A word on internal fighting

I've been meaning to writing about the issue of the infighting in gaza and the west bank for a while, but mulling my approach, as well as thinking about the factors involved. Then I came across this wonderful article by the ever-reliable Amira Hass, "Not an internal Palestinian matter", with which she begins:

"The experiment was a success: The Palestinians are killing each other. They are behaving as expected at the end of the extended experiment called "what happens when you imprison 1.3 million human beings in an enclosed space like battery hens."

I've often said that those who are protesting in Gaza, the ones we read about in the paper and see on tv, are not protesting bcause they are hungry-they are Fatah shabeeba hooligans and other members of security forces loyal to Dahalan and co., dispatched as part of "organized anachry", and protesting under the guise of desperation for their own political ends; And rest assured, mr. slimy shells out an handesome sum to anyone willing to take part in a protest "against the government". They want a return to the days of payoffs and patronage.

"The security forces of the Palestinian Authority - in other words, of Fatah, or in still other words, the ones that Mahmoud Abbas is in charge of - are hiding behind the genuine distress and protests of public employees who have not been receiving regular salaries. And they are doing so despite the fact that everyone knows that the failure to pay salaries is not a managerial failure, but is above all due to Israeli policy. These forces were dispatched in order to sow organized anarchy, as taught in the school of Yasser Arafat."

So then, the natural question is, why is this too an Israeli problem? Hass goes on:

" Because those who dispatched these militants have a shared interest with Israel in regressing to a situation in which the Palestinian leadership collaborates with the appearance of holding peace talks, while Israel continues its occupation and the international community sends hush money in the form of salaries for the Palestinian public sector."

Basically, the alternative is going back to one of subcontracted occupation, where the fat cats get fatter, and the disenfranchised get more disenfranchised- but hey, at least there'll be some money to go around and hush them up, right? As long as we have obedient wardens in power, it doesn't matter how corrupt they are.

For more, check out the full article in Haaretz here.