From Self-Determination to Dictatorships and Authoritarianism Under Occupation

In 1993, the Palestinian Liberation Organization signed the famous Oslo accord, which enabled Arafat to return to parts of the Gaza Strip and West bank, establishing a Palestinian Interim Self-Government, the Palestinian Authority[1], and the elected Palestinian council. The agreement put a framework of five years as a transitional period that will end in peaceful settlements based on Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, establishing a Palestinian state.

In 2017, the Palestinians have nothing; no state, no Palestinian Authority, no sovereignty, no self-determination. Rather they have two new authoritarian regimes in an under-occupation-two-entities. Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. In both entities, the Palestinian people are suffering, not only from the ongoing Israeli occupation but also from the two regimes that govern the territories with an iron fist. Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been controlling the besieged area since 2007 after the collapse of the Palestinian Authority troops after deadly clashes with Hamas military group; Al Qassam. Since then, Hamas has controlled the Gaza Strip in childlike manners where the aim is to control the Gaza strip without paying attention to the suffering of the people. Hamas as a structural political opportunistic group has put its control over the Gaza Strip a priority at the expenses of a wasted generation[2], patients, poor and hopeless Gazans.

In recent months, as pressure over both Hamas and the Gazans mounted: no electrical power, tight siege, PA’s cut of salaries and early forced retirement for PA’s employees who receive their salaries from Ramallah, and other measures that shake the Gaza Strip economic cycle. However, this did not prevent Hamas from arresting the youth who took the streets and used social media to call for public services and end of division[3]. The new accusations that Hamas use to arrest activists and journalists are “misuse of technology”[4]. Persecuting youth in the Gaza Strip for expressing their opinions have put the Gazans under new pressure that they have seen before as a breathing window: social media. At the same time, Hamas has been working as a de-facto peacekeeping force on Gaza-Israeli borders. Hamas coordinated with Israel through Qatar in many occasions. The coordination, according to many sources, to avoid any escalation in the Gaza strip that continues to suffer from 2014 war, and to help in facilitating humanitarian aid to Gaza[5][6].

While Hamas is trying to keep the Gaza Strip calm area under its iron fist, they met with their Long-lasted arch enemy, Mohamed Dahlan, and had a gentleman agreement/ understandings under the umbrella of Egyptians, providing Hamas with a new life’ vein that may prolong the political division between Hamas and Abbas and intensify the measures against Fatah’s members in the Gaza strip who affiliated with Abbas. Simultaneously, Abbas is continuing with harsh measures that will endanger the educational and health sector in the Gaza Strip that neither Hamas nor another entity can manage. In recent weeks, the PA in Ramallah cut salaries and enforced early retirement for thousands of public sector employees[7].

This move will have very serious social and economic manifestations on the Gazans in general and will widen the number of the people who live under poverty line. The stagnant economy in Gaza needs to be stimulated with movement in the markets but with no salaries, the workers will not pay back their debts for the store owners and everyone will be in hot water,” Omar Shaban, an economic commentator told Al Jazeera[8].

In recent weeks, Hamas military wing has advised the political wing to create a “political vacuum” to set a military rule in the Gaza Strip[9]. According to the media outlet, under the plan, Hamas is to waive its political rule over the Gaza Strip while the Hamas-led security forces will halt their security operations and will only carry out civilian missions. The security vacuum in Gaza will subsequently be filled by Hamas’ military wing, which will deploy its forces throughout the area. Hamas’s military intention is not only dangerous but too hazardous that will take the lives of dozens of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip without trials. This reminds us of what happened during the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza when Hamas military wing executed more than dozen of civilians without trial or serious interrogations[10]. It also reminds us of the first Intifada, when dozens(if not hundreds) were executed under simple allegations such as using drugs, working in Israeli farms, working in the civil administration of Israel or having porn videos. The executions were in many cases personal retaliations and baseless.

On the other side, the Palestinian Authority managed by Fatah is prioritizing personal whims over the national will of the Palestinians. Abbas and his security apparatus have transformed the Palestinian Authority into a security tool that sustains the status-quo, which implies serving and prolonging the occupation. The first week of August, the Palestinian Authority arrested five journalists in the West Bank under the allegations of “leaking sensitive information”[11]. The five journalists were simply arrested in retaliation and in a militias’ logic to seal a swapping deal with Hamas’s government in the Gaza Strip that, for the last two months, arrested a Fatah journalist and activist, Foad Jarada[12]. The deal was sealed in the second week of August where Human Rights Organization was the third party broker[13].

The arrest came as part of the new Palestinian cyber crime law. The Palestinian president approved the law without consultation with civil society or public justification. The law is not the one can be expected but rather it is a law that limits freedom of speech and intensifies arbitrary arrests[14]. The first days the law was approved, the PA blocked more than a dozen of websites affiliated with Hamas and MP Mohamed Dahlan. The new law is a law of an authoritarian regime that aims at curbing freedom of speech on social media and online platforms that have approved to be an effective tool in spreading information and raising awareness[15].

With a security apparatus as a tool to sustain the status quo in the West Bank that replaced the PA as an interim entity to meet the national aspiration of the Palestinians, and a Hamas’s de facto regime that governs the Gaza Strip with intentions to hand over to the military wing, the Palestinians are facing two different regimes that undermines their freedom of speech, imposing harsh measures that restrict their national aspirations. This seems to be the norm for the next few years where both parties are doing their bests to keep the current status quo to serve their own interests. The Palestinians will continue to suffer, not only because of the Israeli occupation alone but also from their own governing bodies and political parties who are working to harden their iron fists on the Palestinians, rather than finding solutions and better strategies to go out from the current worsening status quo that serves only Israel.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20021115183950/http://knesset.gov.il/process/docs/oslo_eng.htm

[2] transitional period not exceeding five years, leading to a permanent settlement based on Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.

[3] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ru/contents/articles/originals/2017/05/gaza-hamas-crackdown-propagandists-rumors.html

[4] https://elbadil.com/2017/07/نشطاء-يسخرون-من-تهمة-سوء-استخدام-التكن/

[5] http://elaph.com/Web/opinion/2012/8/758605.html

[6] http://eqte.net/post/54841

[7] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/gaza-pay-cuts-deepen-rift-pa-hamas-170410101939251.html

[8] http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/gaza-pay-cuts-deepen-rift-pa-hamas-170410101939251.html

[9] https://sputniknews.com/world/201708101056363018-hamas-political-vacuum-gaza/

[10] https://www.amnesty.org/ar/latest/news/2015/05/gaza-palestinians-tortured-summarily-killed-by-hamas-forces-during-2014-conflict/

[11] http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/PA-arrests-five-Pal-journalists-for-leaking-sensitive-information-501991

[12] http://samanews.ps/ar/post/304933/غزة-الاجهزة-الامنية-تعتقل-مراسل-تلفزيون-فلسطين-فؤاد-جرادة

[13] http://www.wattan.tv/news/211505.html

[14] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/07/palestine-cybercrime-law-opposition-government.html

[15] http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/palestine/palestinian-leader-curbs-social-media-expression-in-decree-1.2072445

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Academic and Writer. Fellow at IMESC.org, Regional Manager for MENA at V-Dem Institute, Sweden.

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