“Hamas gangsters worked in cooperation with gangsters on the Egyptian side of the border,” said a senior PA official involved with the inquiry commission. “They operated like a real mafia, exploiting the predicament of the people, especially young men who were hoping to find jobs and better lives in Italy and other European countries.”
Palestinians say that the emigration began long before the last military confrontation between Hamas and Israel. But the trend has witnessed a dramatic increase since the end of the fighting in late August.
“Hamas has failed to help the Palestinians ever since it came to power in 2007,” said Ahmed Bader, whose son managed to leave the Gaza Strip through a tunnel one week after the end of the fighting. “There is nothing for the young people to do in the Gaza Strip: no jobs, no entertainment and no security. Young men who graduate from universities cannot find work if they are not members of Hamas.”
Both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority bear responsibility for the tragedy of the Palestinian migrants.
The two rival parties have failed to improve the living conditions of their people in the Gaza Strip. Instead of creating job opportunities for young men and women, Hamas and the PA have spent the past seven years fighting over money and power.
Now the two parties are blaming each other for the tragedy of the illegal migrants. And, of course, they are also blaming Israel for the fact that thousands of Palestinians no longer want to live under the PA or Hamas.
Hamas says that Palestinians are fleeing the Gaza Strip because PA President Mahmoud Abbas is a helpless 80-year-old man “who suffers from half the diseases of the universe.”
The Palestinian Authority, for its part, says that the Palestinians are fleeing the “hell of Hamas.”
Hamas and the PA are exchanging allegations and abuse while their people are being exploited emotionally and financially, then robbed, drowned and fed to sharks.
Hamas and the PA are now busy planning how to lay their hands on the millions of dollars that are supposed to go towards the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
At last week’s “reconciliation” talks between the two sides in Cairo, they completely ignored the tragedy of the Palestinian migrants. Once again, Hamas and Fatah officials exchanged kisses and hugs as they announced yet another agreement to implement a previous agreement. In fact, this is what Hamas and Fatah have been doing since 2006 – signing one reconciliation agreement after the other, without tangible results. Needless to say, so far none of these agreements has been implemented. Skeptics say the most recent agreement between Hamas and Fatah is also likely to remain ink on paper due to the wide gap between the two parties.
Hamas appears to be willing to bring the Palestinian Authority back to the Gaza Strip not because it has changed its ideology. Rather, Hamas wants to use the PA as a tool through which the international community channels funds to the Gaza Strip – a move that would ultimately empower Hamas to tighten its grip over the Palestinian population there.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas also seems to be willing to act as a bridge for channeling financial aid to the Gaza Strip. He is hoping that his government would be strengthened if it is given the authority to sign the checks and distribute the aid. Of course, he is also hoping that some of the funds would end up in the bank accounts of his loyalists and close aides.
But many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have obviously lost their confidence in both Abbas and Hamas. As the past few weeks have shown, hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinians would rather risk their lives at sea than live under Palestinian governments and leaders whose only goal is to enrich their bank accounts.