The US chose to support the Fatah military, the EU chose to cut its aid to the Palestinian people, and the Arab officials chose to start a new round of negotiations and talks.

All were actions and choices in reaction to the recent  infighting in Gaza.

What Palestinians are now left with is a total Hamas control over Gaza, and a hazy risky future of internal tensions.

A Handcuffed Government

Palestinians freely chose Hamas to rule them, yet Fatah was still in control of the security issues on the land, which led to a constrained, handcuffed Hamas government, Hamas would argue. Internationally, it is worse; long since the Hamas government was elected, the international community chose to boycott what the US declared was a terrorist-organization-led government. Financial and diplomatic problems resulted, and the situation in Gaza became unbearable under the new government.

The way out for Hamas was either to approve the international demands to recognize Israel and put down its arms, or to fight and resist in order to claim its sovereignty as an elected government and a movement carrying an ideology.

Eventually, Hamas chose the second option, to resist Fatah and the international constraints and to govern Gaza with neither outside nor domestic assistance.

Gaza today is under the full control of Hamas, and Abbas has lost almost all of his on-the-ground sovereignty, leaving him holding only to  international and US support.

The Two-State Solution

The Hamas control over Gaza clearly shows the failure of Bush's policy in the area. Five years ago Bush promised a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine side by side living in peace, yet now it is more complicated. A peaceful two-state solution is on the horizon no more.

Actually, the Gaza Islamic Hamasstan and the West Bank secular Fatahstan is the accomplished on-the-ground two-state solution. The Palestinian authority is more defragmented, and peace with Israel is more distant.

However, the dissolution of the Palestinian government by Abbas will allow the US and its allies a new chance to change the political realities. Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice declared recently that the US "fully supports [Abbas] in his decision to try and end this crisis for the Palestinian people and to give them an opportunity to return to peace and a better future" (MSNBC).

Abbas did already take his first step; on Friday, President Abbas appointed Salam Fayyad, a Western-backed independent deputy, as prime minister of an emergency government in what Hamas said amounted to a coup, Reuters reported.

In return, the US, EU, and Israel are preparing to ease sanctions in the West Bank in order to strengthen the emergency government and weaken the Hamas control over Gaza.

Palestinians and the Common Cause

The EU decision to cut aid will eventually lead to more suffering for the Palestinian people, who fled their homes in numbers since the recent escalation in Gaza.

After all, Palestinians have a common cause to fight for.

Hamas did declare a general amnesty to the Fatah leaders it captured in the past few days. And Abbas at least did not ask for international intervention in his support as the Palestinian elected president.

For the coming few days, some major political dynamics in Palestine are expected. Abbas, officially, will not be able to hold the state of emergency for long, which will push him for either early elections, or for negotiations with the winner of the Gaza struggle, Hamas.