Gazans Under Fire?
The Gaza Strip may seem like a foreign Palestinian territory where most of us only understand it as a volatile place where missiles come from. That's only one side of the story. What about those living in the Gaza Strip? Those who live under the Hamas regime and yet at the same time under the Palestinian Authority. Many of us fail to understand the economic hardships the Palestinian citizens have to live with in the Gaza Strip. Khaled Abu Toameh tries to give some insight to these hardships in his article, What's happening in Gaza?
Toameh tells his readers how organized Palestinian youth movements are joining together in the streets of Gaza under the banner “We Want to Live” to protest for their depleted lively hood. The protesters are demanding better solutions for their high cost of living, taxes and unemployment. Instead of being heard by their leaders, they were used as pawns in the continued blame by one another for the hardships they face living in the Gaza Strip.
At first Hamas leaders were pleased to see this as they believed the protesters were angered with the Palestinian Authority and Israel for the sanctions and restrictions placed on the Gaza Strip. Hamas was quickly proven wrong as the protesters were in fact angered with their rule over the Gaza Strip.
The protesters were denouncing Hamas’ financial corruption and mismanagement. They were calling for an end to Hamas rule. Articles from Ma’an News Agency further this argument by stating the Gaza Strip is much better off without Hamas in power. Hamas, outraged by the truth behind the protests used brutal force and illegitimate arrests to stop the protests. They took hundreds of Palestinians into custody, including members of Fatah.
In order to deal with the protests and to cover up their own brutal force, Hamas, who blames Fatah for the deteriorating economic situation in the Gaza Strip, stated the protests were a Fatah-led conspiracy to instigate chaos and violence in the Gaza Strip to overthrow them. They went on to say the conspiracy was to ruin plans for the Great March of Return which was to occur at the end of the month. The march was to coincide with Land Day, which remembers March 30, 1976 where six Arab Israelis were killed in a quarrel with the Israeli Police during a protest against the Israeli government’s decision to confiscate thousands of dunams of land for their own use. Hamas claimed Majed Faraj, the head of Palestinian General Intelligence based in the West Bank, was the ring leader of their claims.
Interestingly enough, Fatah leaders went ahead and stated they were in fact behind the conspiracy claims and the Palestinian youth movements were revolting against Hamas. Hussein al-Sheikh, Fatah senior official, made a statement saying the protests are against Hamas’s illegal taxes and oppressive rule over the people of Gaza. He went on to say the Palestinian protesters are calling for an end to the Hamas regime and how they want to live in dignity.
Other Palestinian Authority and Fatah leaders went on to state the protests are only the beginning of an Intifada against Hamas, that they are a “revolution of the hungry” and the beginning of a Palestinian “spring”; which refers to anti-government and armed protests which took place in various Arab countries in 2010. They also took this opportunity to reveal pictures on their Facebook page of wounded Palestinian men, women and children who were beaten by Hamas police and militia men, which Hamas claimed was another conspiracy tactic.
What about the voices of the Palestinian youth? Toameh, who speaks on the behalf of the Gazan citizens, reveals their voice. Although Hamas set violent raids against those who protested against them, did not deter the protestors determination. The protesters went ahead and called for a two-day strike in the Gaza Strip and continued protesting their daily hardships as well as Hamas and their brutal measures against them and others in the Gaza Strip.
Toameh goes on to show how the Palestinian youth members are smarter than either leadership and their manipulation. Many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank revealed Fatah’s lies on social media claiming the pictures that were posted were not of Palestinian’s being beaten by Hamas, but of Arabs in Iraq and Egypt. They also stated the Palestinian security forces were no different than Hamas with their attempted manipulative actions.
Having had enough with Hamas’s violence against the protesters, twelve Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip gathered in an emergency meeting to bring the violence to an end. Condemning the brutality, they called for Hamas to remove all their police and militiamen from the streets of Gaza and to release everyone they arrested. Al Jazeera backs up these arguments made by Toameh by stating in their own articles the condemning of Hamas brutality on their people. Many others such as the Arab and international human rights organizations and journalist groups also strongly condemned Hamas for their actions.
In response to the condemnation they received, Hamas made a public apology to the people of Gaza for any physical or moral damage they may have caused to their people. Their apology showed the depth of trouble they are facing due to their excessive force against the protesters. The Palestinian Authority did not accept the apology. They are too badly hurt from the past humiliation Hamas has inflicted on them and will not be satisfied until they are humiliated the same. In 2006, Hamas won the parliamentary elections and in 2007 violently seized control over the Gaza Strip. The internal fight between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is one of deep wounds and only causes suffering for the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.
After the Palestinian Authority rejected Hamas’s apology their top spokesman Atef Abu Seif was kidnapped and beaten badly, which was another humiliation for them. They blamed Hamas and accused them of committing a war crime, but Hamas denied all claims. Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, increased their attacks on Hamas as revenge for Seif’s kidnapping. Tayseer Khaled, a PLO official, compared Hamas to Nazi Gestapo. Jamal Muheissen, a senior official of Fatah, denounced Hamas as a terrorist organization and called for them to be removed from power.
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