FATAH AND HAMAS CLAIM RECONCILIATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 03430

E.O. 12356: DECL: OADR
TAGS: KPAL KISL PINS IS
SUBJECT: FATAH AND HAMAS CLAIM RECONCILIATION


1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT


2. SUMMARY: FOLLOWING TWO MONTHS OF CLASHES AND
ACCUSATORY LEAFLETS, HAMAS AND FATAH HAVE ISSUED A
COMMUNIQUE ANNOUNCING THEIR RECONCILIATION. THE
LEAFLET, WHICH CLAIMS TO SPEAK ALSO FOR THE UNLU, CALLS
FOR CONSTRUCTIVE DIALOGUE TO SOLVE DIFFERENCES, RESPECT
FOR MOSQUES AND IMAMS (PRESUMABLY A REFERENCE TO FATAH
SUPPORTERS HAVING EJECTED SEVERAL IMAMS WHO HAD
CRITICIZED SADDAM HUSSEIN),AND ALLEGES THAT STARTING
WITH THEIR MOST RECENT LEAFLETS, UNLU AND HAMAS ARE
COMMITTED TO "IMPLEMENTING THE SAME ACTIVITIES." THE
LEAFLET APPEARS TO GIVE GREATER STATURE TO HAMAS AND A
DEGREE OF PARITY WITH FATAH (WHICH IT HAS NOT HAD
BEFORE),AND IT IS WIDELY VIEWED HERE AS REFLECTING
GAINS MADE BY ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISTS IN THE OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES FOLLOWING THE BREAKDOWN OF THE PEACE PROCESS
AND THE ERUPTION OF THE GULF CRISIS. END SUMMARY

FATAH-HAMAS DIFFERENCES
--------------

3. A JOINT FATAH-HAMAS LEAFLET WAS ISSUED SEPTEMBER 19
IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES ANNOUNCING RECONCILIATION
BETWEEN FATAH AND HAMAS. THE GROWING RIVALRY BETWEEN
THE TWO GROUPS HAS BEEN HIGHLIGHTED OVER THE PAST TWO
MONTHS IN A SERIES OF CLASHES AND ACCUSATORY LEAFLETS:

-- IN JULY, THERE WERE CLASHES BETWEEN PLO AND HAMAS
SUPPORTERS IN THE VILLAGE OF IDNA, NEAR NABLUS, AND IN
NABLUS ITSELF, WHILE PLO ACTIVISTS REPORTEDLY STABBED
TWO HAMAS-AFFILIATED VILLAGE MAYORS NEAR JENIN.

-- IN AUGUST, IN RAMALLAH, HAMAS ISSUED LEAFLETS
ATTACKING FATAH. IN ADDITION, LOCAL IMAMS IN BETHLEHEM
AND QALQILYA WERE REPORTEDLY EJECTED FROM THEIR MOSQUES
BY FATAH ACTIVISTS AFTER PREACHING AGAINST IRAQ'S
INVASION OF KUWAIT.

-- ON SEPTEMBER 9 AND 10, FOLLOWING AN EARLIER INCIDENT
IN THE VILLAGE OF BAL'A WHEN FATAH PREVENTED THE LOCAL
IMAM FROM DELIVERING A SERMON, DOZENS OF MASKED FATAH
AND HAMAS ACTIVISTS FOUGHT EACH OTHER WITH AXES AND
SWORDS IN TULKAREM CAMP (WHICH, ACCORDING TO PALESTINIAN
SOURCES QUOTED IN THE PRESS, HAS A LARGER PROPORTION OF
HAMAS SUPPORTERS THAN ANY OTHER WEST BANK CAMP). IN A
BIZARRE FOLLOW-UP, THE IDF RAIDED THE TULKAREM
MUNICIPALITY THE FOLLOWING DAY AND TEMPORARILY ARRESTED
SOME 15 MEMBERS OF A FATAH-HAMAS RECONCILIATION
COMMITTEE, WHICH INCLUDED THE TOWN'S MAYOR, AND EAST
JERUSALEMITE FEISAL HUSSEINI.

-- IN GAZA'S JABALYA CAMP, HAMAS ATTACKED SEVERAL
ALLEGED MEMBERS OF THE PALESTINIAN COMMUNIST PARTY, AND
ORGANIZED A MARCH IN WHICH THEY CHANTED SLOGANS AGAINST
THE COMMUNISTS.

-- LONG, MUTUALLY ACCUSATORY LEAFLETS ISSUED BY BOTH
SIDES DURING THE ABOVE CLASHES HAVE CALLED FOR UNITY,
ALLEGING THAT THE OTHER SIDE WAS MANUFACTURING INTERNAL
CONFLICTS WHICH ONLY SERVED THE ENEMY. FOR ITS PART,
UNLU ANNOUNCED THAT ANY ATTACK AGAINST A FACTION OF THE
PLO "OR A NATIONALIST INDIVIDUAL" IS AN ATTACK AGAINST
UNLU ITSELF.

-- ON SEPTEMBER 22, AFTER THE LEAFLET WAS ISSUED, A
PROMINENT HAMAS SUPPORTER, DR. NIHAD AL-MASRI, WAS
BEATEN IN HIS NABLUS CLINIC BY MASKED MEN. NABLUS
OBSERVED A GENERAL STRIKE CALLED BY HAMAS THE NEXT DAY.

