There are many points of view regarding the current events unfolding in the "unoccupied" Palestinian controlled Gaza strip. The most prevalent point of view from Western "outsiders" is that it's good that Palestinians are killing Palestinians, the logic being that both Fatah and Hamas are both terrorist groups, that this internal conflict is the result of a tribal power grab, and that Palestinian society is incapable of creating a liberal democracy based on the rule of law. A dead Palestinian terrorist is one less terrorist, no matter who puts him 6 feet under.
Another point of view is that the current infighting, if allowed to play itself out, could end up with Hamas winning and consolidating Palestinian forces against Israel. This view also assumes that with a Hamas victory, the extremist Islamic views inherent to Hamas could usher in Islamic Shaira law, which would inflame the situation with Israel, Egypt, and the moderate Palestinians in Gaza. If, on the other hand, Fatah wins the battle with Hamas, it could be that Palestinian President Abbas will continue the same ambiguous diplomacy of duplicity that his predecessor, Yasar Arafat perfected. This course of action is basically do nothing diplomatically or politically, while continuing to support Palestinians terrorism against Israel using proxy Palestinian forces that the PA will claim are renegade and out of their control.
The optimistic point of view, which frankly doesn't have much solid ground on which to stand, is that the growing conflict between Fatah and Hamas is the beginning of a Palestinians civil war, in which Fatah represents that force of moderninity and the secular rule of law, while Hamas represents the dark forces of Islamic extremism and Arab nationalism. Israel went through a similar situation in its history, fortunately the rule of law prevailed, and the central government consolidated the various armed Jewish gangs into what became the IDF. Israelis didn't need UN recognition for what they had accomplished, as establishing a single source of power and instituting the rule of law was the real birth of the Jewish state. Hopefully, the internal fighting between Palestinian factions will result in the birth of a society that is on the path to make a peace agreement that it is willing to keep intact.
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