Mahmoud Abbas’s successor, Rawhi Fattouh, divides Gazans

Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip have differing opinions over Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s presidential decree that announced Palestinian National Council chairman, Rawhi Fattouh, as his successor.

Speaking to The New Arab, several Palestinians have argued that Abbas does have a role to play to end the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, even if his actions may violate Palestinian laws.

“In Gaza, nothing is adopting the law, and none of the Palestinian factions, including Hamas, abided by the law or even take care of the population interests […] They only aim at achieving their political goals that are mostly far away from the Palestinian issue,” said one Palestinian. 

At the same time, others accuse Abbas of trying to re-establish control of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority over Gaza, even if it involves Israeli tanks. 

“No one has the right to decide how the Palestinian people should live in Gaza, mainly as all the factions let the population alone face their fate under the Israeli genocidal war,” said a Palestinian to TNA. 

Return to endless in-fighting?

Last Wednesday, Abbas suddenly announced that the Palestinian National Council chairman, Rawhi Fattouh, would be his temporary replacement if the position should become vacant.

“If the position of the president of the national authority becomes vacant in the absence of the legislative council, the Palestinian National Council president shall assume the duties… temporarily,” the presidential decree said.

The decree added that elections must be held within 90 days of the transition period. This deadline can be extended in the event of “force majeure”.

Under current Palestinian law, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is supposed to take over the Palestinian Authority in the event of a power vacuum. 

But the PLC, where Hamas had a majority, no longer exists since Abbas officially dissolved it in 2018 after more than a decade of tensions between his party, Fatah, and Hamas, which ousted the Palestinian Authority from power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.

“It seems that we will witness new rounds of fighting between Hamas and Fatah, and we will never live in peace even when Israel ends its war in Gaza,” Mahdy Abu Karsh, a Gaza-based resident, remarked to TNA. 

“Abbas’s announcement seeks to end Hamas in Gaza, but he will return the corrupt Fatah, which means that the supposed new Palestinian government will take revenge on Hamas members by arresting and beating them as it did when it controlled Gaza,” Abu Karsh opined. 

“We are tired from the endless fighting between Fatah and Hamas, and we need new faces and leaders that would be good for our issue and who could rebuild Gaza once again,” he added. 

Abu Karsh argues that Abbas “should allow the Palestinians the right to elect their representatives, rather than imposing his dictatorial decrees on our people.”

“There is no time to have more meetings between Hamas and Fatah to agree on holding elections in the Palestinian territories. Both failed in reunifying their efforts to confront the Israeli plans against our issue, lands and even people, so we need such a decision by our president to put an end to our suffering,” Ouf Abdu said to TNA. 

Over 17 years, the 35-year-old says, “the politicians imposed their rules on us, and mostly by force. We will not be harmed by Abbas’s decision, mainly as he will not allow Hamas to control us after the war.” 

During Hamas’s rule since 2007, Palestinians were subjected to seven large-scale Israeli wars that killed and wounded thousands of people and repeatedly destroyed most Gaza facilities and infrastructure, according to Abdu. 

“None of our people would like to spend his rest of life under Hamas control, and we deserve to have a better future for our children,” he said. 

A Gaza-based man, who preferred not to reveal his name, believes that Abbas is “implementing Israeli, American and Arab plans to end resistance in Gaza.”

“The resistance fighters in Hamas will not allow this. It is impossible that after all the sacrifices the movement has made, it will be marginalised, and its presence in Gaza will be ended,” he added. “If Hamas ends in Gaza, the resistance will end in all of Palestine, and the Israeli enemy will continue to occupy the West Bank and prevent Palestinians from living in their homes.”

Fatah supports, Hamas rejects

As usual, Hamas and Fatah, the two bitter political rivals, were extremely divided over Abbas’s appointment of Fattouh. 

A Turkey-based senior Hamas official, who preferred not to reveal his name, told TNA that Abbas insists on “exercising his dictatorship until the last days of his life to ensure that Hamas will not be in power in the future.”

However, the official argues that “the Palestinian people are the only ones who have the right to decide who would rule Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, especially after Abbas proved to the residents of the West Bank that he does not support the resistance and is helping to end it through his Arab and European allies.”

“Abbas’s days are numbered in life, and after his absence from the scene, he will have no role in political life in Palestine, and the people are the ones who will decide […] If the people decide to adopt the political path in dealing with the Israeli occupation away from resistance, we will support them; and if they decide to adopt the option of resistance, we will develop our military capabilities to liberate our lands,” he said. 

Munir al-Jaghoub, a senior Fatah official based in Ramallah, remarked to TNA, “Abbas’s decree came at the right time and solved the problem that would happen within Fatah and between Fatah and Hamas after his era.”
 
“The announcement is a wise and courageous step to preserve the stability of the Palestinian political system and represents a guarantee for the peaceful and democratic transfer of power and the protection and preservation of the homeland,” he argued. 

According to a public opinion poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research released this past September, satisfaction with Hamas’ performance was marked at 75 percent in the occupied West Bank and 39 percent in the Gaza Strip; Fatah was at 25 percent in the occupied West Bank and 29 percent in the Gaza Strip; the PA was reported at 30 percent in the Gaza Strip and 18 percent in the occupied West Bank; and president Abbas had 13 percent in the occupied West Bank and 25 percent in the Gaza Strip.