Fatah members in the Gaza Strip are afraid to speak openly. When they ruled Gaza, some held high-level positions in the security apparatuses. Then came Hamas’ coup in 2007. Those who were not able to flee from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank were subsequently subject to severe restrictions and were followed constantly. From Hamas’ point of view, members of Fatah are not to be trusted even in the present reality of a unity government and reconciliation. Thus, Fatah members are under constant suspicion.
With the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, Fatah members in Gaza were forced to live under “house arrest.” No one remembered, or wanted to remember, that a reconciliation agreement with Hamas had been signed and a unity government had been formed only a few weeks earlier. The hatred between the two organizations was so abysmal that even when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pounded the Gaza Strip, Hamas members had no mercy on Fatah operatives.
