The intifada, which greatly enhanced Palestinian national unity, brought together the two main Palestinian camps - the Palestinian Authority and the Islamic bloc, or, more precisely, Fatah and Hamas. Both movements established something of a united command; they conducted joint operations and coordinated attacks.
But the proximity between the two camps, the nationalist and the religious, does not mean they agree on a joint political path, and several incidents over the past few days show that an air of hostility still exists between them.
On Friday in Ramallah, there was a demonstration and a large march against Israeli actions in the territories. Such demonstrations have become routine after prayers in the mosques in Palestinian areas and throughout the Arab world. The demonstrators in Ramallah on Friday began marching toward the compound of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, in protest against the siege on the Palestinian leader. But along the way, a large group of demonstrators, Hamas supporters, changed direction, thinking it inappropriate to express solidarity with the chairman while he continues contacts with the Americans in an effort to achieve a cease-fire.
On Saturday, leaflets handed out in the Ramallah area and signed by the supreme command of Fatah bitterly condemned a Hamas leaflet that had vehemently criticized Jibril Rajoub, charging the PA's preventative security chief in the West Bank with treason for holding Hamas activists who subsequently fell into Israeli hands when the Israel Defense Forces captured his headquarters. Fatah said its leaflet was a "warning against internal quarrels and splits."
The PA is now making efforts to quickly rebuild its institutions. The Palestinian media are reporting large financial donations promised to the PA, including an American promise to rebuild Rajoub's headquarters. Cities evacuated by the IDF have seen a reappearance of police to keep order. No Palestinian is yet talking about a cease-fire in the works, and certainly not about an end to the intifada, but Hamas knows that when a truce is achieved, it will be the first to pay the price; it will be chased down and it will be difficult for the organization to continue its policy that calls for attacks everywhere and at any time.
The United States has been applying pressure on anyone it can in an effort to repress Hamas and Islamic Jihad activity. Two weeks ago, for example, Saudi Arabian TV organized a telethon to raise $100 million for the Palestinians. The U.S. government insisted that the Saudis make sure that none of the money reaches the Islamic zealots. Apparently, other Arab states have responded positively to similar American demands to block financial transfers to Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The result: Reports, confirmed by Hamas spokesmen, say that the organization has run out of money for its activities. Hamas's financial crisis is in stark contrast to the large budgets that have begun flowing into PA coffers.
Hamas, which has lost some of its stature to the Fatah-affiliated Tanzim and Al-Aqsa Brigades because the latter two groups conducted most of the attacks of the recent months, has also come under heavy flak from almost the entire Palestinian national leadership on the backdrop of the children who were killed by IDF gunfire while trying to infiltrate a settlement in Gaza. Apparently it was someone in Hamas who sent the 13 and 14-year-olds who were killed as they approached the fences of Netzarim and Dugit. Hamas leaders had to apologize and issue a public call on teachers and preachers to prevent children from undertaking such actions.
As long as the bloodshed continued, and intensified, the internal Palestinian divisions were forgotten. But they will break out into the open the minute Arafat feels comfortable with pleasing the United States and the many in Europe and the Arab world who are pressuring him to restrain the attacks
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
