The Age of Bullies
Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed

“The Age of Bullies” is not a phrase that I coined. These words were written on a large poster that a Palestinian woman raised and that said, “Palestine of 1967 was made up of fedayeen that of 2006 is made up of bullies”. No one can disagree with the opinion of this woman when three children are deliberately killed because they belong to a pro-Fatah family and a judge is killed in revenge because he supports Hamas. These are the groups in Palestine today. It is a repetition of what is happening in Iraq and of the killing of children, elderly, and simple workers in Iraq.

We are indeed living in the age of bullies. We never had such an era throughout our history of power struggles that compares with this.

In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, bloody struggles took place among the Palestinian factions. These incidents pained our souls but today’s confrontations make our hearts bleed. Nothing is taboo. Children are killed because their father is a Fatah supporter, and an elderly man is killed because he is a Hamas supporter. And what is this war all about? It is about nothing else but power. None of those that are fighting among one another has a plan different from the other. They all make speeches about liberation, the state, and the refugees but they are all seeking their own interests. They are seekers of power and authority and are ready to drag the country to a civil war. These have harmed the Palestinian cause more than the Israelis have tried to do over so many years. They have divided the ranks, brought despair, defeated the local soul, and shocked and pained the Arabs with their ugly deeds. They divided the nation and relieved Israel of the confrontation. Anyone that sees the crimes that are being perpetrated and hears the threats to commit more becomes anxious about the future because we are stepping into an unprecedented phase in the history of the conflict.

We stand at the threshold of the first Palestinian civil war that no one ever imagined would take place no matter how much the Palestinians become divided into teams and camps…

Writing in Asharq Alawsat, Al-Rashed—the paper’s former Editor-in-Chief—points out that strong-arm tactics being used by Hamas (and by Hezbollah in Lebanon) are resulting in the most dangerous times for the region, to the benefit of Israel (and Iran) and to the complete detriment of Palestinians (and Arabs in general). Worth taking a look at.