'Crisis and the clashes the responsibility of the Dahlan gangs.'

Friday, June 15, 2007
As'ad AbuKhalil:
Well, the conspiracy is unfolding before your eyes now. It is unfolding in Iraq, Somalia, Lebanon, Palestine, and Afghanistan. Do you really need more evidence of a US-Saudi-Israeli conspiracy in the Middle East region? You look at Palestine and you see a reference to a Palestinian "civil war" as it is being called.

People used to say that in Palestine it is very unlikely to have a Palestine civil war because the Palestinians have harbored a strong aversion to internecine battles and strife. But that is not true: collaborationist Palestinians have been killing other Palestinians, and dragging other factions into civil war, since at least the 1936-39 Palestinian revolt. The collaborationists were then represented by the Nashashibis and the Hashemites of Jordan. And one should remember that Fath under Arafat was always more willing to fight other Palestinians than to fight Israel. Fath under Arafat fought other Palestinian organizations prior to Black September in Jordan, and then did the same in Lebanon.

But what is new today is that the entire Palestinian leadership of theFath movement was eliminated (assassinated by Israel and its allies), and a new leadership was installed by the US and Israel (with the support of client Arab regimes). We have never had in the history of Palestinian struggle a more open collaborationist regime in Palestine. And it is openly aligned with Israel and the US: this is unprecedented. I mean, even under the Village Leagues and the notorious Muhammad `Ali Al-Ja`bari: there were those silly denials of collaboration, and the Palestinians made sure that those attempts don't go very far. Not anymore.

And you see press reports to Salam Fayyad as "independent". Independent? Who brought this World Bank official to Palestine? Who forced him on Yasir Arafat? The Palestinian people? His own popularity or popular base? He is as much an independent as much as Mr. Bush is a "uniter not a divider."

And the characters in this saga are just almost fictional. Yesterday, the official statement or Ottoman Faraman (it was really drafted and read as a far a man) by Mahmoud Abbas was read by none other than Tayyib`Abdur-Rahim. Are you kidding me? He was dressed in a fancy suit, but this is `Abdur-Rahim. We knew him from his days in Lebanon. He was known as Abu At-Tayyib: he was in charge of Force 17. Force 17 was responsible under Arafat of dirty tricks and dirty fighting and dirty murders. That was its mission. And to have this same man yesterday speak on "constitutional matters" was laughable.

But less laughable than Condoleezza Rice offering opinions on the proper constitutional procedures in Palestine. Don't get me wrong: I have never been a fan of Hamas: not of its ideology and not of its practices. I also believe that, like Fath, they seem to be better fighters against other Palestinians than against Israeli occupation soldiers. That has to be observed. And Hamas has the blood of innocent Palestinians on its hands--not as much as Fath gangs, but still.

Yet, this crisis and the clashes are without a doubt the responsibility of the Dahlan gangs. They basically refused to accept the democratic results of the last parliamentary elections (under occupation): they just--under instruction from Israel and US--would not allow Hamas to rule. They were arming and building armed gangs to take on Hamas and whoever was willing to defy Israel and US dictates.

But the US and Israel (along with the Arab clients) did not know that no matter how much money and weapons they dump in the lap of Dahlan gangs, these fighters lack the cause or doctrine to make them effective as a fighting force. The last time Dahlan held a public rally in Gaza, he surrounded himself with kids and women because he could not trust what should have been his own constituency.

There are lessons of what happened in Gaza for Lebanon and Iraq and elsewhere: in terms of the arming of Sunni tribes and Shi`ite gangs in Iraq, and the arming of the Hariri forces in Lebanon. These will not fight, and would crumble at the first clash.

The Bush Doctrine is deep trouble, make no mistake about it. But then again: how foolish was the decision by Hamas to run in the elections and to accept to rule? They basically foolishly assumed that there was a true democracy in Palestine when it is under occupation? (The same may apply to the same calculations of Hizbullah when they joined the Sanyurah government).

The Saudi media--without a sense of irony--are now resorting to equating Hamas with Taliban and Al-Qa`idah: as if what works in New York City can really work in the Arab world. They think that they can really convince Arab public opinion that they (House of Saud and its allies) represent a secular alternative?

And please, don't give me that line that Fath is "a secular organization." We know Fath well, and know that Arafat was guilty of arming and financing fanatical religious groups since his days in Lebanon: just like what Arab regimes and Israel (and US) have done.

Khalid Mish`al today responded to that allegation in his press conference by denying that Hamas plans to impose a religious order. Don't get me wrong: both Hamas and Hizbullah tried to do that in years past before they realized that they can't continue to grow if they did not change. Neither the Lebanese nor the Palestinians would put up with a religious order. Both are sinful people, thankfully.