Fatah-Hamas conflict
| date | 2006 - |
|---|---|
| place | Gaza Strip and West Bank |
| output | Formation of a unity government |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 6,000-10,000 fighters | |
The Fatah-Hamas conflict ( Arabic النزاع بين فتح وحماس, DMG an-Nizāʿ baina Fatḥ wa-Ḥamās ), also known as the Palestinian Civil War (الحرب الأهلية الفلسطينية, DMG al-Ḥarb al-ahliyyat al-filisṭīniyya ) or conflict of the brothers (صراع الإخوة, DMG Ṣirāʿ al-Iḫwa ) is a conflict between the two strongest Palestinian factions, the secular party Fatah (member of the PLO ) and the Sunni - Islamist terrorist organization Hamas .
The conflict began in 2006 and resulted in the de facto partition of the Palestinian Territories in 2007 , which continues to this day. Several attempts to resolve the conflict and reunite the two territories through a unity government (most recently in October 2017) have so far only been successful on paper.
Emergence
The PLO and its strongest faction, Fatah , which for decades had successfully made an absolute claim to the representation of Palestinian interests, began to gradually lose power and influence after the turn of the millennium. The Islamist Hamas , which emerged from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood , developed into the most successful opposition. It committed itself externally to the unconditional fight against Israel and internally achieved recognition within the Palestinian population with a series of social projects. During the first Intifada , Hamas impressed some of the Palestinians by radically rejecting any negotiations with Israel. Despite the common struggle, there were initial rifts with the PLO.
Hamas also benefited from the fact that the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority and its security forces were increasingly hated, especially among impoverished sections of the population, due to massive corruption and arbitrary arrests and torture. The death of the Palestinian identification figure and long-time PLO leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 and the defeat of Fatah in the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2006 were further cornerstones of the PLO's loss of power.
The conflict
First fighting
On December 15, 2006, fighting broke out in the West Bank after Palestinian security forces opened fire during a Hamas demonstration in Ramallah . Hamas accused Fatah of having carried out an assassination attempt on the Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas politician Ismail Haniya . Shortly thereafter, at least 20 people were wounded in the bloody clashes that followed. The fighting continued in December 2006 and January 2007 in the Gaza Strip . Various truces failed and were repeatedly interrupted by violent incidents. In February 2007, the Palestinian rivals met in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and reached a ceasefire agreement. However, minor incidents continued in March and April 2007. More than 90 people were killed in those first few months.
Second fighting
In mid-May 2007 the fighting increased, particularly in the Gaza Strip. More than 50 Palestinians were killed in less than 20 days. Leaders on both sides tried to end the fighting with dozens of truces, but none lasted more than a few days. Militias of local clan leaders and, in some cases, autonomous, radical splinter groups were increasingly involved in the fighting. Although Fatah and the security forces it controlled outnumbered the Authority, it became apparent in the run-up to the ensuing escalation that Hamas fighters had better combat training and discipline.
Hamas takes sole control of the Gaza Strip
→ Main article: Battle for Gaza June 2007
During four days of civil war-like fighting, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip . Numerous Fatah fighters fled, were captured or killed. The Israeli government closed all border crossings into Gaza in response to the violence. At least 116 people were killed during the fighting.
Dissolution of the Government of National Unity
At the same time, violence between the hostile organizations escalated in the West Bank. Unlike in the Gaza Strip, however, Fatah was able to gain the upper hand over Hamas here. On June 14, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the dissolution of the current unity government and declared a state of emergency . Prime Minister Ismail Haniya was dismissed and Abbas declared himself temporarily head of government on the basis of a presidential decree. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri then declared President Abbas' decision to be "practically worthless", as Haniya would remain the head of the government even if it had been dissolved by the president. The result is a de facto division of the Palestinian autonomous territories into the domains of Fatah and Hamas, which continues to this day.
On June 20, Hamas leader Mahmud al-Zahar declared that Fatah's continued attempt to uproot Hamas in the West Bank would lead to its downfall. If he were asked whether Hamas' resistance to Fatah would take the form of attacks and suicide bombings such as those practiced by Hamas against Israel, he would not deny it.
2009 Gaza conflict and consequences
During Israel's Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip , reports by the Palestinian human rights organization PHCR reported torture and murder of alleged pro-Israel collaborators and spies by Hamas. These included Fatah supporters. At least 30 Palestinians were killed. After the end of the operation, Hamas and Fatah conducted negotiations on Egypt's initiative to resume the cooperation that had ended after the battle for Gaza . The head of the Fataah-affiliated Palestinian government appointed by Mahmoud Abbas , Salam Fayyad , resigned on March 7 for this purpose. However, the negotiations failed. In response, Abbas reappointed a non-Hamas interim government on May 20 with Fayyad as prime minister. However, this move was rejected not only by Hamas, but also by parts of Fatah. On May 31, six people, including a civilian , were killed in a gun battle between police officers close to Fatah and Hamas activists in the West Bank .
