Palestinians again hurt their own cause

I'm sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, I truly am. Which is why it's so disappointing when they prove their critics right. If it weren't so sad and destructive, it would be comical: the highly-touted, Egyptian-sponsored cease-fire between Hamas and Fatah collapsed literally the same night that it began. The agreement began at 1 a.m. on Monday and didn't even last until morning.

The gun battle (or "dispute," if you prefer) was over the Cabinet position of Interior Minister, as Interior ostensibly controls the territories' security forces. Of course, security force loyalty is generally to either Hamas or Fatah specifically, rather than the people as a whole, so the party with the Interior file has "legitimate" control over security, such as it is.

I'm definitely not in the "Arabs can't self-govern" camp, nor the "Muslims can't handle democracy" crew. I think Palestinians should have their own state, and I think Israel's position on the territories is tremendously problematic in many ways. I also know that there would be much more international support for Palestinians if they stopped shooting each other all the time.

I understand there are internal pressures and conflicts, and I even understand that U.S. support for the corrupt Arafat/Fatah governments have helped created the situation. But. The de-facto civil war among Palestinians definitely isn't helping their cause.