It is easy for Fatah leaders to lay the blame for their failure in fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Mohammed Dahlan. In his latest job, as national security adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Dahlan took responsibility for the Fatah security organizations - the forces who were defeated in the Strip. Furthermore, during the fighting, Dahlan was not in Gaza. Nearly the entire leadership of the group in the Strip, who are all considered his associates, have fled the area, fearing for their lives. Overall responsibility is therefore being laid at his feet.

Nonetheless, the latest initiative by the Fatah leadership stinks of an attempt at getting even, and does not appear to be the introspection of an organization that is trying to restore its institutions.

First, most of those currently calling for Dahlan's resignation have been on bad terms with him long before the internecine fighting in Gaza. Second, the main reason for the bitter failure of Fatah in the fighting can be found in its character - the internal divisions, the rivalries and vendettas. Fatah failed to unite its ranks in the war against Hamas, not because of Dahlan, but because of the nature of the Palestinian security groupings, which Yasser Arafat put in place as early as 1994.

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It was Arafat the created the entangled system of parallel security organizations that competed with each other for authority and power, in order to guarantee that none would challenge his power. Not only have these organizations fought each other, but their commanders were all too pleased to watch their rivals in Fatah lose battles against Hamas. Dahlan, who assumed his post two months ago, could not alter the culture of the organization.

But Dahlan, similar to the former chief of staff Dan Halutz, is paying not only for his military failure, but also for what he symbolized: arrogance and excessive self confidence, being aggressive, and making too many enemies.


When Marwan Barghouti called on Fatah to find a new leadership in Gaza, from those still in the area, it was clear who he was criticizing. Dahlan's supporters opted to argue that the criticism was directed at ranks under their boss. But Dahlan missed a golden opportunity to score points with the Palestinian public: he could have resigned, taken responsibility and insisted that he is not the only problem in Fatah.