Hamas vs Fatah--And Alternatives

Jonathan Schanzer, author of Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle For Palestine, had an interview with The National Review where he made some interesting points. The overall theme of the interview was the division between Hamas and Fatah, with whom Hamas had conducted its 'other war':

That it took the current conflict to illustrate the divisions within Palestinian nationalism reflects “a major shortcoming of the mainstream media,” in Schanzer’s view. Journalists on the ground often allow their perspective to be manipulated by “fixers” — journalist slang for local guides hired by westerners to show them the lay of the land while working in foreign countries. “Fixers always have a political perspective. So they lead people by the nose to the areas that they would like them to cover,” he said. “They will show the suffering of Palestinian refugees, but not the suffering of Palestinians who have been shot by other Palestinians.”

Schanzer points out other Palestinian groups that might serve as alternatives to Hamas and Fatah--but not in the immediate future:

Fortunately, it isn’t an either/or proposition. Moderate Palestinian factions are emerging that deserve to be recognized, Schanzer notes. “They are small, but growing. One, is the Third Way, another is called Wassatia, which is arabic for ‘middle ground,’” Schanzer said. “But the problem is they have very little traction.”

Still, encouraging the development of alternatives to the two main Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah may be the only hope for peace — both with Israel and among Palestinians themselves.

Read the entire article.

Encouraging the development of alternatives to Hamas will require the convincing defeat of that terrorist group. One gets the sense that the very existence of Fatah tends to encourage alternatives.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Gaza and Hamas and Operation Cast Lead.