Disillusion sets in amid poverty and factional conflict

Palestinians are turning their back on party elected on promise of reform
A Palestinian boy with a Hamas headband
Uncertain future ... A Palestinian boy with an image in his headband of Ismail Haniyeh, whose leadership is being tested by a nation now in its 40th year under military occupation. Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters
The invitations described it as an opportunity for the "notable people" of Gaza to meet their prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader who was elected as Palestinian prime minister a year ago today.

Dressed in a suit and tie and with a red and white keffiyeh draped over his head and shoulders, Mr Haniyeh spoke for an hour to an audience of Palestinian newspaper editors and local figures in Gaza City this week. He condemned Israel and the west for failing to give his government a chance, but said he would not stand in the way of peace negotiations.

Then he sat back to listen to his audience. A year ago today large numbers of Palestinians turned out at the polls to bring Hamas into government for the first time. The change marked a breakthrough for political Islam in the Arab world.

One year on, hopes for a significant change in their fortunes have for many Palestinians turned into disillusionment. Most questions at the meeting highlighted the deep and widespread anxiety that society was sliding into factional conflict.

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks in fighting between Hamas and its political rival, Fatah. Another three were injured yesterday in a gunfight in Beit Hanoun.

At the meeting, the first man to the microphone shouted: "If this civil war carries on it will destroy everything. Why don't we use the courts instead of killing people involved in killing?"

The crowd applauded. A second man said: "Please step away from the problems between you and look to the Palestinians who are suffering now. It is causing chaos and insecurity."

Another said that Mr Haniyeh should put more effort into the struggling negotiations between Hamas and Fatah, to form a coalition with a political programme that might lift the economic boycott which Israel and the west had imposed after the formation of the Hamas government.

"Why don't the Palestinians speak with one voice and go to the world and ask for a state?" suggested another speaker. "We are paying the price of the differences among us."

By any account the past year has been particularly hard for the Palestinians. According to B'tselem, an Israeli human rights organisation, 660 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces - many during a series of military incursions into Gaza - and 292 houses were demolished, again most in Gaza. The group said that 17 Israeli civilians and six members of the security forces were killed by Palestinians last year.


The question now is how much Hamas is held responsible for the crisis of the past year. Ali Badwan, a Palestinian economist in Gaza, said Israel and the west were to blame, but that Hamas also bore some responsibility. "For me, after one year they have failed and they have to change and eliminate the mistakes they made before. They don't recognise the change from being a resistance movement to being in power ... and having to deal with the international community."

Many at the senior levels in Fatah are convinced that electoral support for Hamas has sunk. Opinion polls reflect that - although a recent poll also showed that the popularity of the Palestinian president and Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas, was fading. Fatah has barely begun to tackle the problems of corruption that cost it so many votes last year.

Nevertheless, President Abbas has warned that if talks on a coalition government fail he will push ahead with his threat to call early elections. An alternate plan has him avoiding elections but declaring an emergency and appointing caretaker governments.

A senior Fatah official said: "After 10 months of Hamas and its antics, people are realising it is not about change and reform [the name and slogan under which Hamas campaigned] but change without reform. If Fatah gets its act together there is a chance for us."

However, Hamas still has a large number of loyal supporters, particularly in the Gaza Strip, and a highly organised political machine. The movement argues it has no need to go to the polls again so soon after its election victory, and has so far said it will boycott any early elections. It also argues that concessions to the Israelis in the past have failed to produce a Palestinian state. That hardline position still has resonance among a people living in their 40th year under military occupation.

At Mr Haniyeh's speech earlier this week, one woman in the audience stood up and to loud applause said: "Don't make any concessions on refugees, borders or Jerusalem. We just want one thing and that is honour."

Or as Nihad Sheikh Khalil, a lecturer in history at Gaza's Islamic University, put it: "In the past the Palestinian leadership gave Israel recognition and didn't get anything in return. Why should they recognise Israel now?"


There is a bloc of undecided voters in the Palestinian electorate, about 10% by some counts. Many of those voted for Hamas last year, even if they were not lifelong supporters of the movement or particularly religious. In part they were punishing Fatah for its failures, and in part they were hoping for a change in direction. Yet polls show they may not be so quick to support Hamas at the next election. The perception of entrenched corruption remains and any achievements count for little in the face of the suffocating economic and security crisis.

Israel, the US and the EU list Hamas as a terrorist movement and Israel in particular makes frequent mention of its role in the dozens of suicide bombings, which have killed many Israeli civilians, and the fact that its founding charter calls for Israel's elimination.

At times Hamas leaders have tried to appear conciliatory. Although Hamas took part in the capture of an Israeli soldier on the Gaza border and was involved in fighting in the five months of Israeli military action in Gaza last year and the rocket launches into Israel, there was a long Hamas ceasefire and there has been no Hamas suicide bombing inside Israel since August 2004.

Earlier this month, Khaled Meshal, head of the party's ruling political bureau, described Israel as a "reality", though he said he would not formally recognise the country, and wanted a Palestinian state on the territory occupied by Israel in 1967. Hamas leaders have also offered a long-term truce with Israel, for five years or longer.


"They have lost support from the grey area of voters. People tolerated the economic problems for a long time and didn't punish Hamas. But now they are scared to death. We can tolerate anything except this internal conflict."