This coincidence is symbolic - the confrontation between Palestinian groups is increasingly similar to what is happening in Iraq but the situation in Palestine looks more desperate.
So far Iraq has managed to escape a civil war, at least de jure, paradoxical as it may sound against the background of daily reports about acts of terror, abductions and murders. Sectarian violence is part of the scene, and foreign terrorists linking themselves with Al-Qaeda are operating on Iraqi territory.
Nevertheless, representatives of different political forces are part of the same government and parliament. Their efficiency may be called into doubt; they may be locked in contradictions and each party may have its own ambitions, but the fact remains that the Iraqi political institutions are functioning, and officially political leaders are disassociating themselves from the blood that is being shed in the country every single day. Palestinian confrontation directly involves the groups that are part of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). This is a civil war both de facto and de jure.
The Palestinians have not developed a notion of statehood that the Iraqis have preserved despite all the recent ordeals. They are not to blame for not having had an independent state. But they are directly responsible for keeping the last chance for its creation. Meanwhile, Fatah and Hamas are daily showing the world community their inability to gain control over the functioning of political instruments on the territory.
It goes without saying that their position is not easy. It is enough to mention the international economic blockade, imposed after Hamas won the parliamentary elections more than a year ago, its isolation in the international stage and confrontation with Israel.
Speaking in Tokyo the other day, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr described the PNA situation as follows: "If you have two brothers put into a cage and deprive them of basic essential needs for life, they will fight. I don't think we should put the blame on the victim. We need to undo the very problematic situation that mainly others have created."
This is all true, but the Palestinians should be responsible to each other as well. Fatah-Hamas clashes are nothing new - they did not start a year and a half ago after the Islamists won the elections and the international blockade was imposed. This situation has been the same since the PNA was set up in 1994. It is no secret that at one time Hamas was established with Israeli assistance to balance out Fatah. But it is impossible to make references to this fact all the time because the Islamist movement has long been following its own rather than Israeli logic in much the same manner as Al-Qaeda, which was set up with U.S. involvement. Is the world community compelling these two political movements to finish off each other in hospitals or throw them to their deaths from multi-storey buildings?
No outside interference will help the Palestinians until they resolve their contradictions themselves. Egyptian go-betweens are trying to reconcile them but to no avail. The Saudis went out of their way to help them set up a national unity government last February but all was in vain.
There is no guarantee that a new truce will last long. The division of political powers in the government is turning into street violence and bloodshed. Under the circumstances, it is pointless to plan peaceful talks with Israel or the formation of an independent Palestinian state. Both Fatah and Hamas are proving daily that their clan interests are above national goals. The foreign conspiracy theory, which is so popular in the Arab world, does not apply here.
"Nothing can justify civilian losses and suffering," reads a Russian Foreign Ministry statement on the PNA situation. The Palestinian leaders should take this into account if they care for their compatriots. They should probably consider the positive and negative experience of their Iraqi colleagues. In Iraq they are also subjected to foreign interference (by individual countries and terrorist organizations), and different clans are pursuing their own interests. The situation in Iraq is more complicated than in Palestine, which was spared ethnic and religious strife.
Needless to say, the situation in Iraq is far from ideal. It has to travel a long way to stabilization and national reconciliation, and the threat of a civil war is still there. Iraq is restrained from a war by outside pressure - both military and political, primarily from Washington and London, and, paradoxical as it might seem, by the danger of Al-Qaeda's growing influence.
The Palestinians are not restrained by anything. Chaos is reigning supreme on their territory. They seem to be waiting for it to turn into a base for foreign terrorist groups like it happened in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. This would be a peculiar substitute for an independent state.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
