An American and Israeli-backed
Coup
Amidst all the media coverage of street fights and gun battles
between Hamas and Fatah over the last few weeks, there has been virtually no
discussion of what has actually been happening in Gaza and the West Bank. The reality
is that the democratically elected government of the Palestinian people has
been declared null and void, with the full support of the United States and
Israel.
Indeed, for a year and a half now the Bush
regime has led an international effort – an effort supported wholeheartedly by
the Canadian government - to bring down the elected Hamas government. Its focus has been twofold: economic and
diplomatic. Almost immediately after Hamas was elected, in elections that all
international observers, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, declared
were fair and democratic, all aid to the Palestinian people was frozen. Even the establishment this past March of a
'unity government' that included Fatah representatives did not lead to an end
to this aid embargo.
Deepening
the economic crisis in the occupied territories has been Israel's refusal - in
violation of international laws governing occupying powers - to turn over to
the Palestinian government the tax revenues it has collected on behalf of the Palestinian
Authority. As a result social services
in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have been almost completely decimated,
poverty has skyrocketed and catastrophic incidents, such as the collapse of a
sewage treatment plant last month, have resulted in death and suffering.
In addition, on the diplomatic front the U.S.
has urged its allies to sever all relationships with Hamas officials, banning
representatives from the Palestinian government from a number of international
meetings and gatherings, excluding them from discussions on the Palestinian
situation and imposing informal travel embargoes on high-profile cabinet
ministers. At the same time Israel, in addition to its ongoing assaults against
the population in Gaza and the West Bank, has arrested and detained many Hamas
members of parliament.
Yet
despite all these efforts, the Hamas government remained in place, a symbol of
America's failure to impose its will on the Palestinian people.
Recent reports indicate that the Israelis, Americans and Fatah President Mahmoud Abbas were planning a coup against Hamas, to be followed by an immediate influx of over a billion dollars in aid. According to a number of sources, Hamas found out about the coup plan and then launched its offensive against Fatah in Gaza.
Then
came the street fighting and gun battles.
These were first met with a wall of silence from the Fatah President, Mahmoud Abbas. Then,
in a move that may violate Palestinian Authority law, Abbas announced on June
15 that he had dismissed the government, fired Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and appointed instead Salam Fayyad, and
set up an "emergency" second cabinet, based entirely in the West
Bank.
Salam Fayyad, the newly appointed Palestinian
Prime Minister, is reported to have close ties with the Bush
administration. He served as the Finance
Minister in the interim Fatah government of the Palestine Authority from
2002-2006. Before returning to Palestine in 2001 as the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) representative to the Palestinian Authority, Fayyad worked for 20
years as an economist in the U.S., including stints with both the World Bank
and the IMF.
Israeli and American officials immediately
praised Abbas’ dissolution of the government. The U.S., Canada, the European
Union and others moved quickly to restore the aid they had stopped following
Hamas’ election victory. U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleeza Rice told reporters that "President Abbas has
exercised his lawful authority as president of the Palestinian Authority and
leader of the Palestinian people." Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Abbas a "friend" and pledged that
Israel would be "helpful and supportive of the Palestinian people in every
possible way, including economic cooperation and security cooperation,"
now that the democratically-elected government has been deposed. Olmert then went immediately to Washington to discuss the
situation with the President Bush.