I Thoughts Palestinian Civil War Casts Shadow Washington/JTA p it New styles of Gift Baskets are now available at our stores! 27659 Woodward Ave Berkley, MI 48072 Save $5 on your next purchase y ; ; ,i W tap. csnieR-;11 ( MARK= On purchases more than S25 (does not include beer, wine or • custom floral orders) Offer Expires December 31, 2008 Promo code: #2500 B2 December 25 • 2008 iN resident-elect Barack Obama's refrain of "change" has become a source of inspiration to many American Jews who wish to see Palestinian-Israeli peace talks assume greater importance as compared to the last eight years under President Bush. They have been further buoyed by the fact that Dennis Ross, the former Clinton administration Middle East negotia- tor and now Obama adviser, recently launched a media offensive to lay the groundwork for regional diplomacy. While peace is in everyone's interest, American Jewry should be warned that it will be more difficult to achieve than ever. As if things weren't complicated enough, new challenges stem from the lack of a Palestinian interlocu- tor. Indeed, Hamas and Fatah — the two largest Palestinian factions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — are now engaged in a bitter civil war. As long as Hamas and Fatah remain two non-gov- ernments ruling two non-states, Middle East diplomacy simply cannot succeed. As I note in my new book, Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle For Palestine, the Hamas-Fatah conflict dates back to the outbreak of the first intifada of 1987. Amid the violence Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, challenged Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction with corn- peting leaflets and guidance on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza. By 1993, the political rivalry gave way to sharp disagreements and occa- sional violence over Fatah's engagement in peace talks with Israel. During the subsequent Oslo years, prompted and armed by Washington and Jerusalem, Fatah cracked down on the suicide- bombing Hamas organization. Quietly, a Palestinian civil war was brewing. After the peace process collapsed in 2000, Arafat launched the ill-fated sec- ond intifada in which both Hamas and Fatah temporarily joined forc- cile the conflict, including es against Israel. While Israel Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia responded with force against and even Mauritania. both factions, its strikes When President-elect against Arafat's power struc- Obama moves into the ture — the Fatah-controlled White House in January Palestinian Authority — led and sets out to rekindle to the effective dissolution of Palestinian-Israeli peace, he the quasi-government created will be faced with a vexing by the Oslo process. The ter- problem: Which Palestinian Jonathan ritories became lawless. Clans, faction/non-state represents Schanzer families and tribes assumed the Palestinians? With whom the role of government. Special should Washington negoti- When Arafat died in Commentary ate? November 2004, Mahmoud If it is Abbas' Fatah West Abbas succeeded him. While Abbas had Bank faction, Obama will be working long been Arafat's deputy, he lacked with an unelected government while Arafat's charisma. He, too, failed to gain effectively ignoring the Hamas regime control of the territories. in Gaza, where an estimated 1.5 million Chaos and confusion worsened Palestinians reside. If the president after the Palestinians held elections negotiates with Hamas, he would be in January 2006. The Palestinians negotiating with terrorists — some- overwhelmingly supported Hamas, thing that would fly in the face of U.S. respected for its steadfast resistance to policy dating back to the Nixon admin- Israel and appreciated by the majority istration. of Palestinians for the suicide bomb- It is also worthy to note that amid ings against Israeli civilians. The out- their clashing, Hamas and Fatah come surprised decision-makers in have failed to articulate a vision for Washington and Jerusalem, who in turn the state they insist they deserve. As backed Fatah's efforts to block Hamas one Al-Jazeera analyst noted, "The from assuming control of the territories. rivalry between Fatah and Hamas had After more than a year of sporadic eclipsed demands for putting forward a firefights and spiteful public exchanges, Palestinian negotiating strategy." Hamas launched a military offensive in Until now, it is unclear whether June 2007 that crushed Fatah's political Obama and his advisers will address and military positions throughout the the internecine Palestinian conflict as Gaza Strip. Human rights groups report- a key component in their Middle East ed that Palestinians were pushing rival foreign policy. If they fail to confront faction members off tall buildings to this critical issue, we risk engaging in their death, while"others were shot point yet another failed round of diplomacy. blank in the limbs to ensure permanent And as we have seen in the past, failure damage. Members of both factions were at the negotiating table can often lead to kidnapped off the streets and held with- renewed conflict. ❑ out cause. Since then, two illegitimate govern- Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism ments have separately ruled the West analyst for the U.S. Treasury Department, Bank and Gaza Strip. The civil war has is director of policy for the Jewish Policy continued unabated, despite the best Center and author of "Hamas vs. Fatah: The efforts of Arab states seeking to recon- Struggle for Palestine" (Paigrave Macmillan). The Bush I Know from page B1 I will grant his critics their right to dislike him. After all, he isn't with them on federal support for embryonic stern cell research, the Iraq war, environ- mental regulations, abortion rights, gay marriage and civil liberties for terror suspects, to name a few. But most of all, he was a Southern evangelical Republican. Given that, I suspect there was nothing he could have done to win over the Jews. To his critics, his leadership on Israel and anti-Semitism was quaint and one- dimensional. They took it for granted. But they should not be so casual with a friend. President Bush was more Zionist than many Israelis, more mindful of Jewish history than many Jews. He was not wrong to think that way, and we American Jews can be thankful at least for that. ❑ Noam Neusner, a communications consul- tant, was a speechwriter and Jewish liaison for President Bush from 2002-2005). He once was an editorial intern at the Detroit Jewish News.