously put it: "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."
LINKS: More at Captain's Quarters, where Ed thinks Abbas has a golden opportunity. Meanwhile, Roger L. Simon speculates on Hamas' intelligence windfall and reports that Israel plans to attack Hamas. Prose Before Hos thinks this spells the end of Fatah.
http://www.prosebeforehos.com/international-relations/06/14/auf-wiedersehen-fatah/
Posted by:alec | 17 June 2007 at 17:04