Despite assertions, Abbas has created a political vacuum

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has echoed Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah’s calls for Hamas to relinquish control over the Gaza Strip. As convenient timeframes go, Abbas is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington next week, making this regurgitated demand a priority issue even as the PA leader’s credibility continues to plummet.

In a move which is widely perceived as another attempt to restrict the Islamic movement’s ability to govern anywhere near effectively, the PA slashed the salary payments of civil servants in Gaza which unleashed protests in the besieged enclave. Two weeks ago, Hamas described such action as discriminatory and an attempt to isolate Gaza from the rest of occupied Palestine. The latest developments indicate that this was an accurate assessment.

For the scheduled meetings with Trump in Washington, the salary move would play into the Israeli narrative of negotiations being futile due to Abbas’s limited legitimacy as a “representative” of the Palestinian people, even as the Israeli government still refuses to engage with Hamas on a diplomatic level. In fact, Abbas’s legitimacy evaporated in 2009 when his term of office should have ended.

It is unlikely that Hamas will heed Abbas’s warnings, which have also included a more general funding freeze. However, the PA, PLO and Fatah leader has exposed his willingness to act as the intermediary for Israeli and US demands, the latter having expressed their preference for Abbas’s rule over Gaza, particularly during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

It is no surprise that terms such as Palestinian “political unity” are once again littering the landscape, yet no steps towards implementation will be taken. Abbas’s role as a colonial collaborator is no longer a characteristic to be concealed; issues such as security coordination with the occupation forces, the torture of Palestinians by the PA’s own security services, the penchant for granting concessions over territory and the PA’s attempts to sabotage every sliver of Palestinian resistance have not endeared Abbas to the people of Palestine. On the contrary, he is held in a great deal of contempt.

As Abbas seeks to increase the hardship of the Palestinians in Gaza, discontent among the civilian population revealed itself in protests against the threatened measures. Ma’an news agency reported that the Popular Committee of Al-Shati Refugee Camp and Gaza City stressed the inevitable outcome of Palestinians bearing the brunt of the incessant political discord between the PA-PLO-Fatah and Hamas.

Yet, the PA should be held accountable for extending its oppression to Gaza and seeking to consolidate its hold by threatening further divisions. Unity and reconciliation, although touted by the PA as reasons for wanting to exert control over Gaza, should be perceived as euphemisms for a greater plan to marginalise Hamas while seeking to elevate Abbas as representative of the Palestinian people according to external impositions — including those set by the occupying power, Israel — instead of popular consent.

With Hamas obviously refusing to capitulate to Abbas’s demands, the visit to Washington will result in another scenario described as an “impasse”, buying yet more time for Israel’s colonial expansionism. Diverting attention elsewhere has produced results for Abbas’s tenacious hold over political power in Ramallah. However, this rule is entirely dependent upon external factors, making Abbas more dispensable than any other Palestinian faction.

International refusal to acknowledge Palestinian concerns regarding leadership legitimacy and representation makes it incumbent upon Hamas to adopt policies that are consistent and seek to combat Abbas’s overtures to Israel and the US with relevant priorities addressing both politics and the people. If the movement is not allowed to do that, then despite his assertions to the contrary, far from “political unity”, Abbas will simply have created a political vacuum.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.