Israel-Palestine conflict: the role of Hamas and Fatah rivalry in latest violence

The deadly escalation of violence across Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, in which at least 40 people have been killed and hundreds injured, has demonstrated how the core fault-lines of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians still run deep. But the dynamics of the violence also underscore internal divisions and crises of leadership on both sides.

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP – MARCH 18: Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas chair the first meeting of the new Palestinian unity government, bringing together the rival factions of Hamas and Fatah, on March 18, 2007 in Gaza City, Gaza Strip. Israel have refused to recognize the government but the EU said it would work with the coalition administration if it renounced violence and recognized Israel’s right to exist. (Photo by Abid Katib/Getty Images)

For Israelis, this has manifested itself in four elections in two years that have so far failed to end in the formation of a stable government. The most recent election, held on March 23, is still mired in wrangling between various parties and factions. Coalition talks were frozen on Monday after violence exploded in Jerusalem and Gaza.

HAMAS VS FATAH

Ideology:
Hamas – Islamist
Fatah – Secular 

Strategy towards Israel: 
Hamas – Armed resistance
Fatah – Negotiations

Objectives: 
Hamas – Does not recognise Israel, but accepts a Palestinian state on 1967 borders 

Hamas then pushed Fatah out of Gaza when the latter refused to recognize the result of the vote.Hamas and Fatah have ruled the occupied Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively ever since.While the two groups work towards the same goal of building a Palestinian state on the territories that Israel occupied in 1967, consisting of East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, there are some stark differences.

IDEOLOGIES 

Fatah is a reverse acronym for Harakat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniya or Palestinian National Liberation Movement in Arabic. The word Fatah means to conquer.The secular movement was founded in Kuwait in the late 1950s by diaspora Palestinians after the 1948 Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the Zionist movement aiming to create a Jewish modern state in historic Palestine. Fatah was founded by several people, most notably the late president of the Palestinian Authority – Yasser Arafat, aides Khalil al-Wazir and Salah Khalaf, and Mahmoud Abbas, who is the current president of the Palestinian Authority.

The movement was premised on the armed struggle against Israel to liberate historic Palestine.

The main military wing of the group was al-Asifah, or the Storm. Al-Asifah fighters were based in several Arab countries as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. The group’s armed struggle against Israeli occupation began in 1965. Most of its armed operations were carried out from Jordan and Lebanon.

Under Yasser Arafat, and after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Fatah became the dominant party in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which comprises numerous Palestinian political parties. The PLO was created in 1964 with the goal to liberate Palestine, and today acts as the representative of the Palestinian people at the United Nations. After being pushed out of Jordan and Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s, the movement underwent a fundamental change, choosing to negotiate with Israel.

“The Arabs basically helped in forcing Fatah to agree on taking a diplomatic route, after it was pushed out of Beirut,” Nashat al-Aqtash, a ًWest Bank-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

In the 1990s, the Fatah-led PLO officially renounced armed resistance and backed United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls for building a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza), alongside an Israeli state.

The PLO then signed the Oslo Accords, which led to the creation of the Palestinian National Authority, or Palestinian Authority, an interim self-governing body meant to lead to an independent Palestinian State.

Hamas is an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyya, or Islamic Resistance Movement. The word Hamas means zeal.

The Hamas movement was founded in Gaza in 1987 by imam Sheikh Ahmed Yasin and aide Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi shortly after the start of the first Intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The movement started as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and created a military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, to pursue an armed struggle against Israel with the aim of liberating historic Palestine. It also provided social welfare programmes to Palestinian victims of the Israeli occupation.

Hamas defines itself as a “Palestinian Islamic national liberation and resistance movement”, using Islam as its frame of reference.

In 2017, Hamas issued a political document effectively claiming to break ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and said it would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with the return of Palestinian refugees.

Though the move stirred fears among its loyalists that it was giving up on the Palestinian cause, Hamas added the following clause:

“Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea” but considers the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state on 1967 borders “to be a formula of national consensus.”

The movement believes that the “establishment of ‘Israel’ is entirely illegal”. This sets it apart from the PLO, of which it is not a member.

Hamas entered Palestinian politics as a political party in 2005 when it engaged in local elections, and won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in 2006, beating Fatah.

Hamas Gaza Chief Yahya Al-Sinwar (R), Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (L) during a memorial service for Fuqaha, in Gaza City March 27, 2017. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem/File Photo

 

Tensions between Fatah and Hamas have dominated Palestinian politics since 2006, when Hamas was victorious in the Palestinian Authority’s last parliamentary elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council, ending the era of Fatah’s dominance. After armed conflict between the two factions and the failure of an attempted unity government, the Palestinian leadership has been divided since 2007, with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority governing the West Bank, and Hamas governing the Gaza Strip.

Despite numerous reconciliation efforts over the past 15 years, rifts have remained. Both parties agreed in autumn 2020 to new elections, but these were postponed “indefinitely” by Abbas at the end of April. While the Palestinian Authority cited Israeli restrictions on Jerusalem residents voting as the cause for this delay, many surmise that it was more due to Abbas’ low popularity in recent polls, with challenges not only from Hamas, but also two Fatah splinter groups.

In the lead-up to the election, Hamas cleverly sought to link its movement with protecting Jerusalem, an issue with high political and religious resonance, especially during the month of Ramadan. They planned to run an electoral list of candidates named “Jerusalem is our destiny”, and fired rockets as a show of force and solidarity with Palestinians who were protesting against Israeli police restricting access to Damascus Gate. Damascus Gate is one of the main entrances to Jerusalem’s Old City, and a popular meeting place for Palestinians, especially during Ramadan after the evening prayer.

Later, Mohammed Deif, the leader of Hamas’ military wing, issued a warning to Israel over the eviction of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. Ongoing attempts to alter the demographics of this majority Arab suburb have mobilised widespread popular demonstrations in recent weeks.

These shows of solidarity by Hamas were in sharp contrast to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, which had failed to respond directly to the tensions in Jerusalem. It doesn’t help that the Palestinian Authority resumed security cooperation with Israel earlier this year.

Face of the resistance

Without the ballot box to prove its legitimacy, Hamas has now doubled down on projecting its image as the face of resistance to the occupation. Since the storming of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque by Israeli police on Monday May 10, Hamas has launched more than 1,000 rockets into Israel. These have been largely neutralised by Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defence system and Israel has retaliated with airstrikes on Gaza. Dozens of civilians have been killed and scores wounded, seemingly setting up another “Gaza war” like those of 2009, 2012 and 2014, which resulted in thousands of casualties.

Hamas doesn’t need to “win” wars in the traditional sense to be victorious. By simply resisting, it affirms its legitimacy and popularity, which has tended to surge after such escalations in the past. This is especially in comparison to the Palestinian Authority, which is seen as weak at best and complicit at worst in terms of relations with Israel.

This doesn’t mean that Hamas’ ideology or governance is popular; there is widespread dissatisfaction with conditions in Gaza that some blame on Hamas as well as Israel. But Hamas is wasting no time in seizing the moment in the current crisis to bolster its standing, both in Gaza and beyond.

Nonetheless, the question remains whether the activists and organisers leading the popular uprisings in Jerusalem and elsewhere will continue to see Hamas as an ally or a leader – or simply another faction exploiting the crisis and hijacking the resistance.

Julie M Norman, Lecturer in Politics & International Relations, UCL

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.