In the spacious, top-floor office of Gaza’s former police chief, the television was tuned to al-Aqsa TV, the Hamas channel, and at lunchtime half a dozen well-armed, bearded Hamas commanders rose in unison and knelt in prayer.
On the streets there were no policemen to be seen. Instead, across the city stood small groups of Hamas gunmen, some in uniform, others not.
Directing the traffic were Hamas ”volunteers”, unarmed and wearing green baseball caps and fluorescent yellow jackets, each marked the Islamic Resistance Movement — Hamas.
The police headquarters was mainly deserted and the police chief long gone. Commanders from the Hamas executive force lounged on the leather sofas. The executive force militia was outlawed by edict three days ago issued by its rival Fatah in the West Bank but in reality it is now the sole power in an isolated Gaza.
Colonel Sami Nowafaq, one of the few police officers who had risked turning up to work, looked uncomfortable in his starched blue uniform. He stood aside from the others and said: ”It’s true that the building is empty. But hopefully in the near future the police will come back to work. Of course it’s frustrating to see others doing our job but it’s a result of the mistakes made recently.”
The police force, like the other major security forces in Gaza, had been dominated by Fatah. But after six months of fighting with Hamas, Fatah collapsed as a military force in Gaza last week and Hamas seized power on the streets.
The most senior Fatah security officers fled to the West Bank. Hamas broadcast appeals for the remainder to return to their jobs on Tuesday although that seemed unlikely for now.
But for the first time in more than six months of fighting and brutal feuding, calm had returned to the streets of Gaza. The factional battles and revenge killings that scarred life in the crowded territory and claimed at least 600 lives have ended, at least for now.
Hamas forces are beginning to challenge some of the criminal families, arresting those with illegal weapons and seizing drug stashes. Shops are open and hospitals functioning, but their wards are crowded with the wounded still recovering from last week’s final battles.
Hamas has full security control, but no political authority. Ministries were deserted, the courts were not operating. All the major Fatah security headquarters have been ransacked along with the private homes of their key officers, including Muhammad Dahlan, Fatah’s strongman in Gaza. His house had been stripped, even the bathtub and toilet had been ripped from the concrete. Grafitti was daubed on the walls: ”Here is the house of the killer Dahlan who has been cleaned by the mujahiden.”
All official documents must now be obtained from the West Bank, where an emergency government of pro-Fatah independents has been appointed by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President. Gazans have been told that Palestinian passports issued here since Friday are no longer valid. Since travel from Gaza to the West Bank is restricted to a few and since all crossings out of Gaza are effectively closed, it has cut off the 1,4-million population. The evidence of battle is everywhere. Muhammad Kalub (19) spent three days with his mother and siblings hiding in the bedroom of their fourth-floor apartment while Hamas fighters destroyed the flat next door, home to a prominent Fatah spokesperson, Maher Miqdad.
Miqdad escaped to the West Bank, but his flat was a wreck on Tuesday, with clothes, furniture and even the fridge lying charred on the floor. Several of his bodyguards died in the fighting. ”There is a sort of security now, but still we are cautious,” said Kalub. ”This situation cannot continue. There can only be one government.”
Some have argued that Hamas fought to create its own Islamic mini-state, dismissively termed as ”Hamastan”, but there was no evidence of that on the ground. On al-Aqsa radio, Khalil al-Hayya, a senior Hamas leader, declared the emergency government ”illegal” but at the same time offered overtures to Fatah.”We don’t have much time and we are expecting fruitful talks,” he said. ”We confirm that Fatah leaders here are safe and secure.”
Although a sense of security has returned, there was little jubilation at Hamas’s victory. ”This has been one big mistake,” said Ziad Lakan as he queued up at his local grocery store. ”Everyone has gone in his own direction and now maybe there will be … two governments.”
”No way can there be two governments,” said Hatin al-Masri, who stood behind him in the queue. ”We are one family in Gaza and the West Bank, we cannot be separated.” – Guardian Unlimited Â