RECONCILIATION?
--------------


4. THE UNNUMBERED SEPTEMBER 19 LEAFLET, ENTITLED
"COMMUNIQUE OF PUBLIC OPINION FROM HAMAS AND FATAH,"
ALLUDES OBLIQUELY TO THESE INCIDENTS AND OUTLINES A
PROGRAM OF "RECONCILIATION" WHICH STRONGLY FAVORS HAMAS
POSITIONS AND PROGRAMS. REFERRING TO "SOME RECENT
UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS," THE LEAFLET SAYS THAT
DIFFERENCES IN OPINION ARE NATURAL AND HEALTHY, AND THAT
"A CENTRAL COMMITTEE AND DISTRICT SUB-COMMITTEES" WILL
BE FORMED TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS. ALL PENDING PROBLEMS
"SHOULD BE FORGOTTEN," AND A NEW PAGE OPENED. MOSQUES,
AND THEIR IMAMS AND WORSHIPPERS, SHOULD BE RESPECTED.
MOREOVER, "EVERY FACTION HAS THE RIGHT TO CARRY OUT ITS
ACTIVITIES IN FULL, WITHOUT ANY OBJECTION FROM THE OTHER
PARTY."


5. THE LEAFLET FURTHER STATES THAT:

-- HAMAS WILL BE EQUALLY REPRESENTED IN ALL PRISON
COMMITTEES;

-- THE TWO GROUPS "ARE COMMITTED TO IMPLEMENT THE SAME
ACTIVITIES. EACH PARTY WILL HAVE TO IMPLEMENT THE
OTHER'S ACTIVITIES AS IF THEY WERE ITS OWN."

-- PERSONS EXPELLED FROM THEIR VILLAGES SHOULD BE
ALLOWED TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMES WITHOUT HARRASSMENT.

-- THE SALARIES OF THE EMPLOYEES OF GAZA'S ISLAMIC
UNIVERSITY WILL BE PAID IN FULL, WITHOUT
"DISCRIMINATION."


6. THE LEAFLET CONCLUDES WITH A PAEON TO "MUJAHID"
UNITY AND PRIDE IN ISLAMIC UNITY. "ISLAM RUNS DEEP IN
OUR VEINS; IT IS OUR CREED AND LIFE." ACCORDING TO
WEEKEND PRESS REPORTS, AN UPDATED VERSION OF THE LEAFLET
MENTIONED PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN AS BEING "PARTNERS IN
THE PROCESS OF SELF-DETERMINATION..."


7. COMMENT: THE LEAFLET, WHICH APPEARS TO GIVE GREATER
STATURE TO HAMAS AND A DEGREE OF PARITY WITH FATAH
(WHICH IT HAS NOT HAD IN THE PAST),IS WIDELY VIEWED
HERE AS A REFLECTION OF GAINS MADE BY THE ISLAMIC
FUNDAMENTALISTS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES VIS-A-VIS
THE PLO SECULAR NATIONALISTS FOLLOWING THE BREAKDOWN IN
THE PEACE PROCESS AND THE ERUPTION OF THE GULF CRISIS.
(PRISON BEATINGS OF HAMAS MEMBERS BY FATAH ADHERENTS
WERE REPORTEDLY A CHRONIC SOURCE OF FRICTION, FOR
EXAMPLE.) A FATAH MEMBER ACTIVE IN THE DISCUSSIONS
LEADING UP TO THE ISSUANCE OF THE LEAFLET TOLD A LOCAL
PALESTINIAN JOURNALIST THAT THE DOCUMENT WAS VIRTUALLY
DICTATED BY HAMAS.


8. COMMENT (CONT'D): NEVERTHELESS, WE HAVE HEARD FROM
SEVERAL SOURCES THAT THIS "RECONCILIATION" CAN BE
EXPECTED TO BE SHORT-LIVED. (ALREADY, THE FATAH YOUTH
GROUP SHABIBA HAS ISSUED A LEAFLET IN THE VILLAGE OF
BAL'A DISMISSING THE "RECONCILIATION" AND CLAIMING THAT
HAMAS HARRASSMENT OF FATAH LOYALISTS CONTINUES.) WITH
FATAH (AND UNLU) WEAKENED AND DIVIDED, HAMAS IS MAKING
THE MOST OF POPULAR RESENTMENT AGAINST THE U.S. MILITARY
PRESENCE IN SAUDI ARABIA (AND ALLEGED "DESECRATION OF
MUSLIM HOLY PLACES") AND ARAFAT'S FAILURE TO GAIN FROM
HIS 1988 "CONCESSIONS" ON THE PEACE PROCESS. ONE
JOURNALIST TOLD US, "THE NEW GAME IN TOWN IS
HAMAS-FATAH, NOT ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN." WE ARE ALSO
HEARING RUMORS THAT THE SAUDIS AND SOME OTHER GULF
STATES ARE TAKING REVENGE ON FATAH BY INCREASING FUNDING
TO HAMAS TO THE TOTAL EXCLUSION OF THE PLO.


WILCOX