Thursday, June 08, 2006
Hamas nearing collapse
June 3, 2006
June 3, 2006
Hamas is boxed in and cornered. Palestinian President Abu Mazen will do the honors of clipping its wings and plucking its feathers. The struggle between the Palestinian Presidency and the Palestinian Government is deeper than it seems. It is almost a sectarian conflict between the “exiled” Palestinians and those who stayed behind living under occupation.
When I went back to Ramallah in 1994 I was dogged by the stigma that I was a Palestinian “deserter” who chose to live the good life in America while the rest of them had to suffer all these years living under occupation and guarding our land. It was hard to sensitize some people to the fact that I was thrown out of my home and forced into exile. I suffered double if not triple what they had suffered. But engaging in such arguments is futile. Some Palestinians would like to measure your “Palestinianism” by how much you suffered. If they can prove to themselves that they had suffered more than you did then they are entitled to enjoy some benefits from you. In their eyes, you become a fat cow ready to be milked and swindled.
That’s how they welcomed Arafat and his people when he arrived in Jericho in late 1993. Arafat brought money and prosperity with him and the mid nineties are nowadays lamented as the golden days of the Oslo peace. During those years thousands of exiled Palestinians were allowed back into the territories. They brought with them a permissive way of life that reflected Western culture.
The “exiled” Palestinians were tolerated by the “indigenous” Palestinians because of their money and not much else. They resented them because they did not adhere to strict traditional customs and they had a pragmatic approach that discussed “sacred cow’ issues openly. The “exiled” were ready to barter away anything for the good life.
The “exiled” ruled the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian fighters loyal to Arafat were brought in from Tunis, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. They formed the infrastructure of the police and security agencies. They began assembling a typical Arab regime that relied on a wide network of Mukhabarat (secret security informants). Economic benefits were handed out to the faithful sponsors of the regime and the opposition was ostracized.
In time, Arafat and his friends took control of the entire Palestinian economy as it was given to them by the negotiating Israeli partner. US and European aid increased as the Palestinian Authority swelled up with employees. They turned an almost self-reliant decentralized economy into a Saddam Hussein Baathist-type welfare regime.
For a while the Palestinians did not mind it. They were squeezed out of private enterprise by giant Corporations owned by Authority men and their partners. But they found a job in this ever growing Authority. They all became teachers, policemen and Mukhabarat and now they number 160,000 employees. And they have not been paid any wages in three months. They are hungry and angry.
Arafat and his authority managed to centralize the Palestinian economy, disengage its intricate intertwine with the Israeli economy, and make it totally dependent on foreign aid. He gave Israel a single pipeline to the Palestinian economy. When Hamas won the elections at the end of January Israel shut down that pipeline.
Through his usual sheer incompetence and greed, Arafat was able to replay the same old scenario he had executed once before in Lebanon in the seventies. Foreign aid money was considered a “peace” dividend and was rarely used for nation-building. Peace dividends are payments given to people friendly to the idea of peace while the opposition is subjected to economic sanctions.
When Hamas decided to go it alone and form its own government almost two months ago I knew it was a disaster for the Palestinian people. Hamas leaders inherited a liability they were not prepared for. These leaders are not seasoned politicians or economic reformists that know how to untangle corruption through decentralization and market liberalization. Their first on the ground action was to hire 2,000 more policemen. They were Hamas militia fighters and they started fighting with the Fatah police force.
Fighting corruption entails massive layoffs from the Palestinian Authority and breaking the Palestinian corporate monopoly. By its action Hamas has proven that all it seeks is a piece of the pie created by Arafat. This won’t work if it doesn’t recognize the existence of Israel and work within the will of Abu Mazen.
By the way, the only two countries in the world that have a parliamentary system sharing power with a presidency system are Iraq and Palestine. And both are failed states set up by the US State Department. Palestinian constitutional reforms are needed to define the powers of the presidency and the prime minister. Both are competing to lead Palestinians in two opposing directions.
The second action Hamas has taken so far was sending its foreign minister to Arab and Muslim countries begging for money. Al-Zahhar got the money and he delivered it to Cairo but no bank consented to transfer the money to the Palestinian government. Qatar declared that it had $50 million dollars waiting for Hamas to collect it but no bank would touch the hot money. Arab League Secretary General, Amer Mousa, declared two weeks ago: “we are crippled in our ability to send money to the Palestinian Authority.”
A few days later one of the Hamas leaders was apprehended by Fatah border officers trying to smuggle 800,000 Euros in cash into Gaza. This is what Hamas leaders have turned into; money smugglers! Hamas might still be able to market the romantic notion that it can fight Israel. But it can not fight the United States of America. New York’s financial center acts as the world’s clearinghouse for banking transactions. Every bank in the Arab world is tied into the American banking system. None of these banks would risk being declared by the State Department as a “material” supporter of terrorism. Their assets would be frozen and their directors prosecuted.
There is not a single Arab leader who would step forward and give political guarantees to a bank willing to transact with the Hamas government. It is under siege and if it doesn’t form a unity government with Fatah and moderate its language it will be forced out.
Having strong ties with Iran will not save Hamas from financial ruin. Iran has no control over any banking structure as it faces the real threat of financial sanctions itself. Abu Mazen has given the Hamas leadership an ultimatum and if by June 6 a formula for national unity, like the one drafted recently by Palestinian prisoners, is not reached he will hold a national referendum.
