With the departure of their common Israeli enemy, inter-Palestinian divisions could flare up into fresh bloodshed, militants in the impoverished Gaza Strip warned. âIf the Palestinian Authority cannot meet the peopleâs basic needs, there will be a new intifada not against Israel but among ourselves,â said Fathi Hamad, a local leader of radical movement Hamas in the Jabaliya refugee camp. âThere will be a huge popular uprising,â he predicted. âHamas is preparing for mass demonstrations.â As a Hamas leader in Gazaâs largest and most poverty-ridden camp, one of the areas that has suffered most during the five years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Hamad said the Palestinian Authority only speaks for some of the people. He predicted victory for Hamas in Januaryâs legislative elections, the first time the Islamist movement has run in parliamentary polls. âWe are a part of this people and we have to participate in the Palestinian government, even though Europe and the United States are against this. Our leaders cannot impose anything on us,â he said.
Although the radical movement will fight for its right to participate in government, Hamad said it will never raise a hand against Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas whose Fatah party dominates the administration. âWe will never use weapons against Mahmoud Abbas,â he vowed. âThe government is not our enemy.â
Although Hamas boycotted the presidential election in January, won decisively by Abbas, its leadership decided earlier this year to contest the parliamentary vote. Last month, the overall Hamas leader in its Gaza Strip stronghold, Mahmoud Zahar, said the movement no longer had any confidence in the Palestinian Authority, stressing: âWe will not allow anyone to disarm us.â Hamasâ rival Islamic Jihad has also rejected US demands for the Palestinian Authority to rid militant groups of their weapons. âWe saw more American interference in Palestinian affairs and that America wants a Palestinian civil war,â said a Jihad leader in Gaza, Khaled El-Batsh. For Hamad, the Palestinians face two challenges now that Israel has abandoned its 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and is on the cusp of ending its 38-year occupation: reconstruction and resistance.