The intra-Palestinian "struggle" between the Palestinian Authority or Fatah and Hamas has resurfaced. It is a real "struggle" that only ever disappeared in the delusional minds of dreamers. I say "struggle" because it is an existential threat to the struggle for the Palestinian cause itself.
Hamas has accused the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas of making decisions "unilaterally," claiming that "the president's actions indicate the depth of the crisis at the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, its detachment from reality, and the chasm between it and our people and their concerns and aspirations."
Naturally, Fatah hit back with a sharp statement that went further than even the fiercest opponents of Hamas and its ventures, especially that of October 7, which has given rise to a Nakba worse that of 1948, as Fatah's warranted and precise statement put it.
The truth is that Hamas and its leaders are the ones who are detached from reality and operating unilaterally. How can Hamas accuse the Palestinian Authority, or Fatah, of monopolizing decision-making by choosing the Palestinian prime minister? Hamas unilaterally decided on an unprecedented war represented by the operation on October 7!
How can Hamas direct these accusations at the Palestinian Authority, or Fatah, while Gaza is being destroyed by a war that Hamas had decided on and that neither it nor Gaza and its people, can bear? This decision has led to the death of more than 30,000 Palestinians, women, children, and men.
The war has redrawn the map and reduced Gaza, which is not larger than 140 square miles. The world is still trying to dissuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from continuing the war with an incursion into Rafah, and the conflict may escalate and pose a real threat to the West Bank and the prospect of a Palestinian state.
Yes, Hamas is out of touch. It is currently struggling to reach a truce that guarantees a ceasefire and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, allowing it to return to power there, i.e., a return to the pre-October 7 status quo.
The question here is clear and explicit. What has Hamas achieved from this operation that led to an unprecedented war on Gaza? Doesn't Hamas and its leadership understand the world rejects them, with Washington announcing that the movement must be destroyed?
The problem is that Hamas has not learned from previous mistakes that led to wars, this one the worst of them all. It has not learned that dialogue and debate are not conducted through disrespectful statements and accusations of treason. Hamas has not understood that it is now rejected internationally, and even regionally.
Gaza's predicament is real, and the scale of the Israeli crime there, due to "Hamas'" adventure, is massive and horrendous. The danger to the Palestinian cause is real and undeniable except by the obstinate. This crisis cannot be resolved with boastful and accusatory statements.
What Hamas fails to understand is that those who lose on the ground cannot give lectures. It will not find a seat at the negotiation table, no matter how loud its officials scream or how many moving statements they issue. In war, bullets are stronger than words, even if the latter goes viral on social media.
Accordingly, the Palestinian Authority, specifically President Mahmoud Abbas, is Hamas's only protection. There is an Arab and international consensus on this matter, because Hamas has lost on the ground, and its leaders are either besieged in trenches or they have fled in hotels.
Will Hamas grasp this? I doubt it, because Hamas is extremely deluded, and it never learns from its lessons, much like its parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood.
