PALESTINE usually only makes news when a fresh bout of violence breaks out in this occupied Arab land.

The latest example was the furore over the placement of metal detectors by Israel outside the Al Aqsa mosque — a flashpoint where the slightest provocation can ignite widespread unrest. On Monday, King Abdullah of Jordan visited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. While Arab leaders meet their Palestinian counterparts regularly in different cities, this was the first time the Jordanian monarch visited Palestine in five years.

It is a welcome step and more such visits to Palestine must take place to remind the world that the Palestinians and their plight have not been forgotten. However, fissures within the Palestinian camp also need to be addressed to form a united front against the Israeli occupation and to secure the Palestinian people’s legitimate rights. In this regard, Mahmoud Abbas’s recent statement to step up sanctions on Gaza — ruled by Fatah’s rival Hamas — is unfortunate.

While many states recognise the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank as the ‘genuine leadership’ of the Palestinians, Hamas has been running Gaza’s affairs since it took over the tiny coastal strip in 2007 after winning Palestinian elections in 2005.

Whatever Fatah’s differences with the Islamist Hamas, it must be asked what increasing sanctions — in effect punishing Gaza’s people — will achieve.

The PA in the past has also reportedly asked Israel to cut off Gaza’s electricity; as it is, the strip barely gets a few hours of electricity a day. It has been a decade since Israel enforced a blockade of Gaza, supported by Egypt. These cruel measures, far from weakening Hamas, are only adding to the miseries of Gaza’s two million people.

As a UN official, speaking after the launch of a report on Gaza’s plight last month said, the strip’s crisis is a “manmade political situation”. What is particularly sad is that the Palestinians’ own countrymen, as well as some of their Arab ‘brothers’, are responsible for their plight. It is time the cruel blockade of Gaza was lifted before the enclave becomes ‘unliveable’ in the words of the UN report.

Fatah and Hamas must resolve their differences at the negotiating table; collective punishment of Gaza’s people is unacceptable. Indeed, the plight of the Palestinians becomes all the more desperate when a brutal Israeli occupation is supplemented by the cruel actions of their own leaders.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2017