Being prepared: Just in case

[Behind the Aegis]

Hamas and Fatah are preparing for war, just to be on the safe side. Militants are gathering intelligence ahead of an operation against each other, rather than Israel. Yes, reports say the rival organizations are about to sign an agreement on the prisoners' letter and that Hamas is willing to appoint technocrats to ministerial positions. But there is a crisis of confidence between Fatah and Hamas. On at least four occasions, senior officials have agreed that the special "operational force" established in Gaza by Hamas will retreat from the streets and return to the barracks. The agreement was not implemented even after last week's particularly successful meeting between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. And so, Fatah and Hamas continue to prepare for war: Both sides are monitoring the movements of rival senior officials with roadblocks on the routes taken by military commanders. The recruitment, training and arming of more than 4,000 Palestinians in forces associated with Fatah centrists (Mohammed Dahlan's preventative security force and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades) are meant to send a message to Hamas. "For every one of our men who is hit by Hamas fire, we will hit two of yours," a senior Fatah official told Haniyeh last week.

Both organizations are focusing on the internecine struggle, despite the ongoing hostilities against Israel. Even after 14 civilians were killed last week in Gaza in Israeli operations, the urban warfare between Hamas and Fatah militants has continued, with gunfire, bombs, arson and more. On the verbal level, spokesmen for both groups used the incident on the Beit Lahia beach and Israel's assassination of Jamal Abu Samhadana to attack their rivals. The national "dialogue" that is scheduled to end Wednesday (but will probably continue after that) is a test of both sides' willingness to compromise. The referendum on the prisoners' document, scheduled for late July, is also viewed as a watershed in relations between the organizations.

On the eve of potential war with Fatah, Hamas in Gaza is no less divided than its rival. The Hamas leadership abroad and the government in Gaza are not on the same page. Sami Abu Zuhri, the group's Gaza spokesman, who is effectively Khaled Meshal's spokesman, did not hesitate to criticize the Hamas government on Friday.

"The call by government spokesman Ghazi Hamad on Israeli radio about our readiness for a cease-fire reflects not the Hamas position but rather the government's position," Abu Zuhri said. However, the fact that Hamas refrained from firing Qassams at Israel over the weekend implies that Abu Zuhri's declarations are aimed chiefly at preventing defection in the ranks.

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