SECRET FILES MAY SHOW FATAH-CIA LINK

According to the militant Palestinian group, Hamas, it has files showing its rival Fatah had close links to the CIA and to Israeli intelligence services. Hamas intends to exploit the files and many journalists throughout the Middle East are salivating at the prospect they will soon be released to the media.
The files came into Hamas hands during the recent battles in Gaza when Hamas fighters seized Fatah’s internal security compound from where it ran its intelligence operations. It was in that compound that many members of Hamas were held and tortured by Fatah interrogators during the period when the late Yasser Arafat was Palestinian president.
Hamas claims that when its fighters took control of the compound in a fierce battle with Fatah milita men they found a treasure trove of US weapons, ammunition and files linking Fatah to CIA and Israeli efforts to undermine and defeat Hamas across the region. Some of the documents are purported to have outlined ways of eliminating members of Hamas and other groups the US and Israel regarded as terrorists.
If Hamas fulfils its pledge to circulate the files that could undermine Fatah and especially its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who has suddenly become the acceptable face of Palestine for the US and Israel. If Abbas and Fatah were to be painted as stooges of Israel and the West that could effectively weaken his position and erode his claim to represent all Palestinians. So far, Hamas has yet to prove it has authentic documents linking Fatah to the CIA, but if it has that will not surprise too many observers of Middle East politics. Fatah has always been a corrupt organization and intelligence agencies across the region have had had few problems inserting collaborators in its ranks. The CIA, like its Israeli counterpart, Mossad, is believed to have targeted Fatah in order to exploit its hatred for Hamas.
Fatah has consistently accused Hamas of usurping Fatah rule in the West Bank and Gaza. Fatah was especially angered when Hamas soundly defeated it in the last elections. Since then, Israel, the US and Fatah have been keen to see Hamas removed from power even though Mahmoud Abbas was prepared to go into a unity government with Hamas earlier this year. Now he is accusing Hamas of being the devil and an organization with which he will never again do business. Many observers see that position as ultimately untenable. If new elections were to be held, Abbas and Fatah might again be defeated which is something that cannot have escaped the calculations of Abbas. He may now be of the view that for the foreseeable future Palestinians will be divided. Therefore, he will try to exert complete control over the West Bank with money and weapons supplied by the US and the Israelis. There is even talk of Jordan, probably at the instigation of the US, allowing Fatah’s Badr militia in Jordan to transfer to the West Bank to help Abbas and his forces crush Hamas in West Bank town like Nablus and Jenin. That is a risky strategy that could easily backfire.
Meanwhile, the Israelis are tightening their grip on Gaza, convinced that if they can starve the population there it will become desperate and turn on Hamas. But that kind of Israeli policy is just as likely to anger many Palestinians in the West Bank who could turn away from Abbas and Fatah. Ultimately, Abbas and Fatah may be secretly relying on the prospect that if they can gain complete control of the West Bank with the help of money and weapons supplied by the US and an influx of Badr Brigade fighters from Jordan, the political landscape will change. Hamas will be weakened and a reinvigorated Fatah will be in a better position to negotiate with Hams for an end to Palestinian divisions. Whether or not that is a likely reality, one thing is certain -- only a united Palestinian people will have any possibility of negotiating a lasting settlement with Israel.
The divisiveness of the Palestinian issue has had repercussions elsewhere in the region. For example, Egypt, Jordan and Gulf States like Saudi Arabia have aligned with the US and Israel to back Abbas and Fatah. In contrast, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon have placed their support behind Hamas. Many European commentators and news outlets have pointed out that former US president, Jimmy Carter, made sense when he said it was wrong of the US to seek to destroy Hamas and to promote a divide and conquer strategy by supporting Abbas and Fatah. In Carter’s view Hamas was democratically elected and the Bush administration acted criminally by refusing to accept its electoral victory because it was not pro-US. Carter’s opinion was all but ignored in coverage at home where he has been pilloried by pro-Israel groups for criticizing Israeli policy towards the Palestinians and for accusing Israel of adopting an apartheid policy towards the occupied territories.
Privately, Israel is happy with the split between Fatah and Hamas and believes that if it provides only a modicum of support to Fatah in the West Bank it will drive a further wedge between Fatah and Hamas. That will enable Israel to shelve any talk of a solution to the Palestinian issue and to avoid any discussion of the prickly matter of Israel’s continued policy of expanding settlements on Palestinian lands. When the recent conflict between Hamas and Fatah began, some observers predicted Israel would release to Abbas and Fatah hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues it had been withholding illegally from Palestinians. It would also free hundreds of Fatah fighters and re-open border crossings. Now it seems none of that will happen. Israel will hand over only a small sum of money, perhaps as much as $250,000. Of the 11,000 Palestinians it has in its jails, a large number of them women and teenagers, it will release approximately 250 but they will not be Fatah fighters previously jailed for serious acts of violence against Israel. As for the prospect of re-opening some major border crossing, that idea was quickly knocked on the head by the Israeli military hierarchy.
One man who may believe he has the answer to the Palestinian problem is outgoing British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, who has been appointed Middle East peace envoy on behalf of Russia, the EU, the UN and the US. He got the post after considerable lobbying by the White House but that may prove to be an obstacle in his efforts to present himself as a detached observer and negotiator. Hamas has already said it is opposed to him having any role in the Palestinian issue because of his part in the Iraq war and his unqualified support for US-Israeli policy in the region. But what most upsets Hamas is the fact that last year during the indiscriminate Israeli bombing of the civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, Blair opposed calls for a quick end to the bombing. Blair’s supporters point out, however, that he has already proved he can resolve conflict situations by brokering a settlement in Northern Ireland. However, while one could point to some historical parallels between the situation in Ireland and the Palestinian issue, the Middle East has its own complexities that will require an entirely different approach to the one Blair adopted in Ireland. That conflict was essentially a two-state solution issue – Britain and Ireland – whereas the Palestinian problem reaches out well beyond the Middle East into the broader Islamic world.