Fatah–Hamas conflict

Fatah-Hamas conflict
Part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
A map of the Gaza Strip showing key towns and neighbouring countries.
Date 2006-present Location Gaza Strip (mostly), West Bank Status Indecisive Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip New Palestinian Government in the West Bank, appointed by Mahmoud Abbas
Belligerents
Hamas	Fatah
Commanders and leaders
Ismail Haniya Khaled Meshaal Mohammed Deif	Mahmoud Abbas Mohammed Dahlan
Strength
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades: 15,000 Executive Force: 6,000[1][2]	National Security: 30,000 Preventive Security Service: 30,000 General Intelligence: 5,000 Presidential Guard: 4,200 Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade: Several thousand[1][2]
Casualties and losses
83 killed	165 killed
98 civilians killed 1,000+ wounded on both sides, at least 600 killed in factional fighting.[3]

The Fatah–Hamas conflict (Arabic: النزاع بين فتح و حماس‎ Al-Nizāʿ bain Fataḥ wa Ḥamās), also referred to as the Palestinian Civil War (Arabic: الحرب الأهلية الفلسطينية Al-Ḥarb al-ʾAhliyyah al-Filisṭīnīyah), and the Conflict of Brothers (Arabic: صراع الأخوة Ṣirāʿ al-Ikhwah), i.e. fratricidal war, began in 2006 after Hamas's legislative victories and has continued, in one form or another, into 2010. The conflict is between the two main Palestinian parties, Fatah and Hamas. The majority of the fighting occurred in 2007 in the Gaza Strip. Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip.

The conflict is called Wakseh among Palestinians, meaning humiliation, ruin, and collapse as a result of self-inflicted damage.

Background

The tensions between Hamas and Fatah began to rise in 2005 after the death of longtime PLO leader Yasser Arafat, who died on November 11, 2004, and intensified after Hamas won the elections of 2006.

2006 elections

Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian elections. In reaction, Israel, the United States, the European Union, several Western states, and the Arab states imposed sanctions suspending all foreign aid, upon which Palestinians depend. (They have promised to resume aid if Hamas fulfills '3 Demands,' recognizing Israel, accepting agreements made by the Palestinian Authority under the previous Fatah-led Administration, and denouncing violence.) Despite the sanctions, and incidents of successful border interdiction,^[4] Hamas leaders were able to smuggle enough money into the Palestinian territories to maintain basic health and educational services.^[5] The defeated Fatah party maintains control of most of the Palestinian security apparatus. The US administration funded Abbas's Presidential Guard.^[6].

Alleged Involvement of USA, Israel and Arab States

According to the IISS, The reason for the takeover was Hamas’s conviction that the Palestinian Authority Presidential Guard loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, which US had helped build up to 3,500 men since August 2006, was being positioned to take control of Gaza. The US committed $59 million for training and non-lethal equipment for the Presidential Guard, and persuaded Arab allies to fund the purchase of further weapons. Israel, too, allowed light arms to flow to members of the Presidential Guard. The US insisted that all of its aid to the Presidential Guard is "nonlethal," consisting of training, uniforms, and supplies, as well as paying for better infrastructure at Gaza's borders. "The situation has gotten to be quite dire in Gaza, we have a situation of lawlessness and outright chaos," he said. "This chaotic situation is why the [US] is focused on [helping] the legal, legitimate security forces in our effort to reestablish law and order.", said Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, who was overseeing the US program. ^{[7][8][9][10]} Jordan and Egypt hosted at least two battalions for training.^[11]

March 2006 to December 2006 rise of tensions

The period from March to December 2006 was marked by tensions when Fatah commanders refused to take orders from the government while the Palestinian Authority initiated a campaign of assassinations and abductions against Hamas which led to Hamas beginning its own. Tensions grew additionally between the two Palestinian factions after they failed to reach a deal to share government power. On December 15, Abbas called for Palestinian general election.^[12] Hamas has challenged the legality of holding an early election, maintaining its right to hold the full term of its democratically elected offices. Hamas has characterized this as an attempted Fatah coup by Abbas,^[13] using undemocratic means to overthrow the results of a democratically elected government.^[11]

According to one Palestinian rights group, more than 600 Palestinians were killed in fighting from January 2006 to May 2007.^[14] A serious escalation in the violence was marked by the 2006 Rimal neighborhood shootings.

