Palestinians are going through the worst kind of apartheid and Hamas-Fatah unity is extremely vital for Palestinians’ struggle, said Dr Fidaa Shehada, the visiting assistant professor at the State University of New York here on Wednesday. He was giving a lecture on ‘Peace and Justice in Palestine’ at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here.
She said Israeli occupation through new settlements was still expanding and peace process was not taking any strong roots amid the so-called peace process and negotiations. She said people around the world had been “too much optimistic about Barack Obama but he has only been playing with words”.
“When a Palestinians wake up and go to their farms, they see a new settlement and are told by the Israeli the place was no longer theirs. Building a wall, which is nicely-worded as a fence only separates Palestinians from Palestinians as it is established between the neighbors, families and communities. Also it is attempt to enclave water resources and re-align its position for any future negotiation,” she added.
She said the split between Hamas and Fatah had caused serious damage to Palestinian unity and it only benefited Israel.
The rivalry between those two organisations had caused a division in West Bank and Gaza strip, she said and added that two parallel governments were trying to institutionalise themselves besides there was duplication of efforts and resources.
She said that Palestinians’ struggle could not be strengthened without unity between those two important organisations.
Hamas won the elections through democratic process but subsequent events pushed both the organisations into a rivalry, which led to human rights violations against each other.
She added that Hamas introduced e-governance and had more representative governance.