Merchants and businesspeople in the Gaza Strip breathed a sigh of relief on Monday when the first truck entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom goods crossing, a sign that things where slowly returning to normal.
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Much like in Israel, the rapid transition between crisis to routine is something in which Gaza has practice, even expertise. Fishermen there set up their nets to start planning their day of work off the Gazan coast, stall owners set up goods for display in the markets. ATMs were filled with cash after being emptied when bank activity was frozen, and police were directing the traffic that only days earlier had been slow due to Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes.
Meanwhile, the funerals for the people killed in the Al-Barajneh refugee camp and Rafah took place. Reporters went out to take pictures of the day after, and curious residents were inspecting the damages of the latest battle.
As if the split between Hamas in Gaza and the Fatah in Ramallah weren't enough, the last flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip revealed more of the internecine tension between Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza. The Palestinians refer to Operation Breaking Dawn as "unifying the fronts," but in effect, it was anything but.
A Palestinian official who spoke to Israel Hayom said that within Hamas' military wing, there were some who wanted to join the PIJ's war against Israel, but the Hamas leadership did not think the time was right for another round of fighting.
"There was pressure in Hamas on the organization's leadership to join the fighting, the argument being that if Hamas didn't join the fighting it would lose public standing and be accused of betraying the people and neglecting the resistance," he said.
This is, indeed, what happened. Hamas was accused of "staying silent while the children of Gaza are killed."
"The resistance lost, Hamas members are hired swords for Israel, Egypt, and Qatar," critics of the organization claimed.
"The PIJ, on the other hand, won a place of honor as a resistance organization, and that contributes to its growing popularity. The thinking in Gaza is that the PIJ couldn't stay quiet after Israel killed one of its commanders. The fact that it was in charge of the fighting and decided to end it quickly shows that it's an important force in Gaza. For the first time, it [PIJ] is the one that everyone, including Hamas, is negotiating with," the official said.
"Hamas hoped that the fighting would end quickly and that nothing would happen that would force it to join in. The organization was afraid of losing its control over Gaza. That's the only thing that guided it. Everything being said, that Hamas sat quietly by because of Israel's economic overtures and out of fear that Israel would revoke the work permits for Gazans – is incorrect.
"Hamas thought that if it entered the escalation, the public is Gaza wouldn't forgive it and wouldn't ignore the fact that the situation in Gaza after Operation Guardian of the Wall – in humanitarian, social, and economic terms – is a catastrophe. People wouldn't accept another war. They're exhausted," the official said.
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