Why Abbas is silent on Gaza protests and Israel’s murder of unarmed Palestinians
Abbas and Fatah know Hamas is behind the demonstrations but Abbas wants to keep the pressure on Hamas MKHAIMAR ABUSADA Political scientist, Al Azhar University
Mass protests by Gazans and Israel’s lethal response have put the Palestinian issue back on the international agenda.
But in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas has refrained from embracing the cause.
In theory and in speech, Mr Abbas is a supporter of unarmed popular resistance such as Gaza protest organisers intended at the border with Israel. He and his Fatah movement adopted peaceful resistance as a strategy during a party congress in November 2016.
In a speech to the Fatah Central Council in January, he called three times for such tactics against the occupation. But after 31 deaths and increased tension, he seems to be afraid to encourage protests.
“He’s worried things could get out of control in the West Bank,” says Hani Masri, director of the Masarat think tank in Ramallah.
Mr Abbas has a history of being conservative in confronting Israel. In late 2015, when there was a wave of stabbings and clashes, his security forces helped to stop it developing into a third intifada.
While the Israeli army says Palestinians have thrown stones and petrol bombs at the Gaza rallies, the protests are mainly based on people power, with crowds of 30,000 on March 30 and 20,000 on April 6. They are a departure from firing rockets against Israel.
The protests are part of what organisers call the Great March of Return to underscore the desire of refugees to return to their homes in what became Israel in 1948. They are to end on the anniversary of Israel’s establishment on May 15, known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or catastrophe, when 700,000 fled their homes or were expelled by Israeli soldiers.
Mr Abbas does not go beyond condemning the Israeli army and trying to receive UN censures, largely because he views the Gaza protests through his power struggle with Hamas, which seized control of the Strip from Fatah in 2007.
Despite recent failed efforts at reconciliation, he has been trying to topple Hamas with economic sanctions aimed at increasing popular anger with the militants.
These include reducing payments to Israel for electricity and cutting government salaries. After an assassination attempt last month in Gaza against his prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, Mr Abbas promised more sanctions.
Hamas quickly embraced the idea for the protests and is now the leading force behind the weekly demonstrations.
Its leaders, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, have visited and delivered speeches at the protest tents. Gaza’s senior Fatah leader, Ahmed Hellis, has been notably absent.
“Abu Mazen [Mr Abbas] and Fatah know that Hamas is behind the demonstrations on the border and they don’t want to end up helping Hamas to divert on to Israel the internal pressure it is facing,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Al Azhar University in Gaza City.
“Abbas doesn’t want to help Hamas, he wants to keep the pressure on Hamas.”
Mr Abbas did not mention the Gaza protests at a Sunday meeting of the Central Committee. Instead, he warned that if Hamas does not hand over full control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, he will further cut the Strip’s funding.
Mr Abbas’s religious affairs adviser, Mahmoud Habash, last week accused Hamas of cynically sending people to die in the demonstrations.
The recent protests in the West Bank have been relatively small and scattered. But Mr Abbas is wary that they could take on a momentum of their own, analysts say.
“He is in favour of peaceful demonstrations that are controlled,” Mr Masri said. “He doesn’t want an open confrontation with the occupation.”
Mr Abbas is also believed to be worried that Hamas, which is suppressed in the West Bank, could come back into the public eye if there were popular protests.