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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 April 1999 Issue No. 423
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Interview Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Hamas gains at Fatah's expense
By Khaled AmayrehFatah, the backbone of the Palestinian Authority (PA), suffered a significant setback in recent student elections in universities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in what some observers say reflects plummeting support among ordinary Palestinians for the policies of the PA led by President Yasser Arafat.
In Bir Zeit University, the most secular-oriented Palestinian school of higher education in the occupied territories and a traditional stronghold of Palestinian nationalism, Hamas supporters won 23 of the 51 contested seats making up the students' general assembly. The election, held on 24 March, gave Hamas two seats more than it gained in last year's election.
Fatah, which had been the dominant power on Palestinian campuses for many years, won only 19 seats, despite the financial and other forms of support it reportedly received from various PA organisations.
The left, which described itself as "The Democratic Pole" and comprised supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the communist-oriented Palestine's People's Party (PPP), won nine seats -- a stunning retreat from the not-too-distant days when leftist student power was on an almost equal footing with the nationalist camp led by Fatah.
A day before the elections at Bir Zeit, Hamas and its close ally, Islamic Jihad, won the student elections at Hebron University, beating a broad coalition representing all factions comprising the PLO, including Fatah, PFLP, DFLP and the PPP. Hamas and Jihad won 22 of the 41 contested seats (Hamas 20, and Jihad 2). Fatah and its leftist allies won the remaining 19 seats, two short of the 21 seats needed to enable them to control the student's council.
This was the first time since the Oslo Accords were signed six years ago, that the anti-Oslo leftist faction joined forces with Fatah to contest a university election. One reason for this could be that the leftist groups see Hamas as contributing to the gradual dwindling of the left in the Palestinian political arena.
The Hebron University election was a particular disappointment for Fatah, which had exerted extra efforts to dislodge the Islamists from the Student Council they have controlled for the past 12 years.
Abdel-Khaliq Al-Natshe, a senior Hamas spokesman in Hebron, alleged that Fatah's youth organisation, Al-Shabiba, received direct support from the PA in the elections.
"The Islamic bloc is not merely competing with a similar student bloc, but is facing the entire quasi-state apparatus of the Palestinian Authority," Al-Natshe said after the election results were announced.
Al-Natshe argued that the election highlighted widespread public disenchantment with PA policies. His argument is plausible, given that the student population reflects the sentiment of the overall population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
At the Islamic University in Gaza (IUG), Hamas chalked up an even bigger surprise in the student elections held on 23 March, taking 74.5 per cent of the entire students' votes. Islamic Jihad won 5.5 per cent, while Fatah took the remaining 20 per cent. The election results at IUG were also significant given that the PA bodies are better established in Gaza than they are in the West Bank. Hamas has also been much harder-hit by PA security agencies in Gaza than in the West Bank, which should have weakened the movement and undermined its support base.
Analysts surmise that the results of the student elections evidently reflect public disillusionment with Arafat's policies. Many Palestinians think Arafat's indecision on the declaration of a Palestinian state doesn't bode well for the future. They see the PA leader as too vulnerable to US pressure and Israeli dictates, particularly regarding security coordination with Israel, something most Palestinians think could only perpetuate the unbearable status-quo, besides making the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital an illusive goal.
Added to that is the widespread Palestinian disappointment with the PA's inability, or perhaps unwillingness, to strictly enforce the authority of the law throughout the autonomous enclaves. This situation continues to trigger instability in many parts of the Occupied Territories and almost sparked a mini-Intifada against the PA in Rafah in early March.
When all these factors are put together, it looks like a significant number of Palestinians are no longer willing to give the PA the benefit of the doubt forever, either on the domestic front, or in regard to the peace process.