The moral of the story is that politicians have to feed the growling stomachs first and foremost before tackling any issues of social justice. It is a lesson that Hamas may not have the time to learn.
When I went back to Ramallah in 1994 I was dogged by the stigma that I was a Palestinian “deserter” who chose to live the good life in America while the rest of them had to suffer all these years living under occupation and guarding our land. It was hard to sensitize some people to the fact that I was thrown out of my home and forced into exile. I suffered double if not triple what they had suffered. But engaging in such arguments is futile. Some Palestinians would like to measure your “Palestinianism” by how much you suffered. If they can prove to themselves that they had suffered more than you did then they are entitled to enjoy some benefits from you. In their eyes, you become a fat cow ready to be milked and swindled.
That’s how they welcomed Arafat and his people when he arrived in Jericho in late 1993. Arafat brought money and prosperity with him and the mid nineties are nowadays lamented as the golden days of the Oslo peace. During those years thousands of exiled Palestinians were allowed back into the territories. They brought with them a permissive way of life that reflected Western culture.
The “exiled” Palestinians were tolerated by the “indigenous” Palestinians because of their money and not much else. They resented them because they did not adhere to strict traditional customs and they had a pragmatic approach that discussed “sacred cow’ issues openly. The “exiled” were ready to barter away anything for the good life.
The “exiled” ruled the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian fighters loyal to Arafat were brought in from Tunis, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. They formed the infrastructure of the police and security agencies. They began assembling a typical Arab regime that relied on a wide network of Mukhabarat (secret security informants). Economic benefits were handed out to the faithful sponsors of the regime and the opposition was ostracized.
In time, Arafat and his friends took control of the entire Palestinian economy as it was given to them by the negotiating Israeli partner. US and European aid increased as the Palestinian Authority swelled up with employees. They turned an almost self-reliant decentralized economy into a Saddam Hussein Baathist-type welfare regime.
For a while the Palestinians did not mind it. They were squeezed out of private enterprise by giant Corporations owned by Authority men and their partners. But they found a job in this ever growing Authority. They all became teachers, policemen and Mukhabarat and now they number 160,000 employees. And they have not been paid any wages in three months. They are hungry and angry.
Arafat and his authority managed to centralize the Palestinian economy, disengage its intricate intertwine with the Israeli economy, and make it totally dependent on foreign aid. He gave Israel a single pipeline to the Palestinian economy. When Hamas won the elections at the end of January Israel shut down that pipeline.
Through his usual sheer incompetence and greed, Arafat was able to replay the same old scenario he had executed once before in Lebanon in the seventies. Foreign aid money was considered a “peace” dividend and was rarely used for nation-building. Peace dividends are payments given to people friendly to the idea of peace while the opposition is subjected to economic sanctions.
When Hamas decided to go it alone and form its own government almost two months ago I knew it was a disaster for the Palestinian people. Hamas leaders inherited a liability they were not prepared for. These leaders are not seasoned politicians or economic reformists that know how to untangle corruption through decentralization and market liberalization. Their first on the ground action was to hire 2,000 more policemen. They were Hamas militia fighters and they started fighting with the Fatah police force.
Fighting corruption entails massive layoffs from the Palestinian Authority and breaking the Palestinian corporate monopoly. By its action Hamas has proven that all it seeks is a piece of the pie created by Arafat. This won’t work if it doesn’t recognize the existence of Israel and work within the will of Abu Mazen.
By the way, the only two countries in the world that have a parliamentary system sharing power with a presidency system are Iraq and Palestine. And both are failed states set up by the US State Department. Palestinian constitutional reforms are needed to define the powers of the presidency and the prime minister. Both are competing to lead Palestinians in two opposing directions.
The second action Hamas has taken so far was sending its foreign minister to Arab and Muslim countries begging for money. Al-Zahhar got the money and he delivered it to Cairo but no bank consented to transfer the money to the Palestinian government. Qatar declared that it had $50 million dollars waiting for Hamas to collect it but no bank would touch the hot money. Arab League Secretary General, Amer Mousa, declared two weeks ago: “we are crippled in our ability to send money to the Palestinian Authority.”
A few days later one of the Hamas leaders was apprehended by Fatah border officers trying to smuggle 800,000 Euros in cash into Gaza. This is what Hamas leaders have turned into; money smugglers! Hamas might still be able to market the romantic notion that it can fight Israel. But it can not fight the United States of America. New York’s financial center acts as the world’s clearinghouse for banking transactions. Every bank in the Arab world is tied into the American banking system. None of these banks would risk being declared by the State Department as a “material” supporter of terrorism. Their assets would be frozen and their directors prosecuted.
There is not a single Arab leader who would step forward and give political guarantees to a bank willing to transact with the Hamas government. It is under siege and if it doesn’t form a unity government with Fatah and moderate its language it will be forced out.
Having strong ties with Iran will not save Hamas from financial ruin. Iran has no control over any banking structure as it faces the real threat of financial sanctions itself. Abu Mazen has given the Hamas leadership an ultimatum and if by June 6 a formula for national unity, like the one drafted recently by Palestinian prisoners, is not reached he will hold a national referendum.
The moral of the story is that politicians have to feed the growling stomachs first and foremost before tackling any issues of social justice. It is a lesson that Hamas may not have the time to learn.
posted by Neal AbuNab at 6:54 PM
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