Gaza slides closer to chaos

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http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5351121&CFID=69529897&CFTOKEN=1b93bb7-9f041881-e834-4147-aa57-194580a4bfea&tranMode=none

Gaza slides closer to chaos
Jan 2nd 2006
From The Economist Global Agenda

In the latest sign that the Palestinian Authority is failing to take control of the Gaza Strip after Israel’s withdrawal, dozens of policemen have stormed government offices in Rafah, while gunmen have blown up a United Nations club in Gaza City. Despite the chaos, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, is resisting calls for this month's elections to be delayed.

THE state of serious disorder in the Gaza Strip has continued to worsen, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) still shows no signs of imposing calm. On Monday January 2nd, around 200 Palestinian police, angry at their political masters' failure to stem the growing lawlessness, stormed government buildings in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, firing shots in the air. Four days earlier, another large group of police stormed the Rafah border crossing between the strip and Egypt, causing it to be closed briefly. There has been a spate of kidnappings of foreigners and, on Sunday, armed men blew up a United Nations club in Gaza City.

The PA's president, Mahmoud Abbas, continues to promise to combat the violence. But there has been little sign of concrete action. Mr Abbas is resisting demands from within his own Fatah party for this month's elections to the Palestinian parliament to be postponed because of the situation. On Sunday he rejected pleas from about 20 of his faction's candidates to be allowed to stand down. On Monday, however, he conceded for the first time the possibility of delaying the elections, though only if Israel were to prevent Palestinians in East Jerusalem from voting.

When Israeli settlers and troops were pulled out of the strip in September following almost four decades of occupation, optimistic observers hoped the PA would assert control over the coastal sliver of land, in what would be an important step towards the creation of a Palestinian state encompassing both Gaza and the West Bank. But the pessimists have been proved right so far. The attack on the Rafah crossing was especially damaging for the PA: it had taken control of the checkpoint only in November, under a deal brokered by America’s secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. Besides being hailed as a move that would make Gaza a testing-ground for Palestinian statehood, it was also seen as a crucial step in reviving the strip’s sickly economy. Under the terms of the deal, EU monitors must be present for the crossing to operate, but these were forced to flee when the police staged their attack.
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