Suicidal

At a time when the Palestinian issue is going through one of its most sensitive and most challenging phases, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Hamas are at it again.

Last Tuesday, following what was reported as an assassination attempt against Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas directly accused Hamas of being responsible for the attack.

As a result, another row has ensued between the PNA and Hamas, at a time when the two were embarked on what looked like promising efforts to end the state of inter-Palestinian division, which has prevailed for decades and has greatly harmed Palestinian unity and ultimately the Palestinian cause.

This is the last thing they should be doing, regardless of who is innocent or who is guilty.

It always takes two to tango.

How can the Palestinians, as a general principle, hope to confront Israel politically and push for the restoration of their rights if they are so divided?

Under the current circumstances, however, when the odds are stacked against them like never before, inter-Palestinian discord and disagreement, let alone division and animosity, should be a taboo.

Israel is going ahead with its plans of aborting the two-state solution and swallowing more Palestinian lands, taking full advantage of the current freeze of the peace process, as well as inter-Arab and inter-Palestinian division.

At the same time, the USA, which has unilaterally given Jerusalem to the Israelis outside any peace negotiations, is working on a peace "deal", the so-called "deal of the century", which many observers are warning could be entirely pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian.

Worse, most Arab states have turned their back to the Palestinians and are either busy with inter-Arab rivalry or fighting, or pursuing their own interests, aloof as to what Israel is doing or the American administration is cooking.

And what do the Palestinians, represented by the PNA and Hamas, do?

Jump at each other's throats.

What can one say? What can one do?

That the Palestinians should sit down, settle their differences, and face Israel united? 

This has been said so many times in the past three decades now, and to no avail.

That some wise third party, Arab or international, should intervene to help the Palestinians overcome their differences and live up to the immense challenges between and surrounding them?

This has also been said and done so many times, and to no avail. In fact, third-party intervention could make matters worse, as we have learned and are learning from situations in many Arab countries.

Whether we like it or not, the most insurmountable challenge facing both the Palestinians and the Arabs today is management of internal differences. This is one fundamental aspect of the crises in so many Arab countries — Libya, Syria, Yemen, etc.  — and the Palestinian territories.

People, parties, factions in all civilised countries in the world differ, and at times radically and fiercely so, on so many matters. But they come terms with these differences, tackle them head on, and settle them smoothly and peacefully.

This simple, basic principle seems to register neither with the PNA nor with Hamas.

Unless and until the PNA and Hamas themselves realise that their own survival depends on mutual understanding and harmony, and unless and until it hits them hard that the misunderstanding and discord between them will affect the Palestinian cause fatally, there would be no hope for the desired change in inter-Palestinian affairs, and ultimately no fair settlement to the Palestinian issue.

Until this happens, what the PNA and Hamas are doing is nothing short of suicidal, for themselves and for the Palestinian cause.