While for Khaled Amayreh in the West Bank it appears Fatah and Hamas have at last understood that fighting each other only adds to the impact of the Israeli occupation, for Erica Silverman in Gaza the seeds of inter-Palestinian conflict have still to be uprooted New hope for consensus By Erica Silverman Hamas and Fatah, and the entire Palestinian society, are more or less succeeding in averting what could have been a sure plunge into the boiling cauldron of civil war. The bloody showdown between the two largest political and resistance groups in the occupied Palestinian territories seems to have been quelled, for the time being at least, with no serious incidents of politically- motivated assassinations, abductions or acts of sabotage taking place in over a week now. The prevailing calm is giving the Palestinian masses a badly needed taste of peace of mind, after weeks of violent and acrimonious brinkmanship between Hamas and Fatah. The relative calm was brought about thanks to intensive interventions by a number of Arab countries, primarily Egypt, which reportedly unequivocally warned both Fatah and Hamas hat they would have either to reconcile their differences immediately, or risk consigning the Palestinian cause to oblivion, in which case they would only have themselves to blame. External intervention aside, the Palestinian masses, NGOs and other factions have been conveying their own message to both Hamas and Fatah, that their protracted imbroglio -- regardless of who is right or wrong -- was disgracing the Palestinians and seriously undermining their enduring cause. One Palestinian, recently returned from the hajj p ilgrimage in Mecca, narrated on television how he felt ashamed when a hajj from an unspecified Muslim country asked him "How could you maintain a ceasefire with Israel and fail to do the same amongst yourselves?" This sense of shame and disbelief has been overwhelming among Palestinians in recent days. In several Palestinian towns, conferences, seminars, marches and rallies have been taking place to highlight the gravity of civil war and to commit to avoiding it. In Hebron, the most populous Palestinian district, thousands swore, by raising their hands, to refrain from taking part in any activity against any other Palestinian. InTulkarem, Fatah and Hamas leaders held joint rallies and meetings to fend off the spectre of civil war. Meanwhile, the estimated 11,000 Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails declared Sunday 14 January a day of fasting in order to protest the showdown between Fatah and Hamas. One prisoner blasted both groups, saying during a phone-in show broadcast on local radio, "Shame on you, shame on you, shame on you! We are sacrificing the days, months and years of our lives for you, and you are killing each other like wild animals. What are you fighting for? Have you forgotten that our country is occupied by Israel, that Jerusalem has been Judaised, that Israel is stealing our land and confining us inside ghettos and camps? Have you lost your senses so much that you can no longer know your brother from your enemy is?" These and similar cries seem to have had a certain sobering psychological effect on both sides, prompting their respective leaders to assure society at large that they will not allow civil war to gain any foothold among the Palestinians. The backtracking from the edge of the abyss began last week, when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas more or less rebuked Fatah in a speech in Ramallah infront of a multitude of Fatah supporters. He told the estimated 50,000 Fatah activists, who were marking the movement's anniversary, that: "All our rifles ought to be trained towards the occupation, not our brothers." Abbas recited many Qur'anic verses and hadiths illustrating the inadmissibility of civil war, in which brother would kill brother, without either of them knowing why he had killed him. "Do you know that shedding the blood of even one person is graver in the sight of God than demolishing the Kaaba (the centrepiece of the grand mosque of Mecca) stone by stone?" Abbas asked. The speech was well-received by the Hamas leadership and Palestinians in general, prompting Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to call Abbas to tell him that, "We must never allow ourselves to indulge in this shame again." With this positive atmosphere growing, one other source of tension between Fatah and Hamas was removed this week. Striking Palestinian civil servants agreed to return to work after receiving assurances from the government that their wages would be paid in full, though gradually. Meanwhile, Hamas and Fatah are resuming political contacts for the purpose of ironing out a final agreement on forming a national unity government. According to sources in the Syrian capital, Fatah emissaries have been meeting with the leader of Hamas, Khalid Meshal, in order to finalise the agreement before the planned arrival of Abbas in Damascus later this week or early next week. Both Jordan -- which Abbas visited this week -- and Egypt have been strongly pressuring him to accelerate the formation of a government of national unity. And in the last few weeks, Syria has also been active in this regard, upping the chances of a breakthrough between the two Palestinian groups. According to reliable sources within Fatah, a draft agreement being worked on between the two groups stipulates that Fatah or pro-Fatah independents would occupy important portfolios like finance and foreign affairs, while Ismail Haniyeh would remain prime minister. The Interior Ministry would also remain in Hamas's hands. Meanwhile, visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unsuccessfully sought to convince Abbas of the principle of a Palestinian state within temporary borders, i.e the gigantic Israeli separation wall that has annexed large swathes of the West Bank into Israel. Abbas responded that the Palestinian people wanted to reach their ultimate aim of an independent state directly. For his part, Haniyeh accused Rice of seeking to "sedate the Palestinians" with empty promises. "She is coming up with dangerous ideas which we should be wary of. It is clear that the Bush administration will not exert any pressure on Israel to give up the stolen land." Abbas's rejection of Rice's proposals was well-received by nearly all Palestinians, who believe that the US has no credibility and is merely at Israel's beck and call. Many Palestinians hope that the evolving Fatah-Hamas consensus on rejecting any reversion to the barren "Oslo process" will stabilise and solidify the Palestinian internal front, and pave the way for lifting the eight-month old siege imposed on Palestinians by Israel and the US, mainly as a punishment for electing Hamas.
