Dead Palestinians and "Strengthening Abu Mazen"
Demonstrations against Israel have been stronger, louder and longer in Europe than in the West Bank. There are, in part, two reasons.
- Palestinians in the West Bank have lived for the past six years under a combination of Israeli security and Fatah political control. This has provided stability and, recently, improved economic and social conditions. There are Palestinians who regret the emergence of Hamas although LOTS of Palestinians voted for it: some because Fatah was corrupt, and some because they liked Hamas's plans for killing Jews.
- Hamas is proving (again) that it will kill Palestinians as well as Israelis. Khalid Abu Toameh reports in The Jerusalem Post that since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, more than 75 Gaza Palestinians have been shot in the legs or had their hands broken, and more than 35 have been killed - by Hamas operatives who called them "collaborators."
Those "collaborators" are no more than Palestinians who accept the need for a long-term modus vivendi with the State of Israel - the ones Israel, the Quartet and others call the "moderates." They are not Zionists; "peace" may be beyond them and even "moderate" is a term of art. But there they are - Palestinians who may not even have helped Israel, but who know that Hamas isn't helping them. One man said his hands were broken when he cheered for an IDF airstrike. According to Abu Toameh, the dead were already held in Hamas prisons; the decision to murder them was out of fear of an Israeli rescue attempt. Isn't it against the Geneva Convention to kill prisoners?
This is potentially a signal moment in Palestinian politics.
For a long time, the goal of Israel and the Quartet has been to "strengthen Abu Mazen," perhaps in hopes that his popularity among Palestinians would improve. Despite the fact that his term of office ends next week and even before the operation in Gaza he was unwilling to either stand for election or stand aside, we have to hope Abu Mazen has been sufficiently strengthened to assert the obvious - a relationship with Israel is the best mechanism for the advancement of Palestinian political and economic maturation.
If he can't go that far, perhaps Abu Mazen could at least point out that Hamas is committing war crimes by a) directing fire at Israeli civilians; b) using Palestinian civilians as human shields; c) calling for the destruction of a UN member; and d) executing prisoners. (The first three crimes were enumerated by Alan Dershowitz in The Wall Street Journal; the fourth was not yet public.)
If he can't go that far, perhaps the Quartet could do it for him.
Abu Mazen has called Israel's operation "criminal," but said Hamas was responsible because it ended the "truce." Hamas called him a collaborator and no doubt hopes for an opportunity to eliminate him with the others.
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