And Dear Fatah......

The following is an open letter to Fatah, which follows my open letter to Hamas.

Dear Fatah,

AsSalaamu Alaikum, brothers and sisters. I just heard a report that the infighting on the ground in Gaza is getting worse. A wounded Fatah official vowed revenge against Hamas, who he's sure executed a bombing/assasination attempt this weekend. "We are the authority! They will never have authority!" he insisted.

Brothers, please think about what's happening here. Divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book. And you all are playing directly into the hands of the Zionists by dutifully going at each other's throats.

And there is so much at stake here!

Your homeland, your constituents, your families, your livilihoods, the very soul of Palestine is being ripped apart by the Zionists and you are helping them.

Petty authority is worthless. Leadership is what your people need. And that's a whole other subject. It takes vision, sacrifice, patience and courage. It takes caring more about your people than you care about yourselves. It takes leaders who dread that responsiblity, not clamour after "authority".

If Fatah and Hamas were to combine forces and lead - truly lead - the Palestinian people, no oppressor could stand in your way. If you lead your people to put down their useless conventional weapons and pick up the mantle of moral armor that is Nonviolent Resistance, there would be no stopping you. You could bring the mighty Zionist army, with all its tanks and apache helicopters and F15 fighter jets and nuclear weapons to its knees.

Killing a soldier here and a non-soldier there is doing nothing but sabatoging your own efforts and endangering your own souls. Fighting and killing your fellow Palestinians is just a cause for the Zionists to have a good chuckle over their morning coffee. At some point someone has to lead. Someone has to overcome their own nafs and steer Palestine in the direction that such a noble people deserve to go.

I know it is comlicated. I know the culture of weapons is deeply entrenched. I know there are para-military factions that are not easily controlled. But I also know that a movement of active nonviolence could catch on, once people see the results it will bring.

Nonviolence is not the coward's way out. It is not a tactic of people who preach peace at any cost. It is a potent weapon to use against an enemy that thrives on visiting others with the same horror the last generation of their own people suffered. It is the loudest way to demand justice for Palestine. And once justice is achieved, then peace will be the natural outcome.

IF you and Hamas keep leading instead of vying for authority.