Israel's response to the abduction of three of its teenagers in the West Bank on June 12 has laid bare the fragility of the Palestinian national unity deal signed in April. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have reacted very differently to the kidnapping, but both have jeopardised the fledgling reconciliation process, and by extension the national interest.
Hamas has not denied or acknowledged responsibility for the abduction, but has attempted to justify it. “Regardless of the party which stood behind the operation, our people have the right to defend themselves and to stand in solidarity with their prisoners,” said Hamas, describing the perpetrators as “heroes”.
This is a very strange logic, given that Israel’s response to the kidnapping has included the arrest of almost 500 Palestinians. Among them are many Hamas members and supporters, the speaker of parliament, MPs, former ministers, and prisoners released three years ago in return for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. If the abduction of the teenagers was supposed to be in the service of Palestinian prisoners, it has only swelled their numbers in Israeli jails.
Furthermore, kidnapping teenagers is not a legitimate form of self-defence, nor is it of strategic value. If they are to be swapped for Palestinian prisoners, Israel now has plenty more of them to bargain over. Besides being morally objectionable, the abduction is not worth the heavy price Palestinians have paid for it.
Israel’s response has included the killing of Palestinians, among them children and the elderly. “The rising death toll... is alarming,” said UN political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman. Around 120 Palestinians have been injured.
Some 1,350 sites have been raided, including homes, businesses, media outlets, NGOs and universities. Israel has stormed Palestinian cities and towns across the West Bank, while Israeli settlers have carried out almost 50 attacks. New settlements have been announced, demolition of Palestinian structures – including homes – has increased, and Israel has escalated air strikes against Gaza.
Checkpoints – dotted throughout the West Bank – have been closed or tightened, while hundreds of flying checkpoints have been set up. Further restrictions on movement include the declaration of Hebron as a “closed military area” – meaning that no one can enter or leave – and the cancellation of permits for Palestinians to enter East Jerusalem.
Israel’s onslaught has been so widespread and disproportionate that Feltman warned that “we might get to the point of a third intifada.” This view has been echoed by Hamas, the PA and even members of Israel’s security cabinet.
While Israel has run rampage in the name of the three teenagers, the PA has said it would do its “utmost” to help find them. This despite the Authority accusing Israel of “massive aggression”, “collective punishment”, “atrocities” and “a declared war against the Palestinian people”. As such, the message the PA is sending is that it is helping to wage that war while simultaneously condemning it.
Its coordination with Israel – which Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas described in May as “sacred”– has been hugely unpopular among Palestinians. Rightly so, given that they are suffering under the longest military occupation in modern history and 66 years of dispossession at the hands of Israel. Palestinians have clashed with PA security forces, who have been called “collaborators” by demonstrators.
Despite the Authority saying Israel is “bringing the situation towards an explosion”, foreign minister Riad Malki has said as long as Mr Abbas is in charge, “there will be no third intifada”. This sinister warning compounds the widely-held belief among Palestinians that the PA serves their occupier’s interests above theirs.
It could also lead to Abbas’s alienation within his own Fatah movement, which has said its patience “has started to run out because of the daily crimes committed [by Israel] against our people”.
Israel is using the missing teenagers as an opportunity to cripple the Palestinian national unity government, which was announced on June 2. Israel has always been opposed to such a government – and Palestinian reconciliation in general – and throughout the search has been urging Mr Abbas to break with Hamas. Its wish may be granted, as the new government is already teetering on collapse.
Mr Malki said if Hamas was behind the abduction (as Israel claims), it would be “a blow to the reconciliation process”, and Mr Abbas would “take drastic decisions”. Hamas condemned Mr Malki’s comments as “irresponsible”, and described the PA’s help in finding the teenagers as a “knife in the back” and a “moral stain”. Meanwhile, security forces loyal to Mr Abbas violently broke up a pro-Hamas rally in Hebron.
The reconciliation process has faced daunting obstacles from the start. Palestinians barely had time to celebrate the announcement of a unity government before Israel showed how easily it can play spoiler.
The prospect of reaching the goal of the reconciliation deal – presidential and parliamentary elections – seems more remote by the day.
Much to Israel’s delight, Hamas and the PA have taken its bait. Palestinians’ hope for national unity is once again victim to the meddling of Israel, and to the acquiescence of their own bickering leaders.
Sharif Nashashibi is a journalist and analyst on Arab affairs
