Dayton lays the foundation for a Palestinian civil war

Fatah: from an era of trenches to an era of hotels
Hebron’s citizens: Dayton lays the foundation for a Palestinian civil war

Residents of the city of Hebron have been stricken by the murder of Nurse Haytham Amrou at the hands of Mahmud Abbas’ militiamen. They have found it particularly hard to believe that a Palestinian who was faithful to his cause, who loved Palestine deeply and stood up to the occupiers was killed by his Palestinian brethren especially given that the murdered nurse came from Hebron – a town known for the unity of its population, a strong social structure and the inviolability and even sacredness of Muslim blood within it. This incident will leave the door wide open for families in the city to seek revenge and will allow it to recur and continue for many years to come.

Dayton is the cause

Tradesman Muhammad al-Natshah from Hebron believes that responsibility for the murder of a young man in the city lies with the American General Dayton. He believes that Dayton has been brainwashing our youth with ideas of the ‘security apparatus’ and thus transforming them from ordinary individuals into feral and cruel human beings who find it easy to torture and kill other Muslims on the pretext of maintaining law and order. What law on earth condones the torture and killing of a person who resists occupation?!’
 
Al-Natshah also believes that the Fatah Movement has moved on from an era of trenches to an era of hotel rooms. With regards to the release of twenty of Hamas’ political prisoners, he attributes this to ‘deception and a lack of seriousness on the part of Fatah’ justifying his assumption by saying that Abbas’ militiamen kidnap scores of Hamas and Jihad members in the West Bank every single day.
 
Mahmoud Muhammad from the Old City observes that Dayton, through his ‘security collaboration’, is laying the foundation for a future civil war that would pit Palestinian against Palestinian. A young person summoned by the Intelligence Services and  ‘Preventive security’ who is beaten, insulted and tortured; kicked, whipped, struck and  burnt with cigarettes will no doubt be full of hatred and only want revenge. They will wait for the opportune moment to retaliate no matter what the consequences of their reaction. This will in reality mean either civil war or creative chaos – a situation Dayton and the Zionist occupation will be pleased to see.

Hearts of stone

Ahmad Rajoub asserts that the murder of Amrou has had far reaching repercussions and has fuelled negative public opinion especially in Hebron where the occupation forces on the one hand, and the Abbas-Dayton militia on the other, have been chasing any virtuous person who loves Palestine; be they from Hamas or Jihad and subjecting them to brutal torture under the pretext of hindering resistance. Rajoub also believes that Hamas has made a mistake in seeking reconciliation before closing Fatah’s political detention file.

A young man – ‘S.A’, who has recently been released from militia prisons, says that he would rather that he had been hunted by the occupation for twenty years than being chased by the Abbas Militia for only one. He explains that he had also previously been kidnapped and interrogated by the occupation, but that their practices could by no means be compared to those of the Abbas-Dayton security apparatus. He goes on to say that militia interrogators told him: ‘we will make you wish for death but you will not get it’ and that they were not of the human race and had no connection whatsoever with humanity. He adds that he was on the verge of losing his mind due to the intense torture inflicted for the sole reason of him loving his country and being willing to defend it. He highlights that it would be unethical for Hamas to go to Cairo before closing, once and for all, all political detention files as so many Palestinians are being tortured in interrogation cellars on a daily basis for only one crime: love for their homeland.

On the cruelty of the torture methods he suffered, ‘S.A’ believes that his interrogators have no mercy in their hearts of stone and that Dayton has succeeded in brainwashing them through the orders they receive and the continuous lectures they are given during military training sessions etc.

A situation similar to Iraq

Zaynab Muhammad from Hebron, on her part says that the strength of the resistance in Iraq has led to the creation, by the Americans, of a civil war between the Sunnites and the Shiites in the hope of eradicating resistance. Here in the West Bank, through Dayton, the ground has been laid for a future civil war aimed at putting an end to Palestinian resistance and the slander of Palestinian militants as traitors who collaborated with the enemy. ‘According to what we hear from a lot of Arabs and Muslims in discussions and interviews on satellite channels, this is something Dayton has been successful in to same extent. They would never have thought, even for a moment, that a righteous and militant person from Fatah would turn into a torturer of his own people; a collaborator with the enemy in which case the occupier would kill a person that he has been hunting and the militiamen would kill those Palestinians hunted by the occupation . What a harmony and treason!’ 

Between Gaza and the West Bank

In comparing what is happening in Gaza to that in the West Bank, Dalal Muhammad, a student at Hebron University, observes; ‘Hamas arrests criminals in Gaza who have murdered Al-Qassam militants or provided  Ramallah with information on the resistance which is passed on to the occupation by means of security coordination. It is not fair to compare arrests in Gaza to kidnaps in the West Bank because what is going on in the West Bank is a program of negotiations targeting resistance in the occupied territories. Whereas resistance is legitimate in Gaza and while ‘Shuhada Al-Aqsa’ (Al-Aqsa Martyrs) carried out heroic operations against the occupation during the last war on Gaza, Hamas was and is still banned in the West Bank even though no decision to ban them has been made. Adieu our buried West Bank!”

– The Palestinian Information Center – Hebron

Translated by Monjia Abdallah Abidi for MEMO

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