In August 2009, a Fatah party congress took place, for which Israel also granted entry permits to Fatah members living in Lebanon and Syria and even to convicted terrorists. It was the first of its kind on Palestinian soil in over 20 years. Abbas spoke out in favor of a peaceful two-state solution and called Hamas "Prince of Darkness" in his opening speech. He criticized them for denying around 400 Fatah members from the Gaza Strip to attend the Congress. Hamas reacted to deliberations by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to cut financial aid for the Gaza Strip in response to the detained Fatah members with threats: This would lead to a "resurgence of looting and extortion in the West Bank".
Energy conflict
In 2010, the Palestinian interim government obtained control over the diesel fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip , which had previously been controlled by Israel . The funds required for this, which the EU has so far transferred to Israel, have been flowing into the Fatah- controlled Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and have been used as leverage ever since. In the Gaza Strip, there are hours of power outages every day as the National Authority withholds a large proportion of the weekly oil deliveries. She demands that Hamas collect electricity charges from the people of the Gaza Strip and transfer them to the West Bank.
Attempts at reconciliation and further conflicts
At the beginning of May 2011, Ismail Haniyya (Hamas) signed a reconciliation agreement with Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo, which the Egyptian leadership had drawn up a year and a half earlier on behalf of the Arab League . Both parliamentary groups planned to form a joint transitional government before the 2012 parliamentary elections. Palestinian political experts attributed this step to the Arab uprisings since the beginning of 2011. The Egyptian foreign ministry then announced that it would permanently open the border crossing at Rafah, thus ending the blockade of the Gaza Strip . However, there was no reconciliation between the two parties. In fact, the conflict between Fatah and Hamas continued in 2012, accusing each other of violating agreements and torpedoing an agreement. Hamas announced that it would boycott a local election announced by Fatah in July and ban it in its sphere of influence. A survey conducted in March 2013 by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip shows that the majority of respondents do not believe in a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas:
"The analysis of the survey also reveals a dramatic turnaround in the reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas. About half of the public do not believe in reconciliation between the current ruling parties and almost three quarters of those questioned even believe that reconciliation under the current circumstances , which are characterized by the restriction of the freedoms of Fatah and Hamas supporters, is completely excluded. "
The energy conflict also remained unsolved. Since Hamas banned the purchase of fuel for vehicles and diesel power generators from Israel in 2012, for which the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority collects taxes, and Egyptian fuel, which is heavily subsidized by the government in Cairo, was imposed high taxes by Hamas, which in turn prompted Egypt to protest against it and stop its deliveries, the Gaza Strip repeatedly suffered from massive bottlenecks. Meanwhile, many Palestinians have expressed the view that there are forces on both sides who are interested in maintaining the status quo in order to maintain their power.
In the course of 2013 there were again signs that the conflict was easing. In January, for example, Hamas allowed a solemn procession to mark the founding anniversary of Fatah in the Gaza Strip. Resumed negotiations on a reconciliation led to the renewed announcement that they would hold joint elections. In May, both sides announced an agreement of three months within which a unity government would be formed. Observers, however, assessed the deadline as an indirect admission by the negotiating partners that they continued to disagree on key points. Representatives of other Palestinian factions involved in the planning of a joint election also expressed skepticism. One of the main points of conflict was still the amalgamation of armed units from both parties. Just days after the agreement, Hamas units in the Gaza Strip disarmed a group of the Fatah military arm.
Reconciliation Pact and Unity Government 2014 and Operation Protective Edge
Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation pact in Gaza on April 23, 2014 and agreed to form a joint unity government within five weeks. Presidential and parliamentary elections should be held by the end of the year. The previous Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah was commissioned by President Mahmoud Abbas to form a cabinet made up of independent experts from both political currents. The resulting stalled negotiations and the lack of specific changes to the division into two Palestinian domains, however, as with other previous reconciliation pacts, raised doubts about its practical benefits.
Another military conflict between Hamas and Israel and the previous tensions from June 2014 revealed deep rifts that still exist between Hamas and Fatah. Above all, the Gazan office of the Palestinian Interior Ministry was heavily involved, as it controls the homepage and social media channels of the Interior Ministry (this is de jure led by Fatah Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah). It posted "social media guidelines" for conducting propaganda and called on the Gazans to post themselves as human shields. The military arm of Hamas also carried out several executions against alleged spies without obtaining the necessary confirmation of the death sentences from President Abbas.
International dimension
Palestinian politics has always been shaped by Arab, Israeli and international influence. This is due on the one hand to the high regional and international geopolitical interest in the Palestine region and the conflict with Israel; on the other hand, because the Palestinian population still has no functioning state apparatus and no functioning economy and is therefore largely dependent on subsidies and donations. Fatah, which under Arafat broke away from the hegemonic aspirations of Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser and stood up for an independent, secular Palestinian nation, was initially perceived as part of the global socialist movement during the Cold War and received corresponding donations from international allies. In the surrounding Arab states, however, the PLO or Fatah was a red rag at the time. She was bloody expelled from Jordan in the 1970s, in Lebanon she made a significant contribution to the decades-long civil war , and it was also fought by Syria.
After the end of the Cold War and the suppression of the First Intifada , Arafat led Fatah to successful peace negotiations with Israel. Since 1993, Fatah has been accepted by Western states as a legitimate representative of Palestinian interests and has continued to receive extensive financial support. Hamas was born at the time of the First Intifada. In particular, Fatah's alliance with Israel and the West, but also Fatah's corruption and mismanagement, contributed to the rise of Hamas, which soon received financial and ideological support from anti-Western states such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and Syria , while Arab states such as Egypt , Jordan and Saudi Arabia seek closeness to the West and fight the Islamist movement to which Hamas belongs in their own countries as well. These states are therefore pursuing policies that are friendly to Fatah. The dispute over the Arab stance towards the two Palestinian factions culminated in 2009 when Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, along with other states, stayed away from a meeting of the Arab League in which Hamas was unilaterally acquitted of all guilt for the Gaza war in 2009 and after the Qatar severed diplomatic relations with Israel. The split is also evident in the media sector, for example using the example of the two best-known Arab TV stations. While the state-controlled Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera has been broadcasting Hamas-friendly reporting for some time and celebrated Hamas fighters as martyrs and heroes during the Gaza war, the Saudi broadcaster al-Arabiya reported much more distantly. In an interview, the station's manager blamed Hamas for the escalation.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Religious was in Gaza. In: ynetnews.com. February 4, 2007, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Hamas accuses Fatah over attack . Al Jazeera. December 15, 2006. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
- ^ Palestinian rivals: Fatah & Hamas . BBC News . June 17, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
- ^ How Hamas took over the Gaza Strip . BBC News . June 15, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2010.
- ↑ Abbas Dissolves Palestinian Authority Government in Wake of Hamas-Fatah War . June 14, 2007. Archived from the original on June 16, 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
- ^ Charles Levinson, Matthew Moore: Abbas declares state of emergency in Gaza . June 14, 2007.
- ↑ Abbas sacks Hamas-led government . June 14, 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
- ↑ Steven Erlanger: " Mr. Zahar, the former Palestinian foreign minister, said Hamas would not sit idle if its political rival, Fatah, ... continued to attack Hamas institutions and politicians. ", From A Leader of Hamas Warns of West Bank Peril for Fatah , June 21, 2007, New York Times .
- ↑ [1] (PDF file)
- ↑ netzeitung.de Palestinians boycott each other ( Memento from May 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Trouble about Fajad's second term of office ( memento from September 10, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) sueddeutsche.de
- ↑ Six dead in a shooting in the West Bank ( Memento from June 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Ulrike Putz: Fatah Congress in Bethlehem: Palestinian President forces a new beginning. In: Spiegel Online . August 4, 2009, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Fatah continues party congress - elections on Thursday In: schwaebische.de
- ↑ Power struggle for electricity for Gaza Strip ( Memento from March 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ cf. Palestinians seal reconciliation: The end of "four black years" ( Memento from May 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at tagesschau.de, May 4, 2011 (accessed on May 4, 2011).
- ↑ Hamas wants to boycott Palestinian elections. In: derstandard.at . July 10, 2012, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- Jump up ↑ No hope in the peace process and a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, publications, Palestinian Territories office. In: kas.de. March 30, 2013, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Juliane von Mittelstaedt reports from Gaza City: Hamas vs. Fatah: Gaza is groaning under a fuel emergency. In: Spiegel Online . March 31, 2012, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Fatah, Hamas agree to form Palestinian unity government , Al Arabija, May 15, 2013
- ↑ Islamic Jihad leader: Fatah, Hamas not ready to end split - Maan News Agency. In: maannews.net. May 24, 2013, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Surprising reconciliation in Gaza
- ^ Reuters: Formation of unity government has begun. In: handelsblatt.com . May 29, 2014, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ^ Gaza: Skepticism about possible Fatah-Hamas government. In: tagesschau.de. May 30, 2014, archived from the original on June 2, 2014 ; Retrieved December 25, 2014 .
- ^ Social Media: The second front in Gaza - GeekTime. In: geektime.com. October 21, 2014, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Middle East conflict: Hamas wants to use Gaza residents as protective shields. In: zeit.de . July 10, 2014, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Hamas executed 18 Palestinians for espionage. In: derstandard.at . August 22, 2014, accessed December 25, 2014 .
- ↑ Jörg Lau: Arabische Zeitung: The guilt of Hamas. In: zeit.de . January 2, 2009, accessed December 25, 2014 .