Palestinians Outside Of The Territories Don't Like Fatah Either

Jonathan Schanzer, author of the upcoming book Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine, writes about an aspect of Fatah's continuing decline that is not being covered by the media.

When Fatah lost out to Hamas in Gaza last year, it was not just the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank who began to lose faith in Fatah--Palestinians in Lebanon started losing faith in them as well.

According to news reports, they had already grown restless with Fatah in the spring of 2007, when it was commonly believed that Fatah failed to protect the Palestinians of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp during a raid by the Lebanese Army to oust the al-Qaeda affiliate group Fatah al-Islam. Fatah failed to exert political influence to restrain the invasion, and then failed to provide funds for reconstruction of destroyed property in the camp that it had promised to camp residents.

Hamas capitalized on Fatah’s failures to expand its leadership role in the Lebanese refugee camps. Observers now believe that Hamas is slowly eclipsing Fatah’s long-established infrastructure in the camps. Amidst the Israeli incursions into Gaza in early March 2008, hundreds of Palestinian students attended Hamas-sponsored rallies in the Rashidiyeh, Bourj al-Shemali, and al-Bass refugee camps. In place of Fatah placards and flags, increasing numbers of green Hamas banners are flying.

The media has not been covering this angle, apparently overlooking the importance of this development.

The challenges Fatah faces in Lebanon are further indications that Fatah is no longer the “sole representative” of the Palestinians, neither in the Palestinian territories nor the Diaspora.

More broadly, the challenge to Fatah in Lebanon raises questions about Fatah’s rightful place as arbiter of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. If Fatah is literally under fire from the Palestinian people who appear to no longer appreciate its leadership, how effective can Fatah be in negotiating with the U.S. and Israel for peace?

What happened to the good old days when the US supported strongmen and dictators?

Technorati Tag: Fatah and Palestinians and Hamas.