Conflict

Palestinian National Authority

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the Palestinian National Authority

Constitution President Mahmoud Abbas (disputed) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (disputed) Present government Legislative Council (members) Speaker Aziz Duwaik Political parties Elections Presidential: 1996 · 2005 · next Legislative: 1996 · 2006 · next Local: 2005 · 2010 Governorates Electoral Districts Foreign relations Foreign Minister Fatah–Hamas conflict Israeli-Palestinian conflict Oslo Accords Proposed State of Palestine 1 On June 14, 2007, President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh's government and appointed Fayyad to form an emergency government. However, Haniyeh and Hamas maintain that these actions were illegal and that Haniyeh is still the Prime Minister. Haniyeh still exercises de facto authority in the Gaza Strip, while Fayyad's authority is limited de facto to the West Bank.

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First round of fighting

On December 15, 2006, fighting broke out in the West Bank after Palestinian security forces fired on a Hamas rally in Ramallah. At least 20 people were wounded in the clashes which came shortly after Hamas accused Fatah of attempting to assassinate Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister.^[15]

Intense fighting continued throughout December 2006 and January 2007 in the Gaza Strip. Several ceasefire attempts failed, being broken by continued battles. In February 2007, Palestinian rivals met in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia and reached an accord ensuring a ceasefire. However, minor incidents continued through March and April 2007. More than 90 people were killed in these first months.

Second round of fighting

In mid-May 2007, clashes erupted once again in the streets of Gaza. In less than 20 days, more than 50 Palestinians were killed. Leaders of both parties tried to stop the fighting with dozens of truces, but none of them held for longer than a few days.

By most accounts, Hamas performed better than Fatah in the second round of fighting. Some attribute this to the discipline and better training of Hamas's fighters,^[16] as most of the casualties have been from the Fatah faction. However, Fatah's armed forces are greater in numbers, and security officials from Israel and the United States allege that Hamas downplayed its casualties.

Third round of fighting: Gaza: Hamas reasserts control

Throughout the four days of fighting Hamas had taken control of the main north-south road and the coastal road.^[17] The Israeli government closed all check-points on borders of Gaza in response to the violence. During the four days of intense fighting at least 116 people were killed.

West Bank: Fatah wins and establishes a separate government

The attacks of Hamas gunmen against Fatah security forces in the Gaza Strip resulted in a reaction of Fatah gunmen against Hamas institutions in the West Bank. Although Hamas's numbers are greater in the Gaza Strip, Fatah forces are greater in the West Bank.

On June 14, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the dissolution of the current unity government and the declaration of a state of emergency.^[18][19] Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya was dismissed, and Abbas began to rule Gaza and the West Bank by presidential decree. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri responded by declaring that President Abbas's decision was "in practical terms...worthless," asserting that Haniya "remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president".^[20]

Nathan Brown of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace comments that under the 2003 Palestinian Constitution Abbas clearly has the right to declare a state of emergency and dismiss the prime minister but the state of emergency can continue only for 30 days. After that it would need to be renewed by the (Hamas-dominated) Legislative Council, which also constrains the breadth of his emergency powers. Neither Hamas nor Fatah currently has enough votes to form a new government under the constitution.^[21] The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns Hamas's "decision to resolve the conflict militarily" but argues that "steps taken by President Mahmoud Abbas in response to these events violate the Basic Law and undermine the Basic Law in a manner that is no less dangerous."^[22]

On June 15, Abbas appointed Salam Fayyad as prime minister and gave him the task of forming a new government.^[23]

The West Bank had its first casualty when the bullet-riddled body of a Hamas militant was found in Nablus, sparking the fear Fatah would use its advantage in the West Bank for retaliation against its members' deaths in the Gaza Strip^[24] On the same day, Hamas also declared that it was in full control of Gaza, a claim denied by Abbas.^[25]

On June 16, a Fatah-linked militant group, the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, stormed the Hamas-controlled parliament based in Ramallah in the West Bank. This act, including the ransack of the ministry of education, has been seen as a reaction to similar looting occurring following Hamas's military success in Gaza.^[26]

On June 20, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar declared that if Fatah continued to try to uproot Hamas in the West Bank, it could lead to Fatah's downfall there as well. He would not deny when asked that Hamas resistance against Fatah would take the form of attacks and suicide bombings similar to those Hamas has used against Israel in the past.^[27]

Renewed clashes in Gaza

On October 17, clashes erupted in eastern Gaza between Hamas security forces and members of the powerful Heles clan (Fatah-affiliated), leaving up to two dead on both sides. Fatah and Hamas officials gave conflicting accounts of what caused the fighting but the dispute seems to have originated when Hamas officials demanded that the clan return a governmental car. Another gun battle on October 20 killed one member of the clan and a 13-year-old boy.^[28] During the same day, in Rafah, one woman was killed and eight people were injured when Hamas security members traded fire with Islamic Jihad activists. Two days later, 7 more Palestinians were killed in the internal fighting, including some Hamas militants and a Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant.^[29]

On November 12, a large demonstration dedicated to the memory of late Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat was organized by Fatah in Gaza City. With over 200,000 participants, this was the largest Fatah demonstration in the Gaza strip since the Hamas takeover. The demonstration was forcibly dispersed by Hamas gunmen, who fired into the crowd. At least six civilians were killed and over 80 people were injured, some from being trampled in the resulting stampede.^[30] The smaller militant group Islamic Jihad, whose members have clashed with Hamas several times, condemned the shootings.

2008

On January 1, 2008, at least eight people had died in factional fighting in the Gaza Strip.^[31]

On March 23, 2008, Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement in Saana, Yemen, that amounted to a reconciliation deal. It called for a return of the Gaza Strip to the pre-June 2007 situation, though this has not happened.^[32]

2009

On May 31, 2009, six were killed as Palestinian Authority and Hamas forces clashed in Qalqilya. Ethan Bronner described the fighting as an indication "that the Palestinian unity needed for creation of a state is far off." ^[33]

2010

Reconciliation talks are still ongoing as of 2010.^[34]

In the Doha Debates TV show, representatives of Fatah and Hamas discussed the future of the Palestinian leadership.^[35]

See also

• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• 2007 Israel-Gaza conflict
• Moussa Arafat
• Fitna
• Hamastan
• List of wars 2003–current

References

External links

• Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine, by Jonathan Schanzer (2008)
• "Analysis on the Legality of New PA Elections"
• "Palestinian factions 'agree deal'"
• "Abbas insists will hold elections"
• "Review by the Reut Institute: Hamas Consolidates; Fatah Disoriented"
• Shock, awe and dread Details on methods Hamas used to suppress opposition, by Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz 06.28.07
• Frustration over Ramallah violence
• Palestinian rivals: Fatah & Hamas
• No agreement in Palestinian talks
• "PA unity deal a disaster" Secular Palestinians surrender to religious fanaticism in Mecca deal, by Ray Hanania, Ynetnews 02.15.07
• Gaza on the Verge of Civil War Andrew Lee Butters, TIME May 14, 2007
• Q&A: Gaza's civil war Mark Tran, The Guardian May 14, 2007
• 'It's dangerous inside and out.' By Ibrahim Barzak, reporter's account of a nerve-racking day in Gaza City during factional fighting, Associated Press May 17, 2007
• Gunning in Gaza The Economist print edition, May 17, 2007
• Sacrificing the Palestinian struggle Article by Israeli jouralist Amira Hass June 14, 2007
• A selection of links and news concerning the Palestinian Basic Law