Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin rally in favor of Palestinian national untiy amid rising tensions. (Raed Abu Baker, Maan Images)

With Palestinians on the brink of civil war, it has become impossible to separate this local crisis from the overall situation in a region polarized by the United States into "moderate" Arab regimes versus the "axis of evil," which includes Iran and Syria.

The conflict between these two poles, which has manifested itself in the crises in Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine, is a result of the erroneous foreign policies of the Bush administration. After categorizing Iran and Syria as part of the "axis of evil" (along with North Korea), the US proceeded to boycott and diplomatically isolate these countries in the hope that by doing so they could somehow force them to moderate their positions.

But the result was just the opposite. Both Syria and Iran hardened their stances toward America and their influence in the region only increased. In the most recent Israeli war on Lebanon, both Israel and the US predicted the wrong outcome. Largely because of Iranian and Syrian support, Hizbullah proved to be strong both on the battlefield and among the people, and the group ultimately foiled Israel's objectives in going into Lebanon in the first place.

But the US policy of isolation had already spilled over into the Palestinian arena. As just one more way of imposing his foreign policy in the Middle East, President George W. Bush called for a boycott of Hamas once the movement won democratic parliamentary elections last January. Thus, when Hamas formed a government at the end of March, the United States and Israel led the international community in isolating, rather than dealing with, the newly elected Palestinian leaders.

The United States had been an active advocate of democratic elections during the rule of the late President Yasser Arafat, but when the time came the results proved not to be to America's liking. As a result, neither the US nor Israel allowed Hamas the opportunity to prove itself competent or otherwise in governing the Palestinians.

Instead, Hamas was squeezed diplomatically and financially, and with a tight economic siege on the Palestinian leadership. The movement was forced to turn elsewhere for support. Since the so-called "moderate" Arab governments followed America's lead and turned their backs on the newly formed government, the only support Hamas could find in the region came from Iran and Syria.

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In addition, Hamas' election victory also led the Americans, Europeans and certain Arab countries to more actively support President Mahmoud Abbas in assuming greater authority over the security forces and the media - Palestine Radio and Television is under the direct supervision of the presidency - thus stripping a number of key authorities from the government.

With whatever international funding still coming to Palestinians being funneled through the presidency, the Western powers and its regional allies only helped exacerbate an already escalating crisis between the presidency and the government.

Contrary to its purpose, however, this support did not always serve Abbas well. American and Western support for the president in the form of training and financing his security forces in fact helped weaken Abbas' popularity on the street.

To read the full article please visit The Daily Star.