[lbo-talk] "Second liberation of Gaza."

[Marvin Gandall]

> I also can't see Palestinian life improving much in areas still under
> Fatah
> rule. And given Fatah's open collaboration with Israel, their reputation
> looks unlikely to get any better. I suppose that in the 'Arab street'
> growing popular cynicism towards any kind of liberation politics might be
> one outcome. The more religious tendencies however seem to gain most from
> such desperate situations.
===========================
It's Israel which pretty much controls events. It has the latitude to relax
controls and to allow aid to come in from the outside without jeopardizing
its suzerainty over the Palestinians. If the Palestinians are relieved of
the long delays and daily humiliation at checkpoints and have access to
jobs, I think they'd disengage out of exhaustion, if nothing else, and would
tolerate Fatah corruption and subservience.

The question is whether the Israeli leadership and public feel the need to
make any moves at all after the South Lebanon and Gaza withdrawals did not
turn out as planned. But there may now be greater pressure on Israel to
throw Abbas some bones with Hamas no longer part of the PA government. And
the underlying imperative to grant the Palestinians some form of truncated
statehood if only to head off the development of a movement for a
non-denominational unitary state encompassing Israel and the occupied
territories is